Eternal Delight
For many Christians, “eternal life” evokes images of a distant, heavenly afterlife—an ethereal realm reached after death. It is understandable that this is what we think about when it comes to eternal life, but the Bible promises so much more. Theologian N.T. Wright invites believers to think deeply and biblically about eternity. By doing that, we find eternal life is not merely about the future but begins in the present. It is the reality of God’s new creation breaking into our current world through the resurrection of Jesus and the ongoing work of His followers. In the, “The message of Easter,” Wright writes, “is that God’s new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you’re now invited to belong to it.” Eternal life, then, is not simply life that continues forever; it is a different kind of life—a quality of life infused with resurrection power, aligned with God’s purposes and characterized by hope, justice, beauty, and love. It begins the moment one enters into Christ and continues beyond death into God’s renewed creation.
Central to this is the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Rather than portraying eternal life as an escape to a spiritual heaven, Wright explains that the Christian hope is resurrection into new creation. “Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project,” Wright explains, “not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.” This startling shift reframes the purpose of salvation: not abandonment of the material world, but its restoration (Rev. 21). This vision is rooted in the biblical story of God’s intention to redeem all of creation. “God’s new world had indeed begun, ‘on earth as in heaven,’” Wright writes. “Jesus’s bodily resurrection from the dead was an event that so comprehensively shattered the normal patterns of this world that it launched nothing short of new creation.” Thus, eternal life is not just a promise of what will come—it is the inauguration of God’s future in the here and now. It is why Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “we are now new creations.”
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Cor. 5:17-21
This means that how we live today matters profoundly. Far from being passive recipients of grace, believers are called to be active participants in God’s redemptive mission. Wright emphasizes, “What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future.” Every act of love and justice, no matter how small, contributes to the reality of the coming Kingdom. It is why the EFCA’s statement of faith has an article on Christian living.
Christian Living –“ We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.”
Eternal life, then, is not about escaping the world, but transforming it. As Wright says, “New creation itself has begun… Jesus is ruling over that new creation and making it happen through the witness of his church.” To live eternal life is to live now as citizens of God’s new world, embodying the values of heaven in the midst of earth’s brokenness. In this light, eternal life is both a gift and a calling—a present participation in God’s mission and a future hope rooted in resurrection. This means that the eternal delight awaiting believers is to be experienced now in part as we grow in maturity with Christ and join in God’s active work. Eternal delight is not merely for a time to come but if for all in Christ here and now.
Are you delighting in eternity now?