“Nowhere in Scripture do we see sentimental wishful thinking. What we see is mankind’s devastating separation from God; the death of countless sacrificial lambs; the hard, agonizing work of Christ’s redemption; the tangible nature of His resurrection; and the promise of coming judgment. At last we see the restoration of God’s ideal universe, fulfilling His plan of the ages, culminating in a resurrected people living with Him on a resurrected Earth.
“Consider Ephesians 2:6-7: ‘God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace.’”- Randy Alcorn
“The point here is to emphasize that in the resurrection we are going to be embodied persons, and yet embodied in a way that is like, yet incomprehensibly unlike, our present bodies. He describes it as imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual.” - John Piper
“Don’t waste your final two decades chasing earthly excitements when excitements a thousand times better await you just over the horizon of this life.” - John Piper
“…since becoming ‘free’ (at the initial fall), mankind has sought to idolize freedom. The ironic truth is that freedom exists only where autonomy is released (John 8:36; 2 Cor 3:17; Gal 5:1, 13).” - DBTS Blog
“…those living for eternity, and not merely for the next election—and the power and resources it will bring—are not inclined to live as combatants for those temporal things; they have other desires, and the fulfillment of those desires is guaranteed by divine omnipotence.” - Olinger
Reposted from The Cripplegate.
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next… . It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity [New York: Harper Collins, 2001], 134.)
“Eschatology” is the study of last things, or end times. For many, that term sounds like little more than an academic label, fit only for theology textbooks and doctrinal debates.
Reposted from The Cripplegate.
One of my favorite Christian stories is Pilgrim’s Progress. First published in 1678, the full title of John Bunyan’s classic is The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come.
The well-known allegory follows a man, who comes to be called Christian, as he flees from the City of Destruction and enters through the narrow gate, finding eternal life at the cross, and feeling the heavy burden of his sin fall off and roll away.
What will eternity be like for believers? Recently, in a couple of separate conversations, I heard two believers express the idea that in our eternal state, we won’t care about any of the kinds of things that interest us here and now. We won’t be curious, won’t be seeking answers, won’t be striving to be productive or improve ourselves or our surroundings. One of the two indicated that “ignorance is bliss” and that not knowing or caring about answers to life’s questions will be a key feature of the joy of heaven.
