Why Did Jesus Come?

The reason for Jesus’ coming was to give us eternal life - Zoe, the God kind of life. In the new birth, our spirits are born of God and we receive the life and nature of God. This is the most miraculous event in life. It is described by the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 5:17 this way. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” When someone is born again, God is actually giving birth to a new man, the inward man who is in Christ.

Eternal life refers to the quality of life that all true believers receive when they come into union with Christ. Many Christians think that eternal life only means a timeless continuation of life after death. But receiving eternal life changes the here and now as well as setting the course of our life for eternity. Many Christians think we are going to receive eternal life when we get to Heaven, but in reality, we already have received the very life and nature of our Father, God. The instant that we were re-created by God, several things happened.

1) We received a new nature. In fact, we received the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). The fruit of the Spirit became apparent in our conduct because we received His love, peace, and joy (Gal. 5:22), and His love has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost (Rom. 5:5). 2) We received a new family because we moved into God’s family (Gal. 3:26). God became our Father and Jesus became our brother. We moved from the family of Satan to the family of God instantly. 3) We received a new kingdom. We were delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the “kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13). This happened the moment we received Jesus as our Savior. In this new kingdom, there are new laws which govern God’s domain. We are no longer under the tyranny of the devil. 4) We received a new inheritance. We are inheritors of what Christ has done (Eph. 1:11). We have obtained this inheritance by being in Christ. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians1:3).

There are four different Greek words translated “life” in the New Testament. Instead of stressing these benefits of eternal life, the church has majored on the behavior, conduct and the manner of life of Christians. Rev. Kenneth Hagin said, “The biggest word of the Gospel is the word, ‘life’.” We have eternal life right now. We release the life of God through our words and through our actions. We need to believe and act like we have His life in us. His life changes our spirit, soul, and body, and affects every aspect of our being.