In Revelation 13:8 and 17:8, you can read some passages that are almost parallel. In [Revelation 13:8], because of the grammar, “everyone whose name has not been written…” This promise is fulfilled in 21:27. Certain character types have been eliminated from the Lamb’s book of the Kingdom!
[Revelation 17:8] seems different. First of all, there is a group idea being discussed; it’s “names”, not “name” as in 13:8. Also, the descriptive phrase, “of the Lamb” is missing. In addition to that, the preposition “epi” [on] is used, rather than “en” [in]. Here, in this verse, this expression that we’re looking at, “the life”, will help your interpretation. The emphasis of this verse is the existence of the Kingdom from the foundation of the world, not the writing of the names. God has always had a kingdom in existence that men could enter, based upon covenant loyalty, or faithful living. Even as far back as Genesis 4:7, God says to the first murder, “If you do good, won’t you be lifted up?” This is the reason Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and built a city: In this act of defiance, he was establishing a rival kingdom by building his city.
I want you to see two other occurrences in the Revelation that are interesting. First, look at [Revelation 20:12]. This is an awkward sentence construction here, which says, “another book was opened which is (the book) of
THE life. And the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to their works.” If you substitute “the Kingdom” for “the life”, as you’ve done in the other verses, this makes sense. If “the life” is “the Kingdom”, then the books that are being opened are the chronicles of the Kingdom. In the Book of Esther, you will remember that when the king could not sleep, he had the court chronicles read to him. The chronicles showed that Mordecai had once done the king a great service. Not only had the name of Mordecai been recorded, but also what he had done was written there for all to see. The result was that when the king had corrected his oversight, Mordecai was rewarded with high honor.
The other usage that I want you to see is in [Revelation 21:6]. The offer is made “to anyone who is thirsty”, the resurrected Lord will give “the water of
THE life”, or “the water of the Kingdom.”
In these passages in the book of the Revelation, I hope you see how substituting “the Kingdom” for “the life” helps you to understand what is being discussed, rather than using the general expression “life”.
[John 20] The usage of the word “ζωη” is a little more of a problem. In some instances, the term “the life” is used as a proper name or title for the Lord. The most familiar verse that this is true is in John 1:4: “The Life was the light (the source of revelation) to men.” [John 20:31] The way you interpret this verse depends upon how the word “believe” is understood. The first “believe” is in the aorist tense: it’s punctiliar, it’s an event. How are you saved? Acts 16:31 tells you that you are saved forever by simply believing in the Lord Jesus in the aorist tense. However, the second “believe” in John 20:31 is a present, active, participle: It implies living a faithful life. If you live a faithful life, it tells you that you will have life in His name.
There are significant passages here in John that realizing that “the life” is the same as “the Kingdom” will open new possibilities for interpretation. [John 3:36] says, “He that believeth [present, active, participle; faithful life] on the Son hath everlasting [age-lasting] life: and he that believeth not [present, active, participle; unfaithful life] the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” There is no definite article, but there is the adjective that describes which life this is referring to: age-lasting life, or life in the millennial age to come.
[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
THE life.] This verse is interesting because it implies that the individual who is living a faithful life, has the life of the age to come as a present possession. However, there is a futuristic meaning to the present tense due to the Hebrew thinking behind it. (If you’re living a faithful life, you have
THE life, but you won’t receive it until the future, is the best that I can explain it. Does that make sense? If you pay for something over the phone with a credit card, it’s yours; you’ve bought it, but you don’t receive it until later.) If you live a faithful life, you will not come into judgment, because you have already been transferred from
THE death to
THE life. It is interesting to note in this context, that the book of the Revelation does not explicitly mention a pre-Kingdom judgment for those who participate in the first resurrection, but only mentions the books being opened after the Millennial reign.
[John 6:48] says, (Jesus is speaking) “I am
THE bread of
THE life”. Jesus is referring to himself as the one who brings
THE life to the world. Of course, this provision is dependent upon a person eating the bread, which is an act of faith. But, in [John 6:51], in what sense does the world have life? It has been suggested that “life” may refer to a life spent on the earth. But, doesn’t it make more sense in this verse to suggest that Jesus is actually giving His flesh in exchange for the “kingdom of this world”? In the dialog with Pilate later in this book, kingship becomes a very real issue.
[John 8:12] Jesus is talking about discipleship, and discipleship is described as “following Jesus”. The promise is made that if you follow Jesus, you will not walk in darkness, but you will receive the light of THE life. This reverses the order of John 1:4 where the Life became the Light. This verse promises that if you follow Jesus, you will have your eyes opened to a knowledge of the Kingdom. In John 16:12, the Lord tells his followers that He has much more to tell them, but they cannot bear it at that time; this is a promise of later revelation of the coming Kingdom that they weren’t being given then. Then, in Acts 1:3, we’re told, that his post-resurrection appearances and speeches were things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
[1 John] This epistle seems to be ambiguous in the way it uses “ζωη” with the definite article, but it’s not ambiguous. [1 John 1:1] “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of
THE life;” In [1 John 1:2; (For
THE life was manifested, and we have seen
it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life [
THE life,
THE age-lasting is precisely what it says], which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us
], it’s easy to understand that “the Kingdom was manifested (the signs and wonders but especially the events on the Mount of Transfiguration) and we (the apostles) have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the age-lasting Kingdom. [1 John 3:14] is a parallel to John 5:24. “We know that we have passed from
THE death unto
THE life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not
his brother abideth in
THE [thanatos] death.”
[1 John 5:11-12] becomes much more clear when you substitute “the Kingdom” for “the life”. We see there, “And this is the record [testimony], that God hath given to us eternal [age-lasting] life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath (holds fast; faithfulness) the Son hath
THE life;
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not
THE life.” The word translated here as “hath” is sometimes better translated as “regards”. (Re-read and substitute “regards”; it makes sense.)
[James] There is one other occurrence of “the life” that I want us to look at, and it is in a passage in James that you are probably all familiar with. [James 1:12] “Blessed
is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown [stephanos] of
THE life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love [present, active, participle; how do we show that we love Him? We obey His commandments] him.” If you endure – if you continue in loving Him and in living a faithful life – you will receive a victor’s crown; the crown of
THE life! Here, “ζωη” with the definite article is obviously and clearly talking in futuristic terms about judgment and reward. Are you saved by your actions or by continuously loving the Lord? No! The Lord will give the one who passes the test the crown of the Kingdom! This is talking about rewards in the age to come. Brothers and sisters, I want to see you there, and I want us to be ruling and reigning side by side!
This concept also helps us to understand the meaning of death in [James 1:15; thanatos]. You can lose your life in the age to come. Romans 8:38-39 tells you that you can’t lose your everlasting salvation, no matter what. Not death, not angels, not things in the present, nor things to come. This passage in James is talking about losing the Kingdom, not your everlasting salvation. You can lose that! It’s yours to lose! Don’t blow it!
