Eternal Life

Introduction

In this series of sermons based on the Apostles’ Creed, we’ve thought about God the Father almighty, the maker of heaven and earth. And we’re thought about Jesus Christ, God’s Only Begotten Son, our Lord, And we’ve thought about his humiliation and how he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary; and how he suffered under Pontius Pilate and was crucified, died, and was buried and descended to hell in the sense that he really did die and was kept under the power of death for a time. And we’ve also thought about his exaltation and how he rose from the dead on the third day; and he ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father almighty; and he will come again to judge the living and the dead. And we’ve thought about the Holy Spirit and the church; and the communion of saints; and the forgiveness of sins; and the resurrection of the body. We’ve spent seven weeks on those things; and today we’re thinking about eternal life. Believers confess that we believe in the life everlasting.

As I said last week, whenever believers die, their bodies return to dust whereas their souls — which do not die or become unconscious — are made perfect in holiness and are received into the highest heavens where they behold God in his glory. But this is not the final state. This is not how they will spend eternity. This is only the intermediate state. It’s only for the time-being. And it’s only for the time-being, because we’re waiting for Christ to return in glory and with power. When he comes, he will raise our bodies from the grave; and they will be reunited with our souls; and we’ll transformed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. And we will be with the Lord in body and soul forever. That’s the final state. The final state begins when Christ returns and raises our bodies from the grave.

And we’re going to be thinking about that final state this evening: eternal life in the presence of God. Our Shorter Catechism asks, ‘What is man’s chief end?’ What are we ultimately for? What’s our ultimate purpose? ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.’ And we will enjoy him forever in the life everlasting to come.

But before we get to eternal life, I want to lay a foundation and to gather together some ideas from the Bible which support what we believe about eternal life.

God’s blessedness

And the first part of the foundation is God’s blessedness.

Not so long ago I did a series on Wednesday evenings on the attributes of God to answer the question, ‘What is God like?’ What is God like? He is a se which means he’s independent and doesn’t rely on anyone or anything outside himself; and he’s simple which means he’s not made up of parts; and he’s impassible which means he’s not affected by anything outside himself; and he’s eternal; and he’s omnipresent; and omnipotent; and he knows all things; and he’s holy; and good; and just. We studied all of those things.

And the last attribute we studied is God’s blessedness. God’s blessedness is his happiness. God is infinitely, eternally and unchangeably happy. So, there are no limits to his happiness; and his happiness doesn’t run out or come to an end; and it never diminishes. He is always happy. As one writer puts it, God is above all worlds in the happy land of the Trinity.

And this attribute is really the culmination of all the other attributes, because if we were to think about all of God’s attributes and then ask what word could we use to describe the being who possesses all of these attributes perfectly, the most suitable word is the word ‘blessed’.

Think about it. We rely on other people and they let us down and that makes us sad or it frustrates us. But God does not rely on anyone or anything and he’s never in need because he possesses all things in himself. Other people upset us or hurt us or harm us by the things they say and do. But God is not affected by anyone or anything outside himself and he does not suffer in any way. We do things which we know are wrong and afterwards we feel bad about it. But God is good and he never does anything wrong which might make him feel bad about himself. We worry about the future, but God does not worry about the future, because he’s determined everything that will happen. We’re frustrated because we can’t be in two places at once or because we run out of time. But God is present everywhere all at once; and he’s eternal so that he never runs out of time. There are things we don’t know and our ignorance gets us into trouble or difficulties. But God knows all things perfectly.

There are all kinds of things which spoil our happiness. But God is not like us. He is infinitely, eternally and unchangeably happy. He is eternally in a state of delight.

And wouldn’t it be great to be like that?

The Tree of Life

That’s the first part of our foundation. The second part of the foundation is the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

When God made Adam, he placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. And in the Garden there was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and there was the Tree of Life. God warned Adam not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. He may eat the fruit from the other trees in the Garden, but he must not eat from the Tree of Knowledge, ‘for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.’

