WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE!

Our world is filled with uncertainties beyond our control. Throughout history, wars, economic downturns, and pandemics have been a constant in human existence. Christians turn to the Holy Scriptures for guidance in these uncertain times.

One of these assurances promised to us in the Gospel of John is to trust that we have eternal life: “Very truly, I tell you, anyone, who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24). It is, indeed, one thing to possess eternal life through faith, yet another to hold the unwavering certainty of this promise in our hearts.

A poignant story from the Soviet era vividly illustrates this faith. On November 15, 1982, Victoria Petrovna stood solemnly before the coffin of Brezhnev, who had presided over an atheistic regime. As soldiers moved to seal the coffin for transport to the mausoleum, Brezhnev’s wife unexpectedly made the sign of the cross over his chest. In the heart of the Kremlin, the bastion of atheism, the spouse of the Communist Party’s first secretary clung to the hope that her husband had been wrong in his disbelief. She held onto the belief in an afterlife, entrusted to the mercy of the crucified Christ.

The certainty of eternal life offers us peace and the hope of reunion with our Creator. This hope fortifies us to withstand life’s adversities. My prayer for you, as you reflect upon these words, is to find comfort in the embrace of the One who was crucified for us and who sustains us through our journey in this uncertain world.

Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan