He who has the Son has; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:12
I met Peter in Gdansk, Poland. His mother was a committed Christian who prayed for her son daily. I visited Gdansk to hold an evangelistic series in the Lenin Theater in 1987, the boy’s mom pleaded, “Pastor, pray for my boy.”
A few weeks later I learned that Peter had brain cancer. The only human solution was an operation. The physicians removed the tumor, but didn’t get all of it. The tumor continued to grow. Radiation treatments seemed to have little effect.
Peter began listening to my taped series of evangelistic sermons. The Holy Spirit convicted him. He opened his heart to Jesus. The hope of heaven became real. He sensed that he was a son of God.
In few months Peter lost 60 pounds. During the last weeks of his life he didn’t eat. Down to 84 pounds, he continuously vomited. On a cool October morning his mother called the church and asked me to come immediately. Peter was dying.
I knelt before him, a basin in my hands, catching the vomit. His skin was a sallow color. His eyes rolled around in his head. His very breath smelled of death. Peter’s dying wish was for me to baptize him.
I explained that it would be impossible to baptize by immersion in his condition. His weak state made transporting him to the church impossible. A lake or river was totally out of the question. I gave him the assurance that Christ accepted him. Still, he urged me to baptize him. It was his final wish. He wanted the sense that all of his sins were washed away.
My heart was touched. I encouraged his mother to fill the bathtub with warm water. Peter stripped to the waist. I carried him in my arms to the bathroom. We knelt there on the floor as I prayed. The presence of God surrounded us. It was one of those eternal moments in which i felt as if i could reach out and touch God. After prayer I lowered Peter into the bathtub, into the “watery grave” of baptism. As I lifted him out of the tub a smile spread over his face as a he said, “I am Christ’s.” Eternity is before me, and death no longer frightens me, because my destiny is heaven.”
Our loving Lord allowed Peter to kive peacefully for another month.
Peter had the assurance of eternal life. Do you have that assurance today? God wants to give it to you right now. The apostle John declares that eternal life is a gift Jesus offers to each one of us now. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
If Christ is living in your heart today, you have eternal life. Grasp that reality. Rejoice in that assurance. Hold on to that hope today. It is as sure as the other promises of God.
From: Solid Ground by Mark Finley