While travelling overseas recently, I had cause to think again about why we exist as a congregation in the body of Christ here in this city. As I interacted with church folk in various places, I was reminded of the horror of living a religious life without access to the eternal life that comes from above – zoe life. So, in this short meditation I will seek to refresh us in our understanding of these basics of the gospel. And I ask as you read this, ‘What is your view of the Christian religion? How established are you in this most fundamental aspect of the gospel – zoe life?’ 

My plan in this booklet is to discuss something of the nature of the life that God is giving to us; the zoe life from above. This will involve an examination of what our lives will be like in the new heavens and new earth. Clearly, there is much to understand and I will focus particularly on the apostle John’s account of this life. In fact, we will see that John documents the discussion by Christ Himself on how this life is appropriated. John records this in his Gospel and epistles. This is truly the gospel proclaimed throughout the New Testament and this is the gospel that God is opening up to us here and now. We’re looking at the appropriation of life from above, and we should keep this focus as the background to our lives from week to week.

I have had a burden, born in the Holy Spirit, to express again a precept that seems to have been largely lost in the last thirty years. It is that very basic aspect of our understanding of the gospel – the ‘new birth’. How is the gospel proposition transacted? What is the relationship between the new birth transaction and our adoption as sons of God? Have we or have we not participated in this transaction? To this end, my theme in this meditation is that the word comes speaking; a word of God comes speaking, calling into existence that which does not yet exist. I would ask you to ‘reason with me’ as we search this matter out together. Isa 1:18. As we consider this subject, we will examine ‘the adoption’ as Jesus Himself discussed it, as well as the whole transaction of the new birth: what happens to us, what actually takes place and what are the implications. 

This meditation is focussed on the ‘heavenly house’, which is the inheritance of eternal zoe life. The apostle Paul described this life as a ‘house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’. 2 Cor 5:1. Our eternal ‘house’, as Paul used the term, is the full expression of our sonship in the new heavens and new earth. We’ll find this to be a most glorious theme in the Scriptures.

I would say, in terms of an overview of the whole of Scripture, that there are just two ways, or two modes, of existence. On the one hand, there is the life and peace that comes through offering. By this means, lost predestination – the forgetfulness of exclusion – is remembered again and recovered by being joined to Christ’s offering. Alternatively, there is the evil of Babylon – anxiety and sorrow, the forgetfulness of exclusion from the covenant purpose of the Lord. 

My theme in this booklet is Mary’s faith. Our starting point will be the story of Mary’s interaction with the angel Gabriel as he brought the word of the Lord to her. We will begin in the Gospel of Luke chapter one. The reports of these stories are short, but they are full of content to do with eternal consequences. Some of the statements I make may startle you a little as to the reality of Mary’s faith as she responded to the word of the messenger sent from God.