So, the Tree of Knowledge was in the Garden to test Adam’s obedience. Would he or would he not obey the command of the Lord? If he disobeyed God’s command, then he and all his descendants would surely die. But what would happen if he obeyed? If he obeyed, he and his descendants would enjoy eternal life in the presence of God, which was signified by the Tree of Life.

The Garden of Eden was not meant to be Adam’s permanent home. It was for the time-being only, while Adam underwent this trial. And if he had been successful, then he would have been allowed to eat from the Tree of Life and enter the higher, the unchangeable, the eternal life (Vos) which was to be secured by Adam’s obedience. The Tree of Life signified God’s promise of eternal life in his presence.

And, of course, Adam failed the test. Instead of obeying God’s command and receiving the right to eat from the Tree of Life, he disobeyed God and he ate the forbidden fruit. He therefore forfeited the right to eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in the presence of God. And since he was our head, who represented us, then what happened to him affects us all. And since he fell into a state of sin and misery, then we fell too.

People, place and presence

Related to that part of the foundation is the next part which is the three Ps which I often mention. The three Ps are people, place and presence.

One way to sum up the whole of the Bible is to say that it’s all about what God has done to bring together these three Ps so that God’s people will be in the place God has prepared for them, where they will enjoy God’s presence forever. So, in the beginning, God’s people were Adam and Eve; and they were in the Garden which God had prepared for them; and they enjoyed God’s presence in their midst, because he would come and walk in the Garden in the cool of the day. But having forfeited the right to eat from the Tree of Life, they were sent away from God’s presence.

Later on in the Old Testament, we see how God led the Israelites from Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land. And there, in the Promised Land, Solomon built a temple for the Lord. And so, we have God’s people in the place he had prepared for them, enjoying his presence in their midst. However, because of their sin and unbelief, God sent the people into exile away from the Promised Land.

But God — who is gracious and merciful and who does not treat us as our sins deserve — did not abandon them forever. In the days of Nehemiah and Ezra, he brought his people back to the place he had prepared for them and they rebuilt the temple. However, this was once again a temporary arrangement which foreshadowed God’s eternal plan to bring all his people — everyone who trusts in Christ — into the Promised Land of Eternal Life, where they will enjoy his presence in their midst forever.

The incarnation

And the final part of the foundation is the incarnation of the Son of God. In John’s gospel chapter 1 we read that the Word — which is how John refers to God the Son — became flesh and dwelt among us; and we have seen his glory. So, God the Son became flesh. He became one of us. And John says we have seen his glory. Whose glory had they seen? They saw God’s glory, because the Word who had come from God is God. And so, when the people saw him, they saw God’s glory.

And let me take you to John 14, where one of the disciples said to the Lord Jesus: ‘Show us the Father….’ And the Lord Jesus said in reply that whoever has seen him has seen the Father. So, the disciples wanted to see the Father. And the Lord tells them that they have — in a sense — seen the Father, because there’s no difference between the Father and the Son. And the Lord went on to explain that he is in the Father and the Father is in him. In other words, they indwell one another, because the Father and the Son — along with the Spirit — are one God. And so, whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father, because there’s no difference between them. They are one God.

The writer to the Hebrews makes a similar point where he says about the Son that he is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s being. That is to say, the Son has come from the Father; and there’s an exact correspondence between the Father and the Son. The Son is the image of the Father. He’s not different from the Father, but he’s a repetition of the Father.

That was true from all eternity, because from all eternity the Son was the radiance of God’s glory. And it is still true after the incarnation, because the Lord said that whoever has seen him has seen the Father.

Moses once asked to see God’s glory. At that time the Lord said that whoever sees his face will not live. But then God the Son came to earth as one of us. And when people looked at him, they were looking at God, because that’s who he is. Not everyone realised they were looking at God. To most, he was just an ordinary man. But God revealed to some that this man was God.

