I write this on Thanksgiving weekend, with much gratefulness in my heart. My daughter Lisa entered a rock slide on a British Columbia mountain highway when rock, larger than a football went through her window. It grazed her head and ear. Her friend was able to take over the car to bring it to a safe stop. I have shared a couple of photos from her Facebook to give you a perspective of my thankfulness.

The rock cut her ear horizontally as it entered the cab, stunning her to the degree that she could not drive.

I praised God greatly this weekend, knowing she was aware without any deficits excepting the need for a plastic surgeon to repair her cut ear. This all happened Friday evening and she returned home Saturday with her attentive friends and family supporting her all the way. I am so grateful for her life being saved by our Sovereign Lord and His angels.

As I praise God for her life, I will point out sixteen major clusters of references to “life” in John’s gospel, spanning from the introduction (John 1:4) to the predominant statement of purpose (20:31).

“Eternal life” is the subject of conversation in Jesus’ interchange with Nicodemus in John 3 and with the Samaritan woman in chapter 3 of the same Gospel. All told, “life” is the subject in virtually every chapter in the first half of John’s gospel. Also “life” features significantly in Jesus’ pronouncements in 14:6 and 17:2–3.

Here is a  list of major references to “life” in John’s gospel and letters presents as follows.

John’s Gospel references:

1. John 1:4: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.”
2. John 3:15–16, 36: “’Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.… Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
3. John 4:10, 14: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water … the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
4. John 4:36: “Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life.”
5. John 5:21, 24–26, 28–29: “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.… Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself … a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live.”
6. John 6:27, 33, 35, 40, 47, 48, 51, 53, 54, 57–58: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.… For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.… I am the bread of life.… For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.… Very truly I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.… This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.… Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.… Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.… Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
7. John 6:63, 68: “ ‘The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.’ … ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ ”
8. John 7:38: “Whoever believes in me.… rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
9. John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
10. John 10:10, 28: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.… I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”
11. John 11:25–26: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
12. John 12:25: “Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
13. John 12:50: “I know that his command leads to eternal life.”
14. John 14:6, 19: “I am the way and the truth and the life.… Because I live, you also will live.”
15. John 17:2–3: “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
16. John 20:31: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

“Life” is also a major theme in John’s first letter. It opens with a reference to the apostolic message regarding the “Word of life” and its incarnation (1 John 1:1–2). The letter also speaks of passing from death to life similar to the gospel (3:14; cf. John 5:24) and connects the possession of life to love (1 John 3:14–15). The purpose statement at the end of 1 John mentions “life” five times in the short span of three verses, striking a note of reassurance. All in all, this letter features thirteen instances of “life” (zōē) and one occurrence of the verb “to live” (zaō; 4:9). There are also six such clusters referring to “life “in 1 John.

John’s Letter References:

1. 1 John 1:1–2: “… this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life.”
2. 1 John 2:25: “And this is what he promised us—eternal life.”
3. 1 John 3:14–15: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other.… Anyone who hates a fellow believer is a murderer, and you know that no murderers have eternal life in them.”
4. 1 John 5:11–13: “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
5. 1 John 5:16: “If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life.”
6. 1 John 5:20: “And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

I am thankful that Lisa prays with her father frequently for protection. I give all the Glory to the Lord for her safety and her life through this harrowing experience.