He gives us real and eternal life

For the past few posts I've been mulling over the 6 things that I saw in John 10:25- 30 that are characteristic of Jesus' followers. I've taken one of these things at a time and today I want to look more at the fact that He gives us real and eternal life. Here's the portion of these verses that I'm getting this from:

My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life.

Where else in scripture do I see this concept that He gives us real and eternal life?

The first thing that comes to my mind, since I read it not too long ago, is John 6:47-58. Jesus is talking to a group of Jewish people and says:

47-51"I'm telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self."

52 At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: "How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?"

53-58 But Jesus didn't give an inch. "Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always."

I like some of the things Larry Broding has to say about this passage:

"it was not enough for the follower to simply take polite bites. He or she needed total involvement (hence the verb that meant "gnaw" or "chew"). The Christian should continuously gnaw on the living bread like a good barbecued pork rib. The act was to be messy. The act required total immersion, total concentration, total commitment. The act itself caused scandal.

Jesus punctuated the act with the words "flesh" and "blood." In the Semitic mind, the word 'flesh" equated with the person and "blood" equaled life. Those who ate the flesh of the Son of Man and drank his blood joined themselves to his very being and his life source (i.e., the Spirit). In other words, Jesus described union with himself in the starkest, most graphic terms.

But Jesus did make his point. He offered his followers a source of life so powerful, it could only come from God. He demanded involvement so great, all other possession, positions, and relationships were secondary. A relationship with Jesus was the only thing that was real, the only thing that mattered." (for complete discussion by Broding, check out: http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/B/20-b/A-20-b.html)

Oh Father, I thank You that You died on the cross for me. Thank You Jesus that You shed Your blood, that You suffered beyond what I can imagine for me. I can never say thank you enough. Thank for the gift of real and eternal life through You Jesus. Oh today, may I be totally immersed in You. May everything I do today flow out of my commitment to You. May there be a part of me that, throughout the day, concentrates on You. May my life be focused on You. Help this not just to be words, but to be real in the day to things that occur during today.