Eternal Life
“Eternal life” sounds far off, doesn’t it? But it’s not. Before he was crucified, Jesus prayed to the