Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: December 30

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death” ~ John 8:51

Jesus shared and understood our horror of death. We cannot repeat too often, that although He was God visiting this earth, He also became perfectly human.

This “many-colored stone” strikes my [Eugenia Price, the author’s] heart because it shows me in its bright depths that He longs to make peace for everyone. Even His enemies. He loved His enemies, even as they persecuted Him. We think often that He loved even those who nailed Him to a cross, but here we see that He also loved the Pharisees who plagued Him all during his earthly ministry. He spoke to His enemies too in the verse at the top of this page.

He knew that in the very next breath they would call him a devil (John 8:52), but in spite of that He offered them eternal life! A way not to die. “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”

Jesus, the Son of God, stood declaring the way to eternal life to those who hated Him. He offered it to them, knowing, as He did, that they would murder Him in just a few months. That very day, in fact, He knew they would take up “stones to cast at him.” But still He stood there telling them a way not to die. The year is ending. Our earthly life is ending. But we need not die.

The Saviour has come, bringing eternal life, “to as many as received him.”

“… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me … Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden … If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”