Bob Cassell, Messenger
Many individuals, when asked about the future state, say that they are not concerned but are only interested in the present. The word of God is clear in proclaiming that the future state is of the most significant importance. God’s word addresses a time that is defined as an endless existence. Let me draw your attention to what God’s word says about tomorrow and beyond.
Boast not thyself of tomorrow for you know not what a day may bring forth (Proverbs 27:1).
Behold now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Know this Day (Today! Not tomorrow!) and consider it in your heart, that the Lord He is God in Heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else (Deuteronomy 4:39).
God has provided guidance and direction only for today. Over and over again your attention is directed to today. When you are in today you can stop, look, listen, and run to him or modify your temporal life or behavior pattern. However, no information for guidance or instruction is provided for tomorrow or for eternity. Jesus declared that eternal life was a part of his promise that a believer in Him would rise from the dead after he dies. This is eternal life and death will be no more.
I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die (John 11:25,26).
It is comforting to learn that a believer in Christ has eternal life right now, and this means he will never cease to live. We not only possess eternal life NOW and will live forever, but we will rise from the dead in resurrection and will never die. We will live in His presence forever and ever. How could we ever die now or at any future time and be told by Him we will live forever in His presence. His gift of eternal life also guarantees endless existence with Him. Jesus repeatedly stressed the permanent nature of the gift of eternal life. The woman at the well was told in no uncertain terms if she were to simply drink of the water He would give, she would never thirst (John 4:14). He further said, I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst (John 6:25). Thank God eternal life is forever and does not start and then suddenly stop at some uncertain time or place. Further, all that the Father has given Me shall come to Me and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out (John 6: 38). How could it be better said? The believer in Christ will certainly never be cast out: Eternal life is not only without cost, it endures forever!
Take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of UNBELIEF, in departing from the Living God (Hebrews 3:12).
How foolish it is to depart or turn your busy head from the fountain source of truth, life, and peace. Just where will you go without HIM? Further, where will you go the instant you have breathed your last?
Most people are well aware that our present state is limited to a span of an uncertain number of years, while the future state extends in and throughout eternity. Many years ago, I heard a story that has remained with me that I am persuaded is worth sharing. It concerned an awareness regarding the significance and duration of time from the perspective of eternity.
At the beginning of a particular year a little bird landed on the rock of Gibraltar. He whetted his beak once to the left and then to the right. He then flew, once a year, around the entire earth, returned to Gibraltar and again whetted his beak. One whet of the beak to the left and one to the right and again around the earth. This journey continued and extended throughout the life of the little bird. The little bird was an eternal bird sent by God to communicate this remarkable story. By the time that little eternal bird whets the rock of Gibraltar down to dust we will just be sitting down for breakfast in eternity. This is a long time, but it is only a particle of dust when compared to the eternity everyone, without exception, will face after death. Actually, your eternity began when you took the first breath. You will live forever because you are an eternal creature with a soul that cannot die. This is how we are made here on planet earth. Your body, as you are well aware, began to decline the moment of your first breath and will most certainly terminate at your last. But your conscious eternity will not end there as your body is the temporal part of you. It is designed for time and ends at your death, in God’s time. However, you acquired something very special when you inhaled your first breath; it was an imputed eternal soul. This amazing soul is that unseen and unfelt part of you that will not and cannot die. This is the real you! You will live forever as will everyone who has taken the first breath. If you will live forever, how will you function? The invisible parts of your soul that you now possess will remain with you throughout eternity. You will be self-conscious, with mentality of soul. You will have a God consciousness, a permitted volition, emotions, and a soul conscience. You will exist in a state where you will live forever… nothing will cause you to be no more… you will always exist! The great question to be answered is … just where will YOU exist in eternity?
Eternity in a physical and temporal body began when you took your first breath. This physical existence is very temporal and will last only a few short years, maybe zero to 70, 80, or 90. Your time on earth is as a vapor and then vanishes away. The tent (your body) will collapse.
Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even as a vapor, that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away (James 4:14-16).
To experience death is to transition from a temporal earthly dwelling to a place of permanence where time will no longer be counted as it was while on planet earth. Wherever you will exist, there will be no need to keep track of time as it will extend forever and never ends. The little eternal bird will continue to whet its beak and will serve as an eternal reminder of time as it existed while dwelling on planet earth. The rock of Gibraltar will finally be reduced to dust, as it served only as a temporal reminder of your quickly passing and short life when compared to your everlasting future. An important question to consider is… where will you exist in this long and certain eternity?
You may be standing at a crossroad at this moment and are merely looking without being aware of just what you are looking for. If so, you are not alone. Many are standing before an eternal future and are looking, but they are only looking to confirm what they think they already know, without knowing which crossroad to take or which door they should enter. Consider this deep and meaningful truth from the book of Jeremiah.
Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls (Jeremiah 6:16).
Here is an option for your consideration as you look at the crossroad on your pathway. One path is the good way, and in it you will find rest for your soul. The other is the wrong road that leads to the road of destruction and perdition. In this passage they said, we will not walk therein (Jeremiah 6:16). But it does not end there! He warned in much stronger measures and they were told; I have set watchmen over you and they will tell you to harken to the sound of the trumpet. (Isa. 62:6). Yes, this warning went out with the sound of a high-sounding trumpet, but what did they do? They did nothing that indicated an attitude or desire for God’s truth. They said in emphatic terms. We will not harken (Jeremiah 44:16). How wise is this… they are refusing to harken to the living God. God does not fret nor wring His hands in despair because of their obstinance. He simply says, Hear and know, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not harkened unto my words, nor my law, but rejected it (Jeremiah 6:19.
Destruction came to these people! They were invaded and practically annihilated. The invaders had no mercy on those who had so flagrantly defied the truth and warnings of the living God. The judgment they never thought possible fell on them swiftly and unmercifully. They were astonished that God’s judgement had been executed so suddenly… they were sorry, but their sorrow concerned the discipline and destruction that came upon them because of the hardness of their hearts. They never seemed to relate the destruction and discipline that was suffered to their refusal to look to him as their deliverer and peace maker. Therefore, the law of sowing and reaping was meted out against them…
Be not deceived, God is not mocked for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Galatians 6:7,8).
In view of these clear truths from God’s word, some may see them as an opportunity for a change in their life, to go from bad to good behavior. From living a corrupt and risky life to adopting a life that puts them on the straight and narrow. No, No, No! It may come as a shock, but God says nothing whatsoever in His word to the unsaved about the matter of conduct. However, it is not to be assumed that there can be indifference in this matter from those who are saved. Notice carefully… to those who are saved a behavior pattern of good is mandatory. To those who are not saved a changed life will only improve their morality and cause them to enter an eternal Hell with straight A’s in conduct and miss heaven entirely. To the unsaved, salvation is an offer of something that cannot be earned or deserved by any unbeliever. Neither is He worshipped with men’s hands as though He needed anything, seeing He gives to all life and breath and all things (Acts 17:25).
Salvation offered by a sovereign God is a free gift apart from any question of conduct or merit because every human deed we perform for God only puts us deeper in debt to His marvelous grace. Eternal life is not appropriated by means of your doings; it is given because the Lord Jesus Christ has finished the work that was required by God to purchase your redemption. It is done! It is finished!
God does not attempt to improve or reform an unsaved person. No matter how much such a person might improve, he cannot measure up to God’s demand for perfect righteousness. His performance (or doings) will never secure a right standing before God as one who is perfectly righteous. Another reason the unsaved are not urged by God to improve their conduct is that there is no power within them to live a life according to God’s standard for those who are saved.
The question of Christian conduct must never be considered as an essential mandate to appropriate salvation. To do so is to terribly apostatize the issue. Only after a person has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior does God appeal to that person concerning the matter of how the earthly life should be lived.
In salvation God freely gives to the believing individual a new position before Himself. Before anyone is saved the standing before God is that of a sinner (a sinner by imputation and because of personal sin), and they are under the condemnation of eternal death and separation from God. After one becomes saved, they stand before God entirely upon the merits of the person of Jesus Christ.
The believer in Christ instantaneously becomes a child of God because he has been born again, and in every moment of life is considered to possess the perfect righteousness that God’s righteousness requires Him to require.
He is clothed (imputed) in the very righteousness of God, and nothing can be charged against him that will alter that condition. The believer stands before a Holy and Righteous God as the object of His unchanging love and immeasurable grace. This perfect position before God is secured the moment a person believes on, or receives Jesus Christ as savior. Thereafter, an individual’s focus should be directed to their position in Christ and not to their condition in self. The good news of His super surpassing grace depends solely upon the merits of Christ and not on the demerits of man. The good news for those who find it difficult to understand is that this position to which he is so highly exalted is the same for the most disobedient and failing Christian as it is for the most consistent and obedient believer.
Any believers position or standing before God is known only because it is revealed in His word. It can never be known or understood because of anyone’s experience, no matter how exhilarating. The understanding of a believer’s position in Christ can only be realized because of knowledge from God’s Holy word. However, once this highly exalted position is clearly understood the believer may then enter into a rich level of appreciation when it is realized that his eternal security is in Christ and not in himself. In Adam, all die. In Christ, all are made alive.
For as in Adam all die, even so IN CHRIST shall all be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22).
For you are the children of God by Faith IN Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26).
Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Gal. 3:20).
Jesus Christ will do for you what is impossible for you to do for yourself.
He will save your eternal soul if you only trust him as the exclusive one who has done all that is required for you to enter Heaven, at death.
