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Revelation 12
15 The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. 16 The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. 17 The dragon grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep God's commandments and hold Jesus' testimony.
serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river
The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of the waters. The name of the star is called "Wormwood." One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter. (Revelation 8:10-11)
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, (Revelation 17:1)
He said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages." (Revelation 17:15)
The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. (Psalms 18:4)
Many waters can't quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. (Song of Solomon 8:7)
So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. (Isaiah 59:19 NKJV)
Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, there stood other two, the one on the brink of the river on this side, and the other on the brink of the river on that side. One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:5-7)
Contrast the kind of river the serpent generates with the kind God designed for us.
A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became four heads. (Genesis 2:10)
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures. For with you is the spring of life. In your light shall we see light. (Psalms 36:8-9)
There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High. God is in her midst. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn. (Psalms 46:4-5)
He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places. (Psalms 105:41)
But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will go, neither will any gallant ship pass by there. For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us. Your rigging is untied. They couldn't strengthen the foot of their mast. They couldn't spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil was divided. The lame took the prey. The inhabitant won't say, "I am sick." The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity. (Isaiah 33:21-24)
Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her; that you may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you shall suck of it; you shall be borne on the side, and shall be dandled on the knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
You shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of Yahweh shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies. (Isaiah 66:10-14)
Oh that you had listened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea: your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your body like the grains of it: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me. (Isaiah 48:18-19)
Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water." But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn't yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)
He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:1-2)
might cause her to be carried away by the stream
His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. (Revelation 12:4)
It was given to him to give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as wouldn't worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands, or on their foreheads; (Revelation 13:15-16)
The enemy said, 'I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.' You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. (Exodus 15:9-10)
Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck! I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God. (Psalms 69:1-3)
Don't let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don't let the pit shut its mouth on me. (Psalms 69:15)
I want to briefly share a parallel to this that seems to indicate several important aspects of these prophecies, both previous ones as well as concerning this woman who later shows up in the wilderness in a drunken condition of domination over all the kings of the earth.
Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand. The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot. (Isaiah 28:1-3)
Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: "Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won't come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.'"
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. (Isaiah 28:14-18)
The earth helped the woman, and...opened its mouth and swallowed up the river
Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
It will happen, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." (Genesis 9:14-16)
Moses said, Hereby you shall know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of my own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then Yahweh hasn't sent me. But if Yahweh make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain to them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh. It happened, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground split apart that was under them; and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who appertained to Korah, and all their goods. So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. All Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them; for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up. (Numbers 16:28-34)
For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him. (Psalms 32:6)
This prophecy has typically been applied to the history of the true believers after Jesus ascended to heaven and took possession of the leadership role of representing humanity before God. As the gospel spread and infiltrated the kingdoms of this world, threatening the powers depending on darkness and fear and undermining their ability to stay in control of the masses, Satan turned to counter this threat by undermining the power of the gospel with new deceptions. What we see in the few hundred years after the Christ child was caught up to heaven was a progressive deterioration of the purity of the love the early believers thrived on until finally the religion of Christ was morphed into an institution of superstition, mind-control and subjugation through fear of an angry God. Those who clung to the original teachings and spirit of the early believers were compelled to literally flee into less inhabited places for relative safety, while church leaders sent armies to hunt them down and use violence to silence their witness.
This prophecy is a condensed summary of the broad view of the history of the war particularly centered on the time when the Son of God came as a human to be the Son of Man and then recapture the seat of power in heaven to displace Satan as our representative. We can see in the history of Christianity these symbols played out very accurately, which is one of the main purposes for prophecy – to see how clearly God sees the future as easily as He sees the past and to inspire confidence that He can be trusted to handle anything because nothing surprises Him.
The main point of this passage is that the devil's anger exposes the fact that he is obsessed with staying in control through his system of top-down hierarchy by which he seeks to dictate everything from his vantage point of superiority. Keep in view that this war is a war of motives and methods, not who has great ability to control others. Satan would have us imagine that God needs to pit His power against that of Satan, but in truth the war is over what methods are superior to achieve harmony, order and balance in society so people can live together in peace. Satan insists that compulsion, force and manipulation are tactics necessary for subduing crime and maintaining order, while Jesus insists that love and love alone is the answer to restore humanity back to their original condition of pristine joy and freedom to be transparent and vulnerable without any fear. The decision we must make is who will we believe and trust as having what it takes to overcome evil and establish a kingdom that can last forever.
In the next verse it becomes very clear how the dragon thinks things should be done. He repeats what he did in heaven by reacting violently to the confronting of the light of truth brought by his nemesis who exposed and confronted him long ago in heaven in the first round of the war. The devil launches another frontal attack against the Lamb that he had already slaughtered violently on the cross but who came back to life in the power of love to gain even greater advantage over the kingdom of darkness. This is not just interesting history but involves every single person on this planet along with every single intelligent being watching with intense interest all throughout the universe what is transpiring here at the heart of the battle. The alert to every individual is always the same – who will we choose to side with and serve with our trust, our energy and the resources loaned to us by our Creator?
dragon grew angry with the woman
The king of the south shall be moved with anger, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north; and he shall set forth a great multitude, and the multitude shall be given into his hand. (Daniel 11:11)
For ships of Kittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall do his pleasure: he shall even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant. (Daniel 11:30)
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men. (Matthew 2:16)
If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. (John 15:18)
I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14)
went away to make war with the rest/remnant of her seed
The word translated here as went away literally means to go off or behind, to disappear from plain sight. This dragon is not fully in view again until chapter 20, yet emerges partially in 17:3 where we see the woman sitting on it. The dragon here goes out of sight to more effectively infiltrate and corrupt those making up the woman's seed by operating through various entities with new methods and lies. This was Satan's tactic in order to counteract the stunning revelation of truth that was brought into the open by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The same disposition is seen among those in league with him who share his agenda to gain worship and power and control.
