Many locals were saddened when Santa Barbara’s daily newspaper filed for bankruptcy after 155 years.
In response, a local writer shared his thoughts on the death of the once greatly respected business while concluding with his personal opinion on human death as well.
Apparently, this opinion writer does not share my view on eternity and eternality.
Throughout Scripture, eternity and eternality are presented plainly to the reader of God’s inerrant Word.
Let’s start by going to Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
The Shema is the oldest Jewish prayer and you can see the significance of the soul from the very beginning of the Judeo-Christian faith. There is much written on the soul, but let me simply say we are talking about our very being!
Let’s look back to William Shakespeare’s often recited words from “As You Like It”: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely Players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His Acts being seven ages.”
The Bard goes on presenting his view of the seven stages of the normal life ending with our eventual demise.
I’ve always found his observation interesting and worthy of a good discussion. So, let’s talk about life here on this planet.
As always, let’s turn to our Resource Book — God’s Word. In Genesis, we read the account of God breathing life into Adam and then creating Eve from one of his ribs, which I believe was simply the miraculous transfer of DNA and creation of X and Y chromosomes.
This miraculous event has led to the human race made in the Image of God. That’s how life began and has gone on for thousands of years so far.
But that only explains our time here on earth, which is very limited in comparison to Eternity.
Yes, I get it. Eternity is hard to fathom, but it is promised and presented throughout Scripture.
Let’s turn to the words of King Solomon found in Ecclesiastes 3:9-11: “What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Let me share 1 John 5:11-13, which I have hidden in my heart through memorization for the past 35 years: “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Here’s the way I understand eternity and eternality: Our life here on earth prepares us for what lies ahead. God gives us free will to determine how we want to live eternally.
In His eternality, God is self-sufficient, but His Heart for His creation desires that we might truly want an intimate relationship with Him eternally.
We can choose to accept His wonderful plan of salvation or take a self-centered approach denying His very existence.
That choice, which must be made during our short-lived existence, will determine an everlasting relationship with our Heavenly Father or an eternal self-induced damnation without any future contact with Him forever.
Here’s the good news. If you are reading this, it’s not too late to accept God’s plan of salvation and start living a life filled with the most rewarding relationship available to humankind.
There are many followers of Christ who will gladly share that plan of salvation with you. Ask around and do read the Passages to Ponder that follow.