FIVE THINGS TRUE ABOUT ETERNITY A. Eternity is the matter of life after death. 1. Solomon informed us that God put eternity in our hearts; He wants us to know that we are more than just physical beings (Ecc 3:11). B. Understanding eternity is important because what we believe about it will influence our actions. 1. Those who don t believe in life after death believe that life is a cosmic accident. a. So they live for today OR to make the world a better place for their children 2. Many people just make up their own mental picture of eternity. 3. In the religion of Scientology, it is taught that matter is eternal & that we are all part of a universal consciousness. 4. All religions have their various concepts of eternity - & those concepts influence the actions of those who believe them. 5. But we put our faith in the One who rose from the dead, & what He says about eternity. a. In the parables of Jesus, He gives us a glimpse into eternity. Matt 13:49-50 (Parable of the Dragnet) So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 & cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing & gnashing of teeth. In the Parable of the wheat & tares, Jesus said the just were as wheat that would be gathered into God s barn (Matt 13:30). [Jesus has much more to say on the subject of eternity. In fact, He states five truths about life after death.] 1
I. RESURRECTION A. Physical death does not end a person s existence. [The Lord spoke of a resurrection because He wants us to know that there is more to life & death than this mortal existence. Secondly, in eternity, there is ] John 5:28-29 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 & come forth those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, & those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. II. JUDGMENT Matt 22:29-32 Jesus answered & said to them [Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife], You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, & the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Acts 24:15 (Paul before Felix) I have hope in God, which they themselves [his Jewish opponents] also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. 2 1. Currently, those who have left the physical body are awaiting that event just as are we (Luke 16). In a city in Spain where Christopher Columbus died there is a statue in honor of him. At the bottom of that statue there are three Latin words & a lion is eating the 1 st word. The three Latin words are Nay Plus Ultra or, in English, No More Beyond. For centuries, Spain believed there was nothing beyond Spain. Spain was the end of the inhabited earth. But that statue has a lion eating the word, No because Columbus showed there is More Beyond! ( Plus Ultra ) A. Many want to see Jesus as a man who never judged or condemned anyone. 1. He just loved everyone so much that He wouldn t do anything to hurt someone s feelings. 2. But that picture of Jesus is not the one we see in the New Testament. John 8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. Matt 11:20-24 Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: 21 Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been
done in Tyre & Sidon [Syrian cities], they would have repented long ago in sackcloth & ashes. 22 But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre & Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. Matt 12:34-37 Brood of vipers! [Pharisees: attributed Jesus miracles to Beelzebub] How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, & an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, & by your words you will be condemned." Matt 12:38-41 Then some of the scribes & Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered & said to them, "An evil & adulterous generation seeks after a sign, & no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days & three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days & three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation & condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; & indeed a greater than Jonah is here. Heb 9:27 It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment [Not only that, but on that Day of Judgment, when eternity for us has begun, there will be ] III. SEPARATION A. God will separate those who were faithful & obedient to His Son from those who were not. A young man came up to Illinois senator Everett Dirksen at one of his campaign stops & said, Senator Dirksen, I would not vote for you if you were St. Peter! Senator Dirksen replied, Young man, if I were St. Peter, you couldn t vote for me because you would not be in my district. There is a point I want to make from that incident B. Judgment day is not just a day for criminals, childmolesters, rapists, drug pushers, polygamists & murderers. 1. On the Judgment Day, God will remove all the lines of delineation that men have created. 3 1. But Jesus assured us that every one of us will be judged on that day (2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11-15). a. Catholic/Protestant b. Democrat/Republican c. Liberal/Conservative d. Jewish/Muslim/Buddhist/Hindu
