Before we came to Christ and His Word, our souls were “asleep” in our bodies. We were awake, even for many years, but we did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Then one day, we heard about Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. We confessed our sins and asked Him for forgiveness and endeavored to follow Him and His Word forever. That is when our souls came alive and began to grow in God’s Word. The soul is like the kernel breaking through the shell to produce a harvest. Our souls then continue to grow as they are prepared for eternal life.[1] The staple or nourishment for the growth of our souls both now and for eternal life is God’s Word.[2] The building up of our souls will continue until He takes us home with Him. When we are with Him, we will see Him in all His glory and enjoy being in His Presence forever.[3]

Many think that eternal life starts when our souls exit our bodies. In the previous paragraph, it is noted that our souls come alive when we confess our sins, accept Christ’s forgiveness, and follow Him and His Word. Our souls are actually then “welded” with God.[4] That moment is the beginning of eternal life for our souls. Eternal life for our souls starts while we are still in these physical bodies. The same is true for the kernel inside the seed – its life starts when it is energized. That’s how it is able to break through the shell! John Stevenson put it more clearly: “The soul goes to God: but it must have previously been of God. It must have had the eternal life abiding in it; otherwise, at its separation from the body, it must pass into eternal death.”[5]

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[1] Wirt Dexter Bingham, What is Eternal Life? (San Francisco, CA: The Stanley-Taylor Company, 1910), 27.

[2] Ibid., 42.

[3] M.J. Griffith, The Cross of Christ (New York, NY: D.A.J. Sadlier & Company, 1886), 222.

[4] Bingham, What is Eternal Life? 75.

[5] John Stevenson, Christ on the Cross (1846; repr., Vestavia Hills, AL: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2016), 266.