“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

These words of Jesus are some of the most familiar in the New Testament. But they come as Jesus’ answer to Martha’s confession that her brother Lazarus, now dead, would “rise again on the resurrection on the last day.” Martha was putting her faith in the FUTURE; in a DOCTRINE: “the resurrrection … the last day.” But Jesus indicates here that there was more than that, and it was available for her right NOW!

Martha’s hope was in the resurrection, but Jesus said, “I AM the ressurection!”  He posssesses eternal life RIGHT NOW.  She didn’t have to WAIT until the resurrection to have eternal life; she could have eternal life RIGHT NOW if her faith was in Him!

And the same thing is true for us now. Jesus IS “the resurrection.” He IS “the life”! If you have Him, you have eternal life NOW! Jesus went on to say here that if you believe in Him, you “will never die.” Eternal life is yours right now!

It is not that you are waiting for heaven to have eternal life; you possess it NOW!  True, we experience it only “dimly” and “in part” now, and it will be “in full” then (I Cor. 13) but the fact is, when you become a Christian, you “HAVE” eternal life immediately. You have the Holy Spirit, the “living water”, the “abundant life”. You have eternal quality of life NOW if you have Christ. HE IS the resurrection. If you have Him, then you have the resurrection; you have eternal life — right NOW!

Don’t just put your faith in a “doctrine”, or in “the future.” Put your faith in Jesus Himself. He IS the resurrection — right now!

The only question is, as Jesus asked Martha: “Do you believe this?”