The Life Everlasting

For Meditation

Last week we looked at the amazing promise that our future hope is a bodily hope. We are waiting for resurrection. The final phrase of the Creed takes it even further: “I believe in the Life Everlasting.” As a kid, the idea of eternal life sounded incredibly boring to me. I imagined myself in some heavenly choir, wearing a heavy robe and singing for all eternity. This was not a very exciting vision for a 7 year old boy! Yet we we take a look at the promises in Scripture about the future, they are nothing like my boyhood ideas. First, there is no cloudy, ethereal existence. At the end of all things, we do not see humanity floating up to heaven, but we see “the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev. 21:2). The Bible says that our future is an urban future, and that though it all began in a garden, everything will end in a city. Not only that, but this city is free of the curse of sin. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. Evil and sin have been destroyed forever, and we are free forever from sorrow. Third, the city contains all the most wonderful redeemed aspects of human work. It is a city of culture, technology, art and where all the injustices of human societies have been taken away. Finally, is a city where once again humanity dwells with God, and where the light of Jesus is our lamp.

So do we just wait around for this eternal life to start one day? No! The astonishing offer of Jesus is that through believing in him we can now begin to experience eternal life even in the midst of the “old order of things.” (John 3:15-16). For those of us who are “already” experiencing eternal life even though the City of God has “not yet” come in fullness, we are called to live and work as previews of that coming Kingdom to give people a glimpse of the life to come. 

Our world is in pain but we have such hope! Let’s pray that God leads us to live as people of hope in a broken world.

Play along from home this week!

We’ve created parts for band and orchestral instruments, so you can play along to some of our worship songs this week! Find the parts here.

Isaiah 65:17–25

17 “See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
    will be heard in it no more.

20 “Never again will there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred
    will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
    so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
    they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Revelation 21:1–5

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”