Let’s explore God’s eternality by looking at 1 Peter chapter 1 so that we can remember to:
1- Hold onto hope,
2- Be strong in faith and
3- Love others well.
would you look at the Time?
Time can slip away when you’re with people you care about, can’t it? It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re talking with people you care for. Time is always advancing…always moving forward. We tend to attach words to time. Words that give us a sense of control over time.
Words like:
• this will buy us some time
• free time
• quality time
Make your time count
Yet, God alone has authority over time. He created the ability to keep time by giving us the sun and the moon. And He’s the only one who controls time.
We all know time is limited. We only have so much time under the sun as we travel the road of life. We want to make it count.
The preacher in Ecclesiastes marks time with seasons.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
“A time …” “and a time” the preacher goes on for quite some time. We’ll pick up his summary of life under the sun in 5 powerful words a bit later.
faith, hope & love
Three questions we’ll try to answer as we learn more about eternity and the everlasting God are:
1- What kind of hope will we hold to at the end of our time on earth?
2- How does faith affect our eternity?
3- When our days are done, will we have loved others well?
Faith, hope and love.
Let’s explore eternity by learning what the bible says about these 3.
Do we long for eternity?
Are we even aware of it?
If you do a Google image search for eternity, most of the results are images of creation. They points us to God’s fingerprints, his creation. God’s creation reveals even more.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse”
Romans 1:20
God wants all of mankind to be aware of his eternal power and divine nature and know that we are without excuse, apart from Christ.
Without excuse
Excuse from what?
“For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
Isaiah 59:12-13
and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.”
Although we’re made in God’s image as human beings, we’ve multiplied our sins against God and they speak against us; paying out death and separation from God.
God needs nothing from us
The God of heaven and earth:
• doesn’t live in man-made temples
• gives us life and breath and everything (including time)
• determines the periods and boundaries of our dwellings (the spaces and places) all for one reason
“ that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,”
Acts 17:27
The everlasting God gave us a conscience and the preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us:
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11
So, understanding those truths, do we have an awareness of and even a longing for eternity? Before being born again, it’s limited at best; some would argue not at all.
why is salvation guaranteed in christ?
But hopefully, believers can agree that after God causes someone to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, salvation is guaranteed. The truth is that we’re guarded by God’s power through faith.
Peter writes:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
1 Peter 1:3-5
a wise prayer from Moses
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
Psalm 90:12
one satisfying outcome
Ahh, the Rubix cube. Solving the mixed-up mystery of colors really has only one satisfying outcome.
Similarly, God’s sole outcome for our faith remains constant until we reach heaven. The single outcome of our faith is found in 1 Peter 1:8-9. “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
So, God’s plan for our faith is the salvation of our souls.
temporal things
It may not include:
• the perfect career,
• the pursuit of knowledge,
• the spouse of our dreams,
• an overflowing bank account,
• our kids entering the perfect school or any other temporal thing.
The salvation of our souls is something we can hope for, without seeing.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
It’s eternally valuable.
“as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:18
we believe
Christians believe in a heavenly inheritance.
Christians believe in salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
God caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
God is faithful. Trust him at all times. Be strong in faith. How do we do that?
a story of trust
Scott loves the Lord Jesus. He consistently prays and reads the bible, but he’s got his fair share of challenges. On Sundays, he consistently serves the elderly at his local church. He gets into these heartfelt conversations with believers in their golden years who could reach heaven any day now. Scott hears the steadiness of their professions of faith in the midst of health challenges. Truth be told, Scott wants the same unwavering trust in God. But he secretly struggles with feeling assured of his salvation on many occasions. Sometimes he feels saved, like when he’s serving well. But at other times … holding firmly to faith in Jesus doesn’t come easily for Scott. So what can a Christian like Scott do? Three things
god’s guarding Christians
1. Remember, God’s on guard. He’s guarding you for salvation. Stepping down into time and showing up for duty, the son of God, Jesus Christ brought God’s power to guard our faith.
…“who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:5
hope for the changing seasons of life
2. Remember the living hope: especially when we’re down. Questions are good if they lead us back to hope in God. The psalmist questioned within himself:
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
Psalm 42:5
Remember there’s a place without pain, sadness, tears, or death. An eternal place of hope. A place filled with the faces of born-again Christians. “We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” Colossians 1:4–5
pause to pray
3. Pause to pray. Remember the gospel of Christ is the power of God. When feelings try to tear our trust away from the truth of God’s promise of salvation in scripture, we pause to pray. We pray to remind ourselves that the gospel of Christ is the power of God. But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations. Psalm 102:12
God puts his protective power behind his promises and no one can snatch his sheep away from him. Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
John 10:27-30
We will find rest for our weary souls. The gentle guard Jesus Christ is on watch. Especially when tapping out of trials isn’t possible.
fiery trials
God allows fiery trials to test and refine our faith. It’s important to understand that the Christians Peter is encouraging in 1 Peter had actually endured fiery trials—with Rome burnt to the ground. They were scattered about in 5 different places. Worse still, history holds that Nero pointed the blame on the Christian exiles Peter was writing
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ”
1 Peter 1:6-7
As hard as testing is at times, we must ask the eternally blessed God for strength and power to continually reset our hope on the inheritance that awaits us in heaven. We’re holding onto the hope of heaven.