Summary

That’s the foundation. God is infinitely, eternally and unchangeably happy. So, wouldn’t it be great to be like that? And the Tree of Life signified God’s promise of eternal life in his presence. And the whole of the Bible is about God’s plan to bring all of God’s people into the place he has prepared for them, where they will enjoy his presence forever. And whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father, because the Son is from the Father and is a repetition of the Father.

Now that we’ve laid the foundation, let’s think about eternal life. And eternal life means God’s people will come into the place he has prepared for us; and we will see God; and we will become like him.

The place God has prepared

Let’s think about the place he has prepared for us. The place he has prepared for us is the new heaven and earth. That is to say, it’s a renewed heaven and earth. While there are some statements in the Bible which might suggest that this heaven and earth will be destroyed and replaced with something completely new, it’s more accurate to say that the present heaven and earth, spoiled by sin, will be renewed. Since God made the heaven and earth and loves it, then he will not abandon it, but will transform it. In fact, the Greek word John uses in Revelation 21 for a new heaven and a new earth does not mean another heaven and another earth, but a renewed heaven and earth, or a rejuvenated heaven and earth, a heaven and earth which has been put right and made pristine and perfect with nothing to spoil it in any way. It will not just be restored, but it will be transformed. So, just as we will be raised from the dead with the same body as we now have, but our bodies will be transformed, so the new heaven and earth will be the same as the heaven and earth we have now, but they will be transformed.

So, when Christ returns, this heaven and earth will be renewed. And in verse 3 of Revelation 21 a loud voice declares that, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people….’ And so, in the life to come, in the new heaven and earth, God’s people will be with the Lord. This will be the fulfilment of the three Ps which I mentioned earlier, because all of God’s people will be in the place God has prepared for them, where they will enjoy his presence in their midst. And this also means we will enter the higher eternal life, which Adam forfeited because of his disobedience, but which God has accomplished because of his obedience.

Seeing God

And there, in the new heaven and earth, we will see the Lord.

The hope of seeing God in the life to come appears in various places in the Bible. In Job 19, Job said that after his skin is destroyed, ‘yet in my flesh I shall see God’. At the end of Psalm 17, David said to God: ‘As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.’ In Psalm 27 David wrote of his hope of gazing on God’s beauty and of seeing God’s goodness in the land of the living.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus said: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul compared our knowledge of God now and our knowledge of God in the life to come. For now, it’s like seeing in a dim mirror, but then it will be face to face. The knowledge we have of God in this life is nothing compared to the knowledge we’ll have of him when we come into his presence and we’ll see him face to face. And in Revelation 22, it says about God’s people — who make up the New Jerusalem, which is the church in glory — that they will see his face.

This is the great hope which God gives to his people. Christ has opened the way for us into God’s presence by his life and death and resurrection, because he has paid for our sins with his life; and he was raised to give us life. And all who belong to Christ by faith will be brought into the new heaven and earth where we will be with God and where we will see him.

But how can we see God when God is invisible? God is a spirit and therefore he cannot be seen. He dwells in unapproachable light and no one has ever seen him or can see him. So, how can we see him if he is invisible?

Various theologians have suggested that we will see God with our intellect. In other words, we’ll not see him with our physical eyes, but God will fill us with such knowledge of himself that it will be as if we are seeing him. We will see him with our mind’s eye, because we will know him more fully than ever before.

Furthermore, the English Puritan John Owen argued as well that we will see God with our physical eyes. But what we will see with our physical eyes is God the Son who became flesh. In other words, we’ll see the Lord Jesus.

And do you remember what I said earlier? From John’s gospel we learn that the Word, God the Son, became flesh and lived among us. And the people saw his glory. Whose glory did they see? They saw God’s glory, because the Word who became flesh is God. And whoever has seen him has seen the Father, because they are not different from one another. They are the same as one another. The Son is the exact repetition of God’s being.

And so, how will we see God when God is invisible? We will see him in the sense that God will fill us with such a knowledge of himself that we will know him more fully than ever before. And we will see his Son who became flesh and who has now been glorified in heaven. And when we behold him, then we will see God.