2. In eternity, Jesus Christ will make one great separation, not by party lines, which will last forever & ever. Matt 25:31-33 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, & all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, & He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 3. Jesus said nothing about a 3 rd group who were very close to doing the right thing, to those who were almost persuaded. 1. How can this be? Because when Jesus makes that separation, the important thing will not be whether we knew Him, but whether He knew us. 2. And He will only recognize us on that day if we had been doing His Father s will. [Following the judgment & the separation of all humanity, in eternity there will be a consignment of souls to their eternal destinies.] B. Jesus also taught that on the Day of Judgment a lot of people claiming to be Christians would be separated from those who truly were. Matt 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, & done many wonders in Your name? 23 And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! IV. HEAVEN A. A few hours before His disciples experienced their greatest sense of loneliness & loss, Jesus spoke to them of heaven. John 14:1-3 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go & prepare a place for you, I will come again & receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4
Matt 25:34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world 46 And these will go away into eternal life. 1. Heaven is a prepared place for those who are prepared to be in the presence of God. [But when Jesus talked about eternity, He didn t just talk about Heaven, which brings us to the fifth point Jesus made about eternity; those who are not consigned to Heaven will be sent to Hell.] V. HELL B. The Scripture uses many beautiful metaphors of heaven: a street of gold, gates of pearl, crowns on our heads but two of my favorites are a city, & white robes. 1. A city brings to mind a sense of community or fellowship, & the absence of loneliness. 2. White robes make us think of a place where defilements of sin no longer trouble us. 3. But the best thing about Heaven is that it gives us a greater capacity to do the one thing we want to do more than anything else to have fellowship with God. A. At the end of the parable of the sheep & goats, the scene of the Judgment Day. Matt 25:41 Then He [the King, the Son of Man] will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil & his angels: 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment. Hell was not prepared for people. Hell was prepared for the devil & his angels. For a person to go to hell, then, is for a person to go against God s intended destiny. The Scriptures say that God has not destined us to the terrors of judgment but to full attainment of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Hell is man s choice; not God s choice. Consider then this explanation of hell. Hell is a chosen place of the person who loves self more than God, who loves sin more than his Savior, who loves this world more than God s world. Judgment is that moment when God looks at the rebellious & says, Your choice will be honored! (Lucado) 5
B. Allow me to give you a few examples of the attitudes of those who are bound for that terrible place. 2. Fire & gnashing of teeth An uncomfortable place of total, unending, misery (Mk 9:44, 46, 48; Matt 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). Looking out for #1 On the dedication page the author wrote, This book is dedicated to the hope that somewhere in the universe there exists a civilization whose inhabitants possess soul domain of their own lives. Ted Turner (Dallas Morning News) Christians are all a bunch of losers. I don t want anybody to die for me. I ve had a few drinks & a few girlfriends, & if that s going to send me to hell then so be it. Robert Ingersol (agnostic) In a lecture, he was going to prove that hell was just a myth started by preachers trying to keep people in chains of ignorance. Halfway through his lecture a drunken man stood up & said, Bob, preach it harder because if you re wrong we re all lost! a. If you are in a state of inconsolable pain & in a place of total darkness, then you don t care who is around, you may not even notice them. 3. But as bad as Hell is, the worst thing about that place is that God will not be there. C. Jesus is the only preacher who has ever seen Hell to know the horror of it; & He used frightening metaphors to describe that place. [I know it may be hard to understand how God, Who is the Source & essence of all that is good & holy, could allow such a place to exist, but Jesus said it does in eternity.] 6 1. Outer Darkness A place of total isolation from God; total abject loneliness, for eternity (Matt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). a. Someone says, No, all my friends will be there, & most of my family. To say there is not hell is to say that God has no justice, no sense of right & wrong, & I venture to say no love. For true love hates what is evil. Hell is the ultimate expression of a just Creator. Everyone must die one & be judged. Eternity is to be taken seriously. A judgment is coming. Our task on earth is singular. To chose our eternal home. You can afford many wrong choices in life. You can choose the wrong career & survive. You can choose the wrong city to live in & survive. You can choose the wrong house & survive. You can even choose the wrong mate & survive, but there is one choice that must be made correctly & that is your eternal destiny. (Lucado)
CLOSING To understand the seriousness of eternity, we must understand that God is all holy or separate from all that is evil - & He is all love (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:8, 16). Some day we will stand before His brightness & holiness, & only then will we fully comprehend the horrors of our sins & the power of Jesus blood. What we believe about eternity should have an effect on the way we live our lives now (2 Pet 3:11). Jesus is deeply concerned that you & I are prepared for the certainty of eternity. His last words before He returned through eternity s curtain were intended to prepare us to follow Him on that journey (Mark 16:15-16). 7