36- Christ is the Giver of Life

With Respect to Him Being the Giver of Life

(1) St. John the Evangelist says: "In Him was life" Jn. 1:4). The Lord Jesus Christ gives life here on earth and in the eternal life, and this is one of the works of God alone.

(2) The Lord Jesus Christ gave life when He raised the dead. The Holy Bible mentions three miracles pertaining to this point:

(a) (Mk. 5:22,35-42): The raising of Jairus's daughter. She was lying dead on her bed in the house, and her relatives were weeping and wailing.

(b) (Lk. 7:11-17): The raising of the son of the widow of Nain. He was being carried in the coffin on the way to the tomb and around him were great crowds of the people of the city.

(c) (Jn. 11): The raising of Lazarus four days after his death. He was buried in the tomb and his sister said that there was a stench.

The important point in these three miracles is that they were performed by Christ's order, which denotes His Divinity and that He is the Giver of life. We will talk about this point in detail when we tackle the proof of Christ's Divinity with respect to His miracles.

 

St-Takla.org Image: Miracle of Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus. صورة في موقع الأنبا تكلا: معجزة: المسيح يقيم ابنة يايرس.

(3) It suffices to comment on the Lord's miracles of raising the dead by quoting His words: "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will" (Jn. 5:21). Here there is equality of the Son with the Father and in addition, He made the giving of life dependent on His will.

(4) Christ the Lord said of Himself that He "gives life to the world' (Jn. 6:33) because He is "the bread of life" (Jn. 6:35). He said: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (Jn. 6:35-58).

This chapter presents Christ as the Giver of life through the Sacrament of Eucharist in which He offers His body and blood, and we have discussed this issue before here on st-takla.org in other pages. And the Lord will raise him who partakes of this Sacrament at the Last Day.

(5) Christ the Lord said of Himself that He is the Giver of eternal life. He said: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And 1 give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand' (Jn. 10:27,28). Observe here the phrase "I give them".

(6) Christ the Lord also gives eternal life to whoever believes in Him. He says about Himself that "whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (Jn. 3:16).

(7) Also, in the Lord's discourse with the Samaritan woman, He encouraged her to ask Him to give her living water, and said to her: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (Jn. 4:10-14). We notice that He says twice "I shall give" because He is the Giver of this gift of life and of everlasting life. It has never happened that a man talked like this before, saying that He is the Giver of life and of everlasting life, that He gives life to whomever He wills, that whoever follows Him lives forever and does not perish, and that no one can snatch His sheep out of His hand. All these acts are of God's authority alone.

Christ Accepting Worship and Prayer

Divinity of Christ Books by H. H. Pope Shenouda III

Christ's Authority over Everything