For Ever and Ever

Exodus 15:18 “The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.”

Always desiring to know the truth about sin and salvation, heaven and hell, and what our loving Creator God plans and purposes are for us, I found a thought-provoking, yet challenging little article on “eternity” that I’d like to share today with you all. It states that the Bible is a book of “eternity”, its words “forever settled in heaven”. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “eternity” as: Duration or continuance without beginning or end. By repeating the idea of any length of duration, with the endless addition of number, we come by the idea of eternity. But truth is what really matters.

Isaiah 57:15 says, For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place.”  Webster’s dictionary goes on to say: We speak of eternal duration preceding the present time. God has existed from eternity. We also speak of endless or everlasting duration in future, and dating from present time or the present state of things. Some men doubt the eternity of future punishment, though they have less difficulty in admitting the eternity of future rewards.

Interestingly, the theme of eternity is prominent throughout the Holy Bible; in fact, the words “forever,” “everlasting,” and the like occur more than 600 times. Many occurrences (49, to be exact) seem to make the concept even more complete, being combined either as “forever and ever” or “from everlasting to everlasting.” The first of these is in our text: “The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.” He is the eternal King of all creation! How beautiful and appropriate it is, then, to find that the last of these occurrences tells us that we—His redeemed saints—also “shall reign for ever and ever”, in Revelation 22:5.

Psalm 111:7-8 “The works of His hands are verity and justice; All His precepts are sure.
They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.”

On the other hand, those who reject our heavenly Father God and His sovereign Word, Will and Way will endure forever, but will be forgotten forever. God’s Word says. In Psalm 9:5, “Thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever”. Revelation 14:10-11 tells us, “He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Revelation 20:10-15 “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Ephesians 2:1-9 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Psalm 103:17-18 “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on  hose who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them.”

Daniel 12:3 “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

1 John 5:11-13, 18-20 “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. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

Dark cannot coexist with light, and willful unrepentant sinners will be in eternity for ever and ever; just not in Heaven. This life is temporal; the next is eternal. The question is: Where will you be for ever and ever, spending eternity?

Something to think about seriously.

Rejoice in Christ, our Savior and Lord.