There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. They didn't prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven. (Revelation 12:7-8)
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. (Genesis 45:7)
This is the original woman and God's promise involving the remnant of who identify with her Seed.
The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape: the zeal of Yahweh shall perform this. (2 Kings 19:30-31)
I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; (2 Kings 21:14)
Beware lest we imagine that identifying as the remnant of the woman's seed means we are immune to discipline or even abandonment. It takes two sides to remain in a covenant, and what we see even in Revelation is how compromise with the enemy who is out to get us can morph into becoming complicit with and even become like the very enemy, thinking we are no longer in danger from him.
Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have been like Gomorrah. Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! "What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?," says Yahweh. "I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don't delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies. My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. (Isaiah 1:9-14)
Here we see how God defines being like Sodom and Gomorrah lest we become just as smugly sure of our relation to God as did people back then. Righteousness is not the exactness of our religious rituals or the accuracy of our doctrines. A great seduction for those claiming to be God's chosen people has often been the externalization of their relation to God in place of a genuine heart relationship producing the fruit of true righteousness naturally.
Why does the war end up only with the remnant of the woman's seed? Notice that the war is not on the woman who went into the wilderness, but only with the rest of her offspring. This is because the woman herself reappears later in chapter 17 as a harlot in the wilderness in collusion with the dragon.
who keep God's commandments and hold Jesus' testimony
It is key to note here that this provides positive ID to discern what part of the woman's offspring will be the target of the dragon's fury. The overwhelming percentage of her offspring will not be the focus of his wrath, for they fall into the same trap that she falls into as they all succumb to the thirst for power. This is what we will find in later chapters. Only those who remain faithful to the pure witness of the Lamb – the One who alone represents God faithfully – and are aligned with His principles in their character, clinging to the truth about God according to the testimony of Jesus, are the focus of the dragon's war at the end.
Here is the patience of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)
and he said, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you." (Exodus 15:26)
Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, 'Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.' (Exodus 31:13)
Therefore you shall keep my commandments, and do them. I am Yahweh. (Leviticus 22:31)
As we read through this sampling of passages about God's commandments, keep aware of the perspective of seeing them as principles rather than demands and notice the difference it makes.
You shall keep my Sabbaths, and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am Yahweh. If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. (Leviticus 26:2-4)
You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)
You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh your God gives you, forever. (Deuteronomy 4:40)
Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! (Deuteronomy 5:29)
Know therefore that Yahweh your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, (Deuteronomy 7:9)
Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of Yahweh, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)
You have declared Yahweh this day to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice: and Yahweh has declared you this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments; (Deuteronomy 26:17-18)
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)
Oh that you had listened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea: (Isaiah 48:18)
Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they didn't walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. (Ezekiel 20:12-13)
I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances; neither have we listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. (Daniel 9:4-6)
He answered them, "Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? (Matthew 15:3)
Behold, one came to him and said, "Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" He said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."
He said to him, "Which ones?"
Jesus said, "'You shall not murder.' 'You shall not commit adultery.' 'You shall not steal.' 'You shall not offer false testimony.' 'Honor your father and mother.' And, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" The young man said to him, "All these things I have observed from my youth. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions. (Matthew 19:16-22)
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40)
"For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things." He said to them, "Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. (Mark 7:8-9)
If you love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him."
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?"
Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. He who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words. The word which you hear isn't mine, but the Father's who sent me. (John 14:21-24)
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and remain in his love. (John 15:10)
This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. One who says, "I know him," and doesn't keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn't in him. But whoever keeps his word, God's love has most certainly been perfected in him. This is how we know that we are in him: (1 John 2:3-5)
The commandments clearly are not the cause of this love but the natural fruit of being in love.
and whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us. (1 John 3:22-24)
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever loves the father also loves the child who is born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. (1 John 5:1-4)
This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. (2 John 1:6)
Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)
Again, this kind of commandment keeping is not how we earn salvation or the 'right' to enter that city and eat that kind of fruit. Rather the commandment keeping reveals the heart connection that has transformed those people so that they delight in and thrive in the principles of love and are free of all resistance to the intensity of the passionate love that is described as consuming fire, rivers of fire and even lakes of fire.
Keeping the commandments of God is impossible without being motivated by God's love. Love reflects the character of our Creator which the commandments describe. By recalling that we are created to reflect, not originate, all these things fall into their proper place more readily as we see the real issues of contention rather than the arguments that keep us distracted and discouraged. We love Him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19) Freely you received, so freely give. (Matthew 10:8)
and hold Jesus' testimony
And I went on my face before his feet to give him worship. And he said to me, See you do it not: I am a brother-servant with you and with your brothers who keep the witness of Jesus: give worship to God: for the witness of Jesus is the spirit of the prophet's word. (Revelation 19:10 BBE)
This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, who testified to God's word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw. (Revelation 1:1-2)
The testimony of Jesus is the truth about the character of our Father and is most vividly displayed through the evidence of His willingly shed blood. This pairing of Word and Testimony parallels Blood and Testimony in Revelation 12:11. The testimony of Jesus is also the truth about our real identity in Christ. He has given His testimony of how God views us, but His testimony must be affirmed by our agreeing confession of its validity so that this identity is permitted to shape our condition to align with the truth of our design as reflected in God's commands, bringing us into a condition of fitness to thrive in God's fiery presence of pure, passionate love.
He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the Earth belongs to the Earth, and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won't see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:31-36)
The Pharisees therefore said to him, "You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid." Jesus answered them, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don't know where I came from, or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. (John 8:13-16)
I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession, that you keep the commandment without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:13-16)
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God's testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn't have God's Son doesn't have the life. (1 John 5:9-12)
