Eternity - Doctrine of the Week

The Doctrine of the Week for this Sunday is Eternity. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3 .11 that He, that is God, He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts.

So God has put eternity in our hearts. What does that mean? Well, God made mankind for Himself, for His own glory. And He made us in such a way that mankind instinctively knows that there is more to life than just all of this.

Everybody knows that deep inside. And of course, the book of Revelation tells us about eternity, that after the millennium, the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, will descend from heaven and basically heaven and earth, at the end of time, so to speak, become one.

And that state will just continue on forever. So this existence we know now will give way eventually to the eternal state where the redeemed of God receive their or our greatest reward, which is God Himself, when we actually see the Father face to face.

This is what theologians called the beatific vision. Revelation 21 begins this way. Now, I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea, that I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eye, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.

There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.