Eternity is one of the most solemn
and heart searching subjects in the Bible. As creatures, we often
think only of the things of time, but the Scriptures bring before us
not just what lies beyond the present, but beyond even time itself.
Eternity is a sobering thought, and one which we would all do well
to ponder.
The subject is one which even the most
intelligent can only take in a little. We have no mind to grasp it
fully, and yet we must not neglect to consider the matter. Just as
there is an extremity in the heavens above us which the most
powerful telescope cannot penetrate, so there are heights and depths
about the subject of eternity which mortal man can never comprehend.
Yet we readily admit that we can learn something from the cosmos,
even if we cannot learn everything. In the same way, there is
something to be learned about eternity—and it becomes us to learn
it, because God has taken the trouble to make it known to us. It
would be folly to shut our minds to divine revelation. Astronomy is
marked to a very great degree with imagination and speculation, but
when we come to the subject of eternity these things have no place
whatsoever. We must always approach it with the Bible in our hands.
The moment we depart from God’s Word in considering eternity and the
future state of man, then we are sure to fall into error. We must
abandon all preconceived notions as to what we think God’s character
ought to be, and our thoughts on what He should do with man after
death. Our place is simply to bow to what is written. God is “the
high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, and whose name is Holy”
(Is. 57: 15), and, as such, His is the only voice that must be
heard.
We live in a world where all things are
temporary and passing away. Everything around us is decaying, dying,
and coming to an end. Even you and I are passing. We are all in the
departure lounge, whether eminent or unimportant, gentle or cruel,
rich or poor, old or young. We are all going and will soon be gone.
Beauty is only temporary. Sarah was once the fairest of women and
the admiration of the court of Egypt, and yet a day came when even
her husband said “give me a possession of a sepulchre with you, that
I may bury my dead from before me” (Gen. 23: 4). Strength of the
body is only temporary. David was once a mighty man of valour, the
slayer of the lion and the bear, the champion of Israel against
Goliath and yet a day came when even he had to be nursed and
ministered to like a child (see 1 Kings 1: 1-4). Wisdom and power of
the brain are only temporary. Solomon was once a marvel of
knowledge, and the kings of the earth came to hear his wisdom, but
in his latter days he played the fool and allowed his wives to turn
away his heart after their gods (see 1 Kings 11: 2). Humbling and
painful as these truths may sound, it is good for us to realize them
and take them to heart. The houses we live in, the riches we
accumulate, the professions we follow, the plans we formulate, the
relationships we enter into—they are all only for a time. Oh that we
might pay attention to the voice of Scripture: “The heaven and the
earth shall pass away, but my words shall in no wise pass away … the
fashion of this world passes … we look not at the things that are
seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are
seen [are] for a time, but those that are not seen eternal …Thou
in the beginning, Lord, hast founded the earth, and works of thy
hands are the heavens. They
shall perish, but thou
continuest still; and they all shall grow old as a garment, and as a
covering shalt thou roll them up” (Matt. 24: 35; 1 Cor. 7: 31; 2
Cor. 4: 18; Heb. 1: 10-12).
Eternity is the one thought that ought to
awaken the conscience and search the heart of anyone who is living
only for this world. Oh reader, be careful what you are doing! Awake
to see things in their true light before it is too late! The things
you live for now are all temporary and passing away. The pleasures,
the recreations, the profits and the earthly callings which now
absorb your heart and mind will soon be over. They are poor fleeting
things that cannot last. You cannot keep them, and you must leave
them, for we “brought nothing into this world” and “neither can we
carry anything out” (1 Tim. 6: 7). What says the Word of God? “Lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6: 20) and “seek the
things [which are] above, where the Christ is” (Col. 3: 1, 2). Never
forget that “the world is passing, and its lust, but he that does
the will of God abides for eternity” (1 John 2: 17).
The very same things ought to cheer and comfort
every true Christian. Your trials, crosses, and conflicts are all
temporary. They will soon come to an end, and even now they are
working for you “in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory”
(2 Cor. 4: 17). Receive your affliction patiently, bear it quietly
and look upward, forward, onward, and far beyond the troubles of
this scene. Fight the good fight under a steadfast conviction that
it is only for a little while and that your rest is not far off.
Carry your daily cross, while always remembering that “the things
that are seen [are] for a time” (2 Cor. 4: 18). The cross will soon
be exchanged for a crown, and you will sit down with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob in the kingdom of God.
Without exception, we are all moving towards a
world where everything is eternal. That great unseen state of
existence which lies beyond this life is unending. Whether it is
happy or miserable, whether it is a condition of joy or sorrow, we
know that in one respect it will be utterly unlike anything in this
world—it will be forever. There will be no change and decay, no end,
no goodbye, no morning and evening, no alteration, and no
annihilation. Whatever there is beyond the present scene, when the
last trumpet has sounded and the dead are raised, will be endless,
everlasting, and eternal for “the things that are not seen” are
“eternal” (2 Cor. 4: 18).
We cannot fully comprehend this condition. The
contrast between now and then and between this world and the next,
is so very great that our feeble minds cannot grasp it all. Yet how
we live our lives in this world brings consequences in the next that
are so momentous that they almost take away our breath, and we
shrink back from looking at them. And yet, God, in His grace, has
told us all we need to know about eternity, and for our own peace,
safety and happiness it is incumbent on us to listen to what He has
to say. Scientists, philosophers, and religious teachers can add
nothing of value to the divine revelation in our hands.
For one thing, let settle it in our minds that
the future happiness of those who are saved is eternal. However
little we may understand it, divine blessing is something that will
have no end. It will never cease, never grow old, never decay, and
never die. “Thou wilt make known to me the path of life: thy
countenance is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for
evermore” (Ps. 16: 11). Once they arrive in paradise, the saints of
God will never leave. Their inheritance is “incorruptible and
undefiled and unfading” (1 Pet. 1: 4). Their warfare is finished,
their fight is over and their work is done. Never again will they
hunger and never again will they thirst. They are not there yet, but
they are travelling on towards an eternal glory that far outweighs
all their struggles here, journeying towards a home which will never
be broken up, a meeting without a parting, a family gathering
without a separation, and a day without night. Faith will be
swallowed up in sight, and hope in possession. They will see as they
have been seen, and know as they have been known, and “shall be
always with [the] Lord”. We are hardly surprised when the apostle
Paul adds “So encourage one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:
17, 18).
Let us also settle it in our minds that the future misery of those
who are lost is also eternal. I am aware that this is an awful
truth, and flesh and blood naturally recoil from the contemplation
of it, but I am one of those who believe it is clearly revealed in
Scripture, so I dare not keep it back from souls. To my eyes eternal
future happiness and eternal future misery must stand side by side.
I fail to see how you can distinguish the duration of the one from
the duration of the other. If the joy of the believer is forever,
then the sorrow of the unbeliever is also forever. If heaven is
eternal, then so is hell. I cannot reconcile the concept of a
temporal punishment with the language of the Bible. The advocates of
the theory talk loudly about love and kindness, and say that eternal
damnation does not harmonize with the merciful and compassionate
character of God, but what do
the Scriptures say?
Whoever spoke such loving and merciful words as the Lord Jesus
Christ, and yet whose are the lips which three times over describe
hell as where the fire is “unquenchable” and the “worm dies not”
(Mark. 9: 43–48)? Who is unacquainted with Paul’s words about love
in 1 Cor. 13, and yet he is the very Apostle who says that “those
who do not obey the glad tidings of our Lord Jesus Christ ... shall
pay the penalty [of] everlasting destruction from [the] presence of
the Lord” (2 Thess. 1: 8, 9). Love again, is a thread that runs all
through all John’s Gospel and Epistles, and yet he also speaks
explicitly of the reality and eternity of future agony (see Rev. 20:
10–15). What will we say to all these things? Will we be wiser than
that which is written? Will we allow the dangerous principle that
words in Scripture do not mean what they appear to mean? Is it not
far better to put our hands over our mouths and say, ‘Whatever God
has written must be true’, that “Yea, Lord God Almighty, true and
righteous [are] thy judgments” (Rev. 16: 7)?
Let us distinctly understand that every blow
struck at the doctrine of eternal punishment is an equally heavy
blow to the eternity of heaven’s bliss. It is impossible to separate
the two things. No ingenious theological definition can divide them.