We can look up and lift up our eyes past our present trials to his heavenly promises! He has all the grace we need to endure every test, every trial, and a way of escape from every temptation. Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. Hold on to the hope of heaven through faith.
how do we hold on to hope?
Sounds good, but how can we know that we’re holding on to hope? When times change quickly we can be loaded down with anxieties about what the future holds. And at other times, we wonder if the current season of life will ever end. We can fear future change on one hand and become frustrated by the lack of change on the other. Where is God in all of this?
He’s the one allowing trials of all types and varieties into our lives because he wants our faith to grow. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” James 1:2
In truth, it’s how we grow in endurance. We can have joy as we travel the road of life because Jesus did. Jesus stepped out of eternity to be born. As a man, he faced a future of furious torture. Jesus prayed that it would pass and it didn’t. He endured the cross and death. All for the Father’s will to be done. It was and it pleased the Father to crush Jesus.
Why?
Extreme confidence
As the lamb of God, he was the only acceptable sacrifice to God. He loves us that much. And so, we can have extreme confidence and hold on to the hope of our salvation ready to be revealed from heaven.
We can hold on to hope when we’re weak and feeling broken:
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Isaiah 57:15
reassuring revival
That revival sounds really good.
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him…”
Psalm 103:13-17(a)
It’s reassuring to know that The Majestic One who inhabits eternity is moved by everlasting kindness. He chooses to remember us in our weakness and revives those who fear him. That’s hope we can hold on to. The hope of our salvation in Jesus Christ.
Our ability to love others is based on the truth that God loved us first. “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 When our days are done, will we have loved others well? It really depends on who we serve. You’re gonna have to serve one or the other. There are only 2 options.
the prince or the everlasting king?
2 kingdoms – – 2 outcomes
If you’re not serving The King, you’re serving the prince. Here’s what Ephesians 2 says about the prince. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Ephesians 2:1-3
In the everlasting king’s greater kingdom, the king holds back what we deserve; he pauses divine judgment based on our wicked deeds and sinful nature. God held back that punishment, and judgment for us, yet it was poured out in full onto Jesus. The judgment existed, and the punishment was dealt out, but because of God’s mercy and Christ’s sacrifice, Christians don’t have to bear it.
everlasting separation … stifled
Finally, the everlasting king stops eternal separation from him in hell. Jesus described hell as an unquenchable fire that people are thrown into. There is no relief throughout all eternity. “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:46 These aren’t seasons or events. Jesus said eternal punishment and eternal life. Eternal places.
undeserved favor
So the everlasting king holds back what our sins have earned. AND he grants us what we don’t deserve–grace—his undeserved favor. Recall that God’s grace came at the immeasurable cost of his son’s life and suffering. The coming King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ will reign as everlasting king! God’s plan for the slain lamb, Jesus Christ came before this world was created.
where do we go from here?
So that’s what the Eternal God did.
That should help us understand why we:
1- hold onto hope,
2- remain strong in faith and
3- why we should love others well.
Where do we go from here?
We apply those 5 crucial words from the preacher of Ecclesiastes as we travel the road of life.
our duty in 5 words
Fear … God … Keep … His … Commandments.
But how?
By loving him more and loving others more, all by grace.
Fear God—Keep His Commandments
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
We hope in the steadfast love of the eternally blessed God.
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22-24
Yes, he’s eternally blessed and shares those blessings with us through Jesus Christ! For Christians, he’s “caused us to be born again to a living hope” He’s given us an inheritance in heaven that’s beyond decay, defilement, and defect only because of Jesus Christ.
troubling transitions
Troubling transitions usually involve stressful changes. If you’re in a stressful season, seek Christian community willing to pray with you through the space of your suffering. Please, share your journey, as you travel the road.
belief is unbeaten
Jesus was encouraging belief in his disciples before his departure to the place he was going to prepare for them.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
John 14:1-3
He was encouraging his followers to have faith.
In heaven, we will have a place where we see his face throughout the space of eternity!
Thanks for reading!
Wayne
