Have you ever waited for a special date? I mean a number on the calendar? When a child, December 25th for example? Or one’s birthday?
Oh, how time can seem to barely crawl, dragging along at a mere snail’s pace!
A week can seem like a month! And a month like a year!
And this particular phenomenon of time is all the more dramatic when I read verses like the well-known John 3:16.
I’m sure you’ve memorized it … “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE.” (Notice the deliberately capitalized words, please.)
This expression means “reaching into an era that never ends!” Where there will never be the 25th of any month! Not even a calendar on the wall of a single mansion! Wonder of wonders … “everlasting!”
No aging it seems, either! Perennially alive with “glorified” bodies like that of Jesus Himself, the Resurrected and Ascended Lord Jesus! Like Him, Preacher Bagwell?
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change OUR vile body, that it may be fashioned LIKE UNTO HIS GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Philippians 3:20-21, what a Promise!
Wow!
This is exactly what Jesus offers to those who believe … “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall NEVER PERISH.” John 10:28, there it is again! Irregardless of time, which may not even exist in that indescribable eternal state! In Heaven, in Glory!
Now, think of the longest week you ever lived, or month or year! Then compound that time span into infinity (or further if possible). And that’s how long we will be in Heaven with Jesus! (Technically in New Jerusalem, according to Revelation chapters 21 and 22.)
What Bliss!
Yes, once Jesus comes to get us … “And so shall we EVER be with the Lord.” Thus Paul writes in 1st Thessalonians 4:17.
But there is a correspondingly bleak side to this Truth, horrible to contemplate! For those who know not God, who have rejected Jesus His Son … “They shall be punished with EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2nd Thessalonians 1:9, what horror of horrors! Never ending destruction!
No “end” in sight, because “ends” do not exist in eternity!
Think … the next time the clock or calendar just barely “inches” along in your life! Then transfer that earthly thought into a heavenly (or hellish) thought! WHERE WILL YOU LIVE ETERNALLY?
Which brings us right back to where we stated, John 3:16!
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.” What a verse!
Now, think (ponder, pray) some more, dear friends!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Listen to Jesus preach, teach … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath EVERLASTING LIFE, and shall not come into condemnation; but IS PASSED from death unto life.” John 5:24
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