They stand or fall together. The same language is used, the same
figures of speech are employed. If we take away the fear of an
eternal hell from sinners, then we also remove the joy of an eternal
heaven from believers. We must not be wise above that which is
written. No love of liberality, so–called, must induce us to reject
anything that God has revealed about eternity. Men sometimes talk
exclusively about God’s mercy, love and compassion as if He had no
other attributes, and leave out His holiness, His purity, His
justice and His hatred of sin. Let us beware of falling into such a
delusion. Low and inadequate views of the absolute vileness of sin,
and of the indescribable purity of the eternal God, are fertile
sources of error about man’s future state. Let us think about the
mighty Being with whom we have to do: “Jehovah, Jehovah God merciful
and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin, but ...” (and there is a ‘but’) “by
no means clearing [the guilty]” (Exod. 34: 6, 7, my
emphasis). Again, “Jehovah is gracious and merciful; slow to anger,
and of great loving–kindness. Jehovah is good to all; and his tender
mercies are over all his works ... Jehovah upholdeth all that fall,
and raiseth up all that are bowed down ... Jehovah is righteous in
all his ways, and kind in all his works. Jehovah is nigh unto all
that call upon him, unto all that call upon him in truth. He
fulfilleth the desire of them that fear him; he heareth their cry,
and saveth them. Jehovah keepeth all that love him”. Nothing can
exceed the mercifulness of this language! But what a striking fact
it is that the passage goes on to add the solemn conclusion “and all
the wicked will He will destroy” (Ps. 145: 8, 9, 14, 17–20)!
How great is the contrast between our lives
down here and the unseen world of eternity! The life that we live on
the earth is short and soon gone. “We spend our years as a [passing]
thought … What [is] your life? It is even a vapour, appearing for a
little while, and then disappearing” (Ps. 90: 9; James 4: 14). Lying
before us when we leave this world is an endless eternity, a sea
without a bottom, and an ocean without a shore. “One day with [the]
Lord [is] as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2
Pet. 3: 8). In that world there will be no more time. But short as
our life is here, and endless as it will be in eternity, the life we
now live will have a tremendous impact on eternity:
our future state depends
entirely then on what we are in the present. It is written,
God will “render to each according to his works: to them who, in
patient continuance of good works, seek for glory and honour and
incorruptibility, life eternal. But to those that are contentious,
and are disobedient to the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [there
shall be] wrath and indignation, tribulation and distress, on every
soul of man that works evil … but glory and honour and peace to
every one that works good” (Rom. 2: 6–10). In case any should think
that the apostle is teaching salvation by works, pass on a few
verses to where he speaks about the natural state of man: “there is
not one that practises goodness, there is not so much as one” (Rom.
3: 12). No, it is only those that have been born again and are
obedient to the truth who can ever practise goodness in the eyes of
God. Thus if we are not saved in this world, we shall not be saved
in the next, and if we are lost in time, we shall be lost in
eternity. How vital these matters are—and how pressing! Life is
short and very uncertain. None of us knows what a day may bring
forth. Business and pleasure, making and spending money, eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage—all these will soon be
over and done with forever. What then, O traveller to that eternal
world, are you doing for your immortal soul? Are you prepared to
meet God?
Let me speak more particularly to those of my
readers who are believers. How much attention do you pay to
spiritual matters? I ask, because if we profess to believe in
eternal blessing with Christ, then we ought to live out our
profession. We are to be growing
now “in grace, and in
[the] knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3: 18)
for there will no growth in the hereafter. Paul says, “Be not
deceived: God is not mocked; for whatever a man shall sow, that also
shall he reap. For he that sows to his own flesh, shall reap
corruption from the flesh; but he that sows to the Spirit, from the
Spirit shall reap eternal life: but let us not lose heart in doing
good; for in due time, if we do not faint, we shall reap” (Gal. 6:
7–9). We need to remember this and make good use of our time,
because once it is gone it is gone forever. Hunger and thirst after
the things of God, for eternity will be filled with them, and
contain none of the worthless trivialities of this present life.
Flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.
Beware of mere formality in your Christianity, and never allow
divine things to be thoughtlessly treated or lightly and
irreverently handled. Read your Bible in the conscious knowledge
that it the most important thing you will ever read. Harbour no
grudges with God’s people, and settle matters of dispute in love and
in righteousness while you have time, knowing that the judgment seat
of Christ hastens on. Treat every gathering of God’s people as if it
were the last, for they are only “until he come” (1 Cor. 11: 26)—let
sleepy Bible–readings and perfunctory prayer meetings be no more!
The bridegroom cometh, let us go forth to meet him! Remember that we
are but strangers and pilgrims here, and that we are journeying to
an eternal world.
All else must be
secondary.
One final thought. Does the concept of eternity
sit easy with
you? Does it fill you
with fear and trepidation—or joyful anticipation? The believer has
Christ, and has life. He can look around at the temporary things and
see change and decay everywhere and yet have no fear. He has got
treasure in heaven, “where neither moth nor rust spoils, and where
thieves do not dig through nor steal” (Matt. 6: 20). He can look
forward to the eternal things and feel calm and composed. His
Saviour has died and risen for him, and has prepared a place for him
in the Father’s house. When he leaves this world he will have a
crown of glory, and be forever with his Lord. O I do hope that this
is
your portion in
eternity too!
