Eternity

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God. You turn men back to dust, saying, 'Return to dust, O sons of men.' For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away!" Psalm 90:1-6, 10

A thousand years! This is a long stretch of time. How much may be crowded into it—the rise and fall of empires, the glory and obliteration of dynasties, the beginning and the end of elaborate systems of human philosophy, and countless events—all important to individuals, which elude the pens of historians. Yet this period is to the Lord as nothing, even as time already gone. If a thousand years are to God as a single night-watch, then what must be the life-time of the Eternal God! —Charles Spurgeon

Before the Eternal God, all the age of frail man is less than one ticking of a clock! —Charles Spurgeon

O think a little, how inconsiderable a thing is the longest life of man on earth compared with an everlasting duration! The psalmist tells us, "You have made my days as an handbreadth, and my age—my life, my time on earth—is as nothing to You"—nothing, as compared with God's duration, which is without beginning or end!  —John Shower

This life, upon which everything depends, is very brief.

How solemn this is! In Scripture, time is compared to . . .

     a flower of the field;

     a watch in the night;

     a dream;

     a vapor.

—William Jay

How little a while we are to abide here on earth. After death we must abide forever in eternal bliss, or in eternal torments. We will either be with God in endless glory, or in everlasting fire with the devil and his demons! —John Shower

Eternity to the godly, is a day that has no sunset.

Eternity to the godless, is a night that has no sunrise. —Thomas Watson

O God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs! —Jonathan Edwards

ETERNITY! O that the sinner would study this word; methinks it would startle him out of his dead sleep!

O that the gracious soul would study it; methinks it would revive him in his deepest agony! —Richard Baxter

The crosses and comforts of this present time would not make such an impression upon us as they do if we did but believe the things of eternity as we ought. —Matthew Henry

We must not forget that the issues of eternity, are settled in time. —Arthur Pink

The great weight of eternity, hangs upon the small wire of time! —Thomas Brooks

A mistake about your soul, is a mistake for eternity! —J. C. Ryle

"So teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

Woe To Those Who Find Truth

"Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it." —Voltaire

The world loves people who profess to be "Truth Seekers," but, oh, how they hate those who profess to have found it. As long as you are searching for the truth, the world cheers you on. But as soon as you claim to have found it, they chide and ridicule you. It is okay if you search for the truth, but it is never okay for you to find the truth. In this world where truth is usually in the minority, the world wants you to be a perpetual searcher finding nothing.

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6). Jesus is the Truth. His Word is truth. Unless a man or a woman comes through Christ Jesus, they will never obtain salvation! Every single man and woman who does not believe in and on the Lord Jesus will die in their sins and perish in Hell for all eternity, separated from God the Father and His love. The only truth in this world is Jesus. If you believe anything else, you believe the lie. When you have found the Lord Jesus and He has become your precious Saviour, you have found the truth. "If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31-32).

"Truth Seekers" are slaves. They are slaves to the unknown. They are slaves to the imagination. They are slaves to the lie. They are slaves to their sin. But those who know the truth have been set free. They have been set free from the unknown. They have been set free from the imagination. They have been set free from the lie. They have been set free from their sins. They are free in Christ Jesus. They are free in life. While the rest of the world runs amuck like a chicken with its head cut off, the believer in Christ Jesus knows that God the Father is in complete control and that nothing happens outside of His will. The believer in Jesus rests in the fact that Jesus is in control. All things have been subjected to His authority. The believer in Jesus understands this world in a way the slave to his/her own unrighteousness will never understand it.

"Let us rejoice in the truth, wherever we find its lamp burning." —Albert Schweitzer

The Pearl of Great Price

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Matthew 13:44

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46

These two parables seem to give Christians the most difficulty in understanding. However, this need not be the case. There are two ways with which to understand these parables. The first way with which we might understand these parables concerns itself with counting the cost of entering the kingdom. In other words, all who would enter the kingdom ought to consider what it will cost them (Luke 14:27-33; 2 Tim. 3:12).

While there is truth to that understanding, is it the best way with which we might understand these parables? No, because it falls drastically short. First, we do not seek after God (Rom. 3:11). Our nature and our natural inclination is to hate God. Second, Jesus is not hidden. The parable does not say that Jesus is a treasure hidden in a field, it says the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. The parable is using a simile for comparison. Third, we have not even remotely come close to giving up all we have for the sake of Christ.

It is generally accepted that, like with prophecy, parables use the same imagery to represent the same things. In other words, in order to understand these parables, all we have to do is look to the other parables that Jesus has already explained. We need to pay attention to the context, to the surrounding passages. You see, in the parable of the sower and the parable of the wheat and tares, Jesus already gives us all the information we need. So what interpretations did Jesus give his parables? The field always represents the world. The man always represents Jesus. The birds always represent the evil ones.

If the field is the world, as would be consistent in all of Jesus' parables, what Christian has ever sold all he/she possesses in order to purchase the world so that he/she might have Christ? None! Few Christians have ever given up everything for the sake of Jesus. The only one who ever purchased the world through redemption was the Lord Jesus. The only One who gave up everything He had was Jesus. He gave up everything He was and had in heaven when He took on human flesh and lived among us. He gave up His own life on a cross for His people, those given to Him from the Father from before the foundations of the world, which were His inheritance.

"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." Acts 20:28

"Who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." Galatians 1:4

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20

"Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." Ephesians 5:2 

Remember, these two parables are telling us what the kingdom of heaven is like. Yes, Jesus and His grace are of infinite value, but that is not the truth that these two parables are conveying. These parables are giving us information about the kingdom of heaven. You know, the kingdom that consists of both genuine and false converts growing up together until the end of the age?

The first of these parables says that "from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Remember, the field is the world. Luke 15:7 says, "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." Luke 15:10 says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Jesus gave everything He had, even His own life, for the joy of one repentant sinner. If only one person ever came to Christ, Jesus considered it worth the cost to give up His own life in order to procure the salvation of that individual.

Is Jesus of such value to us that we would be willing to surrender everything we have in order to gain Him (Phil. 3:7-8)?