By Van Yandell
Romans 6: 23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Memories of my school years bring back nightmares of boredom. Bored was not a word I would have dared use. Had it been, an immediate task would have been issued to end that awful condition!
The thoughts of the hours that seemed like days, the weeks that seemed like years and the years that seemed like eternity haunt my brain. On sleepless nights I find myself at the keyboard in the early morning hours while normal people are asleep. The normal do not have the terror of those memories of a forced existence.
I sat at a school desk and unfortunately, schools back then had windows for me to stare and daydream. Teachers occasionally called my name and said “Van, come back.” They did not know exactly where I was but they knew I was not there.
My heart longed for the forests and fields, the creeks and lakes where the wildlife prowled and the pure excitement and purpose of life existed perpetually.
Visions of a largemouth bass exploding out of the water or a covey of quail flushing filled my mind. An imagined hike through a not previously explored forest took me out of my horrible existence.
Time stood still in those classrooms. The winter months dragged on for centuries. When spring time finally came in western Kentucky, my dissatisfaction with my existence intensified.
Trouble was my middle name and it was mostly because of my non-chosen life. I’ve heard preachers say, “We deserve death and hell.” Believe me, I thought I was there!
In the 1960’s we had no cell phones or other electronic devices to occupy our time. Many of us believe those were better times. Young people had personalities. Finally, after all those centuries of grade school and high school we had focus and purpose.
Life had a plan. Superfluous endeavors, because we lived with our heads in the clouds, were not allowed. Actually, no one ever thought of such an existence simply because it made no sense.
Time is an interesting concept. Why do our activities or existence in a particular case make time seem different? Where are our hearts? What do we feel? Why is our existence as individuals as different as the way we look or think?
The life span of the average American male is a little under seventy-six years and for women is slightly over eighty-one years. In the span of eternity, that time is insignificant and the “twinkling of an eye.”
Must we be focused on the here and now? Perhaps our attention should be given to an eternal consequence.
The Holy Bible, the Word of God revealed to us, states the eternal concept numerous times. The Hebrew word “olam” essentially refers to “eternity” or “everlasting.” It is impossible to state a number of times those words/concepts appear in the Bible.
The many translations/versions of the Bible make stating such a number or references to eternal life impossible. We can, however, assume the concept of eternity a reality because of the many times it is referred to in God’s word.
The Bible states conclusively that we are spiritual beings. 1 Corinthians 6: 19 “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
Genesis 1: 27 states we are created in God’s image. That must be spiritual image because we know we do not look like God. He is spirit and our bodies are flesh and blood, bone and skin.
Matthew 3: 11 states Jesus will baptize the believer with the Holy Spirit and Acts 19; 2-6 indicates an indwelling of the spirit in believers.
How long is a year but more importantly, how long is eternity? Eternity has no end! We humans do most everything in our lives on a time schedule. To relate to an eternal existence is next to impossible for us because our minds are not conditioned to that thinking.
Can we answer the question “How long is eternity?” It is of course impossible because eternity has no end. If eternity is reality as the Bible states, it has to be both in the future and the past.
Has God always existed? Psalm 90: 2 says He has! “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
We find an inconsistency here with Genesis 1: 1 and John 1: 1. The words “In the beginning” in those verses may have been stated for our limited human understanding because if God is eternal and Jesus was/is God (John 1: 1-3), there was no beginning as we understand the concept of time. Perhaps it is referring to the planet earth or solar system.
Knowing full well, we do not have to know or understand everything, we must assume God has a reason for stating such things as this.
So, on what does our eternity hinge and what is our path to this “eternity” as the Bible conclusively states does exist in our future?
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.”
A key word in John 3: 16 is “believe.” That seems simple enough but is it? Since our human minds do not relate to anything that has no end, perhaps the believing only happens in the rare human with infinite faith.
How do we measure faith? We cannot! There is no instrument; we cannot plumb it or square it. There is no comparative rationale with which we can justify our position on the subject. Faith is a concept and essentially means believing in something one cannot prove. But by faith we exist! We cannot prove we will be alive one hour from now.
Christians must promote, preach and teach the fundamental of the Gospel. If we do not, no one will and the pagan religions will occupy the world and Christ will be lost.
We must always teach that eternal salvation is attained by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) in Christ Jesus crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (1 John 1: 9), resurrected (Matthew 28: 6) and ascended alive in to Heaven (Acts 1: 9). Maybe someone will read and believe.
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary. His email is vmy3451@gmail.com.
