This seems to last forever . . .

 

 

We are in a cold snap. This morning it is -23F or -31C with a wind that makes the air feel like -38. What is it about days like this that make summer sunshine feel so far away? Almost to the point of forgetting what it feels like? Winter gives a sense of eternal, even though I know better. While I use the words eternal or forever to describe things that only seem to go on and on and on, the Bible speaks more literally of the eternal.

The OT word actually means “ancient, forever, everlasting.” It can be used to describe days long past, or the future. When applied to God, it could mean “always” for our God is ETERNAL. In that sense, this OT word is about His faithfulness, trustworthiness, and goodness. It also means that He always is.

1 Chronicles 16:34. “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”

Psalm 90:2. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

Isaiah 60:19. “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”

There is more, but most interesting is Ecclesiastes 3:11: “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.” I know that eternity is a reality, yet I cannot quite figure it out. How can there be no beginning or end? How can God always exist? What is life like beyond the grave, outside of or without time?

The NT word for eternal is an adjective that defines the everlasting God and His realm; the blessings of salvation; and everlasting conditions that have neither beginning nor end. In more than half the times this word is used, it is linked with “life” creating more questions. How can I be given something that has no beginning? The NT has the answer.

This word is used to describe God, His glory and Spirit, and that He is immortal and the source of our eternal salvation and eternal life. He also delivers us from eternal judgment.

1 Timothy 6:14–16. “Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

Hebrews 5:9. “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”

This eternal life is a gift from God to all who believe in Jesus. It is His life that I am given.

John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

1 John 5:11–12. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

1 Timothy 1:16. “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”

Receiving this gift through faith puts us in a different realm that has neither beginning nor end. Colossians 1:13–14. “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

His kingdom is eternal and the life we are given is eternal. 2 Corinthians 5:1 says I “know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” yet while I know it, full understanding eludes me for I still walk in the realm of time with beginnings and endings. In that dual existence, God tells me to “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” I’m to look forward to that day when my “resurrected body will also be eternal, dwelling forever in heaven” because my eternal Savior has so “richly provided for me an entrance” into His eternal kingdom. I don’t understand it, but I can believe it — because my Eternal God said it!

 

What to do with enemies . . .

 

A week ago, I would have said I had no enemies, however that is no longer the case. Long story short, a few of our neighbors have believed things not true and are totally opposed to even listen to established facts about an issue that relates to all of us regarding safety. As a result, my hubby declared last night, “I (meaning we) are now the enemy.”

We prayed about it, slept well and this morning God whispered to me, “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.” I came downstairs, opened my Bible, and picked FIGHT from the list of words that describes who God is and/or how He acts. The very first verses were these:

(Exodus 14:14) The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

(Deuteronomy 1:30) The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

(Deuteronomy 20:4) for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’

These and most of the other OT verses that pertain to God doing the fighting use a military term that means, “to be engaged in a fight such as a military conflict; carry on a fight.” Some of them focus on the odds, such as when David, a mere youth, was willing to fight with the Philistine giant and a man of war. We know what happened — God was on the side of the smaller man who trusted Him and that giant lost the battle.

Many verses tell how the people were afraid and how God would protect them because human power is nothing compared to God’s power. 2 Chronicles 20:17 says, “You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you” and 2 Chronicles 32:8 adds, “With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”

The psalmist also prayed for God to fight for him, but his focus included more than a physical conflict. He used a word “to assail” which includes a psychological attack when he said in Psalm 35:1, “Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against (assail) those who fight against me!”

Jeremiah also used a word that means “to vigorously oppose or strongly resist another” when quoting the Lord who said, “They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.” (Jeremiah 1:19)

The NT has nothing to say about God fighting for me, only that Jesus defeated death and the fear of death on the cross. In saying, “It is finished” He ended for us all worldly conflict, contests or struggles, not to say that His followers would never be attacked. He said if people hated Him, they would hate us also. My part is to make sure their hatred is not because I am challenging them in anything but truth, goodness and justice. We are not to retaliate or fight back because the Bible is clear about who our real enemy is:

(Ephesians 6:10–13) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The passage goes on to tell me what my battle garb is: truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the Word of God with prayer. The real enemy is not people but “the prince of power” who rules the world until Jesus returns. In the meantime, my role is: (1 Timothy 6:12) “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” And I am to do this whether they respond to it with open hearts or with closed fists. This is not easy. I must also be “praying at all times in the Spirit . . .  keeping alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints . . . that words may be given to me (so I will) open my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel . . . as I ought to speak.”