Daily Bible Nugget #956, John 5:24

The Nugget:

John 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (KJV)

John 5:24 `Verily, verily, I say to you–He who is hearing my word, and is believing Him who sent me, hath life age-during, and to judgment he doth not come, but hath passed out of the death to the life. (Young’s Literal Translation)

John 5:24  “I assure you, anyone who hears what I say and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life. They will not be judged guilty. They have already left death and have entered into life. (ERV, Easy-to-Read Version)

My Comment:

Seventy-two years ago, on this date, November 7, 1953, I understood and believed what John 5:24 promises. Of the several English translations of this verse I have shared above, Young’s Literal Translation comes closest to what I have since learned is the meaning of the original Greek text underlying our English translations.

I had been seriously reading and rereading the New Testament since August of 1953. On Saturday, November 7, 1953, I was delivering papers for my Detroit Shopping News route. I thought back on my spiritual life and realized that though I had attended church from the time I was an infant, I had never experienced what is called the “new birth,” or being “born again.” But that Saturday morning I saw and believed what John 5:24 promises. That could be considered my “spiritual birthday.” This experience took place outside of church. It did not involve water baptism. It involved the Holy Spirit opening my eyes to the truth of God’s Word.

I have continued since that time to study God’s written Word in the Bible. I am still learning new things from His inexhaustible Word.

If you will read and study the New Testament carefully, as I did, you too can experience the unshakable and blessed experience that “Jesus is Mine” as the Gospel song states. I remember whistling the tune of another Gospel song I had learned in Sunday school, which contains the words, “Now I Belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me, not for the years of time alone, but for eternity,” that otherwise grey and dreary cold Saturday morning.

Not everyone can point to a precise time and date that marks the time when they were saved. If you are saved, you can know for sure that you are saved in this life. Contrary to the teaching of some churches and denominations, you can know that you now have eternal life before you die. You need not wait until after death to know your destiny. How do I know this? The Bible tells me so in John 5:24.