Sensing the Eternal
Introduction
After a lengthy struggle to overcome post-COVID fatigue, much praying about being true to the difficult call of God, I was violently awoken at 2.12 am by a terrifying body convulsing dream. Its contents I have completely forgotten. Then I came across these lines from a classic hymn (God, Our Help in Ages Past Isaac Watts 1708), that still speak as richly today as ever. “Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away They fly forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day.” This resonated powerfully with my spirit, and as commentary on Psalm 90:4, “a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” (cf. Ps 39:4-7). Very few contemporary songs capture the seriousness of scripture like this because we have largely lost a sense of the eternal.
Idols Kill the Sense of the Eternal
Whilst God’s great plan was always to share his unique deathlessness with humanity (2 Tim 1:10; Rev 13:8), the devil’s strategy was to kill our awareness of its very existence. As the ever-present Creator, God’s “eternal power and divine nature” penetrate all the “things that have been made” (Rom 1:20) but eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge was prohibited, because it was an act in opposition with the eternal Word in whom alone is eternal life (Gen 1:27; Luke 21:33; John 6:68). Paul testifies that Adam and Eve “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man….” (Rom 1:23). Idolatry forfeits the glory of living forever (Rom 3:23) surrounding us on every side in a temporal value system whose demand on our lives is total. Get a good education, a successful career, a faithful life partner, have healthy children, a superb superannuation plan, a happy retirement. A life climaxing God-glorifying death is intentionally excluded. Biblical conversion means a total life transformation which is of the essence of discipleship. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18). This focus is alien to contemporary material bound Western Christianity. From all this Jesus saves us.
Seeing the Eternal in Christ
In becoming human (John 1:14) Jesus embraced our temporal nature (Heb 2:14-15) stripping himself of all the marks of personal immortality (Phil 2:7). He was aging, ““You are not yet fifty years old” (John 8:57), and limited in physical capacity, “Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey…” (John 4:6). Only as a weak human tempted as we are, and strengthened as we need to be, did Christ become our healed Saviour (Heb 4:15). Since a dead Saviour cannot save, killing Jesus was the climax of the strategy of Satan (Luke 22:3), AND the hinge point of God’s saving plan. Jesus receives by faith the Father’s gift of immortality (1 Tim 1:10; Heb 12:2). “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” (Rom 6:9). That Jesus was raised into immortality explains why this language is concentrated around his resurrection for us (1 Cor 15:53-55). The gift to Jesus of passing beyond the power of death (Acts 2:24) means the Father giving to his faithful Son the rule over “all things” for the Church (Matt 28:18; 1 Cor 3:21-23; 15:27; Eph 1:22; 4:10; Phil 3:21; Heb 1:2; cf. Rom 8:32). At the end of long, arduous journey out of this world, the glorified Jesus can say about himself as God and human, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end….I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.”” (Rev 22:13; 1:18). How does the Spirit make such things more real to us than a world which demands our total and immediate attention?
Seeing/sensing the Eternal
Since the beginning and end of all is Christ ask your heavenly Father for “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” that you may have insight into “the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” as “a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him (Christ)” (Eph 1:17, 1:10-11). By faith, you will be empowered to know in the whole cours of life, “that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Rom 8:28-29). It has, and will always be, all about becoming more like Jesus (Col 1:16-17). For the renewal of your mind (Rom 12:1) and your growth into such undeniable biblical truth I offer a few practical suggestions.
A Biblically Shaped Mind
Take note of those great parts of Bible that teach the absolute nature of the divine life e.g., “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isa 6:3); “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab 2:14). Dwell on the great world transforming apocalyptic passages in Revelation chapters 4, 5 and 19. Meditate on what it means for Jesus to be “the saviour of the world” (John 4:42; 1 John 4:14), especially as this is concentrated in his death for all humanity (John 1:29; 2 Cor 5:19; Col 1:20; 1 John 3:5). Only a consciousness saturated in such mind-stretching scriptures can be grasped by the “the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,” (Eph 3:18-19). All this requires much from our inner lives.
The Enduring Power of Testimony
Always seek the lowest place, “in humility value others above yourselves” (Phil 2:3), for in God’s order, humiliation precedes exaltation (Phil 2:5-11; James 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5). Seek out the testimony of those who point to Jesus as the one centre of all of God’s purposes. In doing this you will progressively mature in grasping that all things are already one in the Lord, now and forever (Eph 4:6). Turn away from the persistence hierarchies of worldliness in the Church, as their origin is in the demonic realm (Eph 6:12; Col 1:16). Seek to see all people in love, as the Lord sees them, refusing negative and judgemental convictions. Believe your acceptance by God is final, “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. 30 I and the Father are one.”” (John 10:29-30). Live as far as you are able (Rom 12:18), free from the professionalisation of a culture which is at odds with the values of the kingdom of God. E.g., is it righteous that the more senior in ministry receive the highest salaries?
Conclusion
Young and old today are bound by idolatry to life as portrayed in screens, but seeing Jesus as Lord of all things by faith (Acts 10:36) is the key to developing a rich sense of the eternal (2 Cor 4:17). He knew by faith what was proved true in resurrection, “The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’” (Deut 33:27). This live this out is your authentic destiny!!