My question for today is, “What does 'forever' really mean?”
I’ve heard many people, including preachers, talk about living ‘forever’ in heaven. It’s a common topic in sermons and when discussing living for an eternity somewhere, either in heaven or hell. I think the frequent casual use of the word has somehow diminished it. I know I don’t often think about what ‘forever’ really means!
Why is that specific word so mind-boggling? My last post, a couple of weeks ago, was entitled “Are You Heading Toward That City?” The city is The New Jerusalem that comes down from the new heavens and upon the new earth where Christians will live with Jesus for eternity—or ‘forever’. In the post, I tried to give eternity, or ‘forever’, some perspective. I tried to show the enormity of one giving his or her life to Jesus by saying the following about eternity—or the word ‘forever’. I said, “Then comes the best part—Jesus and God will be there with us (in the New Jerusalem) for the rest of eternity. That’s over a billion trillion years of pure joy!”
“Over a billion trillion years”! Scientists and commentators often flippantly say that an archaeological artifact is over a billion years old. Sometimes they even get more specific. Recently, I heard a news person say that discovered dinosaur bones were “319 million years old”. Not 318 million, or 320 million years old—but specifically 319 million years old. I usually laugh out loud because no one has proof of how old a dinosaur bone really is.
But, I don’t think we’re being flippant when we talk about ‘forever’ in grandiose terms—like the fact that it’s “over a billion trillion years”. Contrast the shortness of our life on earth with the enormous length of our lives in heaven. Job said the following in Job 7:7 about his life on earth:
“Remember that my life is but a breath.”David said the following in Psalm 39:4-5:
“Lord, make me aware of my end and the number of my days so that I will know how short-lived I am. In fact, you have made my days just inches long, and my life span is as nothing to you. Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor. Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow.”So the contrast between our lives of perhaps 60-90 years on earth, and our ‘forever’ lives in The New Jerusalem is “ginormous”—if that’s a word. Using the term, “over a billion trillion years,” gives the word ‘forever’ only a little bit of justice!
See you next time.
