ETERNITY WITH CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 19, 2023.

SUBJECT: ETERNITY WITH CHRIST!

Memory verse: "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come (Hebrews 13 vs 14.)

READ: John 14 vs 1 - 2:

14:1: Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

14:2: 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.

14:3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

INTIMATION:

What is it going to be like in eternity with Christ? Although the details of eternity are unknown, we need not fear because Jesus is preparing for the believers and will spend eternity with them. There are few verses in Scripture that describe everlasting life, but these few verses are rich with promises. For instance, the apostle Paul, in First Corinthians 2 vs 9 stated, "But it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

Frankly, the capacity of of our brains cannot handle the wonder and greatness of life in eternity with Christ. It will be trying to describe the Internet to an ant. He will create a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65 vs 17; Revelation 21 vs 1), and the believers will live with Him forever. There will be no more death, sickness, lack, want etc. The Bible, in Revelation chapter 21 reveals the idea of the home God is preparing for His children. Words have not been invented that could adequately convey the experience of eternity.

It is a common knowledge that the only time people think about eternity is at funerals, and then it's often shallow, sentimental thinking based on ignorance. Most people feel it's morbid to think about death, but actually it's unhealthy to live in denial of death, and not consider what is inevitable. The Bible in Ecclesiastes 7 vs 2 noted, "Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart." 

The most damaging act of contemporary living is short-term thinking. To make the most of your life, you must keep eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. The child of God is a citizen of heaven where the child enjoys the best of life unlimited. The devil is not a citizen of heaven, and cannot access such life hence his efforts to drag people to his side of total misery. There is far more to life than just here and now! 

We know that right now God is preparing an eternal home for the believers. In heaven, they put on their celestial bodies (Spiritual bodies (First Corinthians 15 vs 40 & 44)), they will be reunited with the departed loved ones who were believers, released from all pains and suffering, rewarded for our faithfulness on earth, and reassigned to do work that they will enjoy doing. They will enjoy unbroken fellowship with God, and He will enjoy them for an unlimited, endless time forever. One day Jesus will say, "Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." (Matthew 25 vs 34.) 

Every moment the believers spend in this earthly bodies is time spent away from their eternal home in heaven with Jesus. The time they spend on this earth, if measured against eternity, is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of the life on earth will last forever. This calls for serious caution noting that the deeds of this life are the destiny of the next. 

God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn't end here. His plan involves far more than the few decades you will live on earth here. God offers you opportunity to live with him beyond your lifetime on earth. The Bible says in Psalm 33 vs 11, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of His heart to all generations." His plans are forever, and His promises last eternally.

Just as the nine months you spent in your mother's womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for life, so is life on earth, a preparation for life in eternity with God, or without God. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don't need to fear death. It is the door to eternity. Death will be the last hour of your time on earth, but certainly not the last of you. Rather than being the end of your life, it will be your birthday into eternal life. 

Against this backdrop, It is therefore, wise to listen to the counsel of most preachers, ‘Prepare yourself each day in life for eternity, living as if each day is your last day of your life on earth, being ready at all times to meet with your Creator.’

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to be with You forever. Give me the grace to always have this consciousness in me, being ready at all times to meet with You, that I may receive my crown of glory, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!