Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God “set eternity in the hearts of men.” Every human soul has a God-given awareness that there’s “something more” than this world. Yet we’e also told, “Yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” In other words, in his fallen state, man senses there ought to be something more than this world, but can’t discern what it is. So fallen man is left to wonder and wander.
But the good news is that our God is a God who has revealed Himself to us; and through that revelation, with the ultimate revelation being His coming to earth in the person of Christ, we can understand some things regarding eternity. Specifically, that God has provided the means whereby I might have a personal relationship with Him that I can begin to enjoy now and also enjoy through all eternity. God has provided the means whereby I might be rescued and redeemed.
The means whereby I can have a personal relationship with God, of course, is through accepting His provision for the forgiveness of my sins and the salvation provided by Christ’s death, burial & resurrection. If I reject God’s provision, however, I will continue to be separated from God now and will end up separated from Him for all eternity.
“Life is short; eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in light of eternity.” - Charles Spurgeon
Yes, eternity is long. Therefore it makes sense that the greatest business of this life is to determine where I will be in the next life; and an important factor in making this determination is to consider that eternity is, indeed, very long. But how long is eternity?
1. Eternity is long enough for unredeemed men and women to experience the depths of mankind’s depravity.
We can know from what Jesus said that hell is an eternal (Matthew 25:41), physical (Matthew 10:28), and horrifying (Mark 9:43) place where those who’ve rejected Christ (Daniel 12:2-3; Matthew 25:46;
John 5:28; Revelation 20:14-15) are headed, and from where Jesus came to rescue all who would believe in him (John 3:16-18).
When the last person to receive Christ has done so and the last person to reject Christ has done so, in that eternal moment, Christ will return. He will remove from this world, Satan, Satan’s influence, and Satan’s people. The Devil and his people will be cast into the lake of fire where the torment of hell will continue for all eternity.
A. Some Erroneous Views of Hell
1) The second chance view – After death there is still a way to escape hell. But the Bible teaches clearly that this is not so (Hebrews 9:27).
2) Universalism – All are eternally saved. But this denies the truth of salvation through Christ which means that a everyone must decide to trust Christ or else they reject Christ (John 3:16, 18; 3:36).
3) Annihilationism – The lake of fire being the second death means that all unbelievers will cease to exist. But this denies the need for the resurrection of the unsaved (John 5:28; Revelation 20:4-6). It also denies the teaching of the Bible regarding hell being a place of conscious torment (Matthew 13:50; Mark 9:48, Revelation 14:10).
Still, there is much debate on what hell is like because “the metaphors the Bible uses describe a reality that we can’t relate to. The descriptions of hell are an attempt to describe for us that which is indescribable.
B. How Does the Bible Describe Hell?
1) Separation from God - 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Matthew 25:41
“Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” - Romans 8:39 (NIV)
2) Darkness - Nahum 1:8; Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30; Jude 13; Revelation 16:10
“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” - John 12:46 (NIV)
3) Fire - Matthew 5:22; 13:42; 13:50; 18:8-9; 25:41; Mark 9:43, 48; Revelation 14:10
“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life’” - John 4:13-14 (NIV)
4) Gnashing of Teeth - Matthew 8:12; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28
“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV)
The idea of gnashing of teeth also contains the idea of determined rejection of the truth and rebellion against God.
“When they heard these things, they were enraged and gnashed their teeth at him.” - Acts 7:54 (CSB)
“Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live forever, and this must be either true or false. Now there are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only 70 years, but which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live forever. Perhaps my bad temper or my jealousy are gradually getting worse - so gradually that the increase in 70 years will not be very noticeable. But it might be absolute hell in a million years: in fact, if Christianity is true, hell is the precisely correct technical term for what it would be.” - C.S. Lewis
2. Eternity is long enough for redeemed men and women to experience the heights of mankind’s destiny.
“‘For indeed, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,’ says the Lord of Hosts, ‘not leaving them root or branches. But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.’” - Malachi - 4:1-2 (HCSB)
“The sun of righteousness” is a reference to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. The “wings” refer to the rays of a sun. The difference between how the believer and unbeliever will greet that day when they face Christ is remarkably contrasted here by Malachi. While the flames of righteousness complete the work of God’s deliverance in the believer, they will bring a day of destruction to the unbeliever.
The work the Lord will do in the lives of His children is described as a work of healing. When the Lord returns and eternity is ushered in:
A. The Lord will heal us spiritually - 2 Corinthians 5:21
“They are blameless.” - Revelation 14:5 (NIV)
B. The Lord will heal us emotionally - 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Each of us have “holes in our heart” from hurts we’ve experienced. This world is cruel; and often times, we’re wounded by things either intentionally or unintentionally done to us. Jesus provides a salvation whereby we will not only be made holy; but we will be made whole.
C. The Lord will heal us intellectually - 1 Corinthians 13:12
We will have the ability to understand and comprehend as never before.
D. The Lord will heal us relationally - 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
Do you have fellow believers with whom you’ve had irreconcilable conflict? Believers with whom you have had to part company? Paul did so with Barnabas (Acts 15:36-41). Sometimes in this life, there’s such a thing as irreconcilable differences. But in eternity, all those differences will be reconciled.
E. The Lord will heal us physically - 1 Corinthians 15:35-49
1) We will have an imperishable body – v. 42
Our physical bodies are “perishable,” subject to aging, disease, and death. Our resurrected bodies are imperishable. No one will ever age again and we will enjoy perfect health.
2) We will have a glorious body – v. 43a
There’s noble about the process of death. We put dead bodies away from us, out of sight. For the Old Testament Israelites, contact with a dead body made one unclean. Death was defiling. The resurrected body, however, is characterized by glory, not dishonor.
3) We will have a powerful body – v. 43b
Our body is weak and frail. Our resurrection bodies, though, will be characterized by power. Also, this could refer to the fact that Jesus’ resurrection body is not confined to space, and neither will ours’.
4) We will have a spiritual body – v. 44
Our resurrected body is a “spiritual” body. Not in the sense that they will not be physical, but in the sense that they will be specially suited for our life in eternity future. God will raise us up to live forever as resurrected beings in a society of resurrected beings, on a resurrected earth, with our resurrected Lord. And what a life it promises to be! Life will become more rich and fulfilling and UNIMPAIRED in the world to come than its ever been.
“In heaven we will be permitted to finish many of those worthy tasks which we had dreamed to do while on earth but which neither time nor strength nor ability allowed us to achieve.” - Wilbur Smith in The Biblical Doctrine of Heaven
Eternity will offer opportunities we wished for but never had. God’s original plan was for human beings to live happy and fulfilling lives. If our current lives are the only chance at that, God’s plan has been thwarted. But by the cross, God has reversed the curse of sin! In eternity, will will have been saved not just from sin’s penalty and power, but from sin’s presence. Imagine the quality of life that awaits us with sin no longer being a problem for the human race! In eternity, the body of Jesus will still has the scars He received on earth to remind us of why it will be possible for us, through all eternity, to live life with no more scars at all! (White Paper Redemption Video)
