Eternity

In God's Word, the Bible, it tells us that we will all have an appointment with a physical death. It is undeniable that with time our bodies age and decay and eventually die, however God created us with souls, which live eternally. It says in Hebrews 9:27 "And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." Our souls will be judged after we die, and we will be sent to either heaven or hell to spend the rest of eternity. Do you know where your soul will go after it is judged?

Heaven is a place of perfection. It is where God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe resides and the eternal home for the believer, there will be no pain, sorrow, sickness, death, disappointments, etc.... It is a city of pure gold, gates of pearl, walls of precious stones, peace, rest and safety.

Revelation 21:4, 11-27  "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away...Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;¹² And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:¹³ On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.¹⁴ And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.¹⁵ And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.¹⁶ And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.¹⁷ And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.¹⁸ And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.¹⁹ And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;²⁰ The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.²¹ And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.²² And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.²³ And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.²⁴And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.²⁵ And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.²⁶ And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.²⁷ And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."

Hell is a place of penalty. It is a place of everlasting torment, and the eternal home for unbelief. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, fire that will never cease, and there will be no rest day or night, and there will be worms that will not die. This can be found in the verses below.

Revelation 20:13-15 "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.¹⁴ And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.¹⁵ And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." 

Revelation 20:10 "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."  

Matthew 13:50 "And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." 

Revelation 14:11 "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever recieveth the mark of his name."

Mark 9:43-48 "⁴³ And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:⁴⁴ Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.⁴⁵ And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:⁴⁶ Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.⁴⁷ And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:⁴⁸ Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

The answer of where you would want to spend eternity is easy, not many would desire hell to be the place they spend their eternity. The Bible goes on to tell who gets to go to heaven, and who gets to go to hell when they die. In Revelation 21:8 it gives a list of the type of people that will be found in hell. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and socerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Some of these types of people might be obvious (murderers, abominable), but the first two may be surprising "the fearful, and unbelieving..." This verse explains that you do not have to be a "bad person", to be destined for hell. Simply unbelief in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, can lead to an eternity of torment in hell. The key to getting to spend eternity in heaven, and not hell, isn't based on how good or bad you are. The deciding factor is your recognition of Jesus as your Savior (Only one who can save you from hell.) This can be seen throughout the New Testament, two specific examples are:

John 3:36 "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but rather the wrath of God abideth on him."

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast."

You may wonder why we need a Savior.  We need saved because of our sin natures that we are born with. Sin is anything we think, do, or say that displease God. Think about a newborn baby, when they get hungry they begin to cry, telling the mother and father it is time to feed the child. However if a couple minutes have passed and food is not provided, the crying turns to screaming and anger. Who taught this child to be angry, when they do not get their way? Do each mother and father teach their newborn child how to be angry when not fed immediately, or rather do we spend our time teaching them to be patient? It is not a sin for the child to cry in hunger, crying is the baby's only form of communication, but when the crying turns to screaming and their face is red with anger, this has crossed over to sin. All people are born sinning without someone having to teach them.

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one." 

Everyone that is honest with themselves can see they fit into this category, whether it was a moment of selfishness, pride, anger, lying, or rudeness, etc...no matter how fleeting and seemingly insignificant. If you notice sin includes our thoughts. Have you ever thought an unkind thought about someone, or said a bad word in your head? That is sin, and it is this sin, that keeps us from entering into eternity, in heaven. There is only one man who has lived on this earth in perfection and sinlessness, and that is Jesus Christ. Our, your Creator, He came just as He said thousands of years before, to die and rise again for you and me. God has to punish all sin, otherwise, He would not be just. We cannot fix our sin by ourselves, no matter how small it may be.

Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities , like the wind, have taken us away."

The absolute best that we can be is still a filthy rag. Imagine buying the best ingredients to make muffins (blueberry ones of course), every ingredient purchased, was the best that was offered, but as you mixed the batter together, a drop of lethal poison was added. It won't matter how good the rest of the ingredients are, or how closely you follow the recipe, that one drop of poison taints the entire batch of muffins. That tiny drop, of lethal poison is the sole factor keeping the muffins from being edible.  So it is with us, even if we only had one tiny sin and the rest of our life was spent being perfect, we are still sinners at best. That one sin taints us, making us unable to enter into heavens' gates.

The good news is that God did not create you, simply to send you to hell and torment. He created us for His pleasure.

Revelation 4:11 "Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

Jesus, God's Son, loves us and He willingly came to the earth, as a man, to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus paid the punishment we deserve. Jesus' blood is perfect and sinless. His sinless blood can cover and pay for our sins. The best news is, not only is your sin paid for, but that Jesus rose again the third day.

1Corinthians 15:3b-4 "....how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"

Jesus has risen, He has conquered death, sin, and most of all Satan. There is nothing more powerful then Him.

 John 10:28-30 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. ³⁰ I and my Father are one."

My friend it is done, all that is required to cover our sins, to give us a free ticket into heaven, is done. Jesus paid it all, you simply have to accept it. If you were offered a gift, it would not become yours until you received it. If you chose to not accept the gift, it would not be yours, you could not claim title to it. Salvation, is the free gift Jesus is offering you, it is not earned. It is the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins, but you have to accept it.

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast."

How do we accept this gift? It tells the answer in Romans 10:9-10 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

In order to be saved we have to confess with our mouths, and believe in our hearts that we are sinners. We have to confess and believe that we cannot get to heaven by our own merit, but that because Jesus loves us, He died and rose again the third day, paying our punishment for each and every sin we have committed, and will commit. If we do those two things (confessing and believing) we receive the gift Jesus is offering us, and God promises we will be saved, sealing the fate of our eternity to be spent in heaven.

All you have to do is accept Jesus as your personal Savior through a simple prayer (confession by your mouth of the things that you believe in your heart.)

Dear Jesus,

I know that I am a sinner, I know that I cannot get to heaven by myself, I believe that you died on the cross for me and my sin and that you rose again the third day. I believe you alone are the way to heaven, please come into my heart and save me, be my Savior. Thank you for loving me and dying for me and saving me. Amen

If you sincerely meant the prayer as you prayed it, you are forever sealed. There is nothing you do, or anyone that can change the promise God has given you.

Ephesians 4:30 "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."  

Do not wait to get saved, the Bible warns us to not put off accepting His gift, we are not promised another opportunity.

Proverbs 27:1 "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."

If you were to walk through a cemetery, how many of the deceased, knew they were going to die when they did? Not many people that have passed, could have said, they woke up their final morning knowing it would be there last, that they were living their final day, and knew they would not have another opportunity to seal their eternity.

2 Corinthians 6:2 "(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)" 

Today is the day God intended for you to be saved, accept His free gift, and be a 100% sure where you will spend your eternity.