Becoming like God

And so, eternal life means we will see God in the place he has prepared for us.

And when we see him, we will become like him. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul writes about how we behold the glory of the Lord right now in this life whenever the gospel is preached. So, whenever the gospel is preached and we hear again what Christ has done for us, we see his glory: the glory of God’s grace and mercy and kindness and goodness as well as his justice and power. All of these glorious attributes of God are displayed in the gospel. And Paul says that we who behold his glory in the gospel are being transformed by it.

So, God reveals his glory to every believer whenever the gospel is proclaimed. And God uses the gospel to transform his people more and more into his likeness. And what he has begun to do in us in this life, he will bring to completion in the life to come when we see the Lord Jesus by sight.

Isn’t that what John says in his first letter? ‘See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is.’ So, when we see the Lord Jesus in the life to come, we will become like him. The work that he has begun in us in this life will be brought to completion in the life to come and we will become like him.

And part of what that means is that we will be happy like him. We will share his blessedness, because in the life to come we will be freed from all sin and from all the causes of sin and from all the consequences of sin. And therefore we’ll be freed from all troubles and trials and sorrow and sadness and disease and death.

Isaiah anticipated a time when God will wipe the tears from our eyes. And we will have peace and quietness and security forever. Sorrow and sighing will flee away. God’s people will neither hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat of the sun strike them. And he will guide his people to springs of living water. And the former troubles — the troubles of this life — will be forgotten and will be hid from our eyes. And the sound of weeping will no longer be heard.

That’s what Isaiah foretold; and John the Apostle saw the same thing in the vision he received of the new heaven and earth. He writes of how God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things — all the sorrow of this life — will have passed away. Imagine a life without sorrow and tears? It’s impossible, isn’t it? Our life begins with tears and it ends with tears and there are many, many days of weeping in-between. But a life without weeping is in store for God’s people in the new heaven and earth.

And to the thirsty, God will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. Since it’s a spring, and not a pool, the water will never run out. And it’s free, because Christ has paid for it with his life. And the New Jerusalem, the holy city, which is the church in glory, will be safe and secure, with a wall all around it. And there will be no night or darkness. In other words, it will be a life without shadows and there will be nothing to spoil our happiness. And there will be no need for a lamp or for the sun, because the Lord God will be our light. His glory will light up everything. And there’s the river of life and there’s the Tree of Life, yielding its fruit each month. And God will be there and we will see him, because we’ll see the incarnate Son of God.

And so, it’s a picture of God’s people in the place which he has prepared for us, where we will enjoy the presence of God in our midst forever. And we will see God’s Son, our Saviour, with our eyes. And in seeing him, we will see God. And we will become like him and will share his blessedness, so that we will be happy forever and forever. There will be nothing to upset us or hurt us or to worry us or to frustrate us or to anger us.

This is the hope which God has set before us. And this is the hope which Christ has secured for us by giving up his life on the cross to pay for our sins and to deliver us from our sin and misery in this life, so that we might have everlasting happiness in the life to come. And just as Christ endured the cross because of the joy that was set before him, so we are to endure all things now in this life because of the joy that will becomes ours in the life to come.

Conclusion

Yvonne and I lived in Edinburgh for several years. And the minister of our church in Edinburgh would sometimes read the last page of the last of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. Let me read it to you now:

Then Aslan [the lion who stands for the Lord Jesus] turned to them [the main characters in the story] and said: ‘You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be.’

Lucy said, ‘We’re so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.’

‘No fear of that,’ said Aslan.

And Aslan explained that they have died and they have now entered eternal life. And then it continues:

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them.

And for us [the readers], this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after.

But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.

That’s what eternal life will be like. Every chapter is better than the one before. We’ll never tire of it. We’ll never get bored. We’ll never want to go somewhere else. It will only get better and better and better as we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and we’ll enjoy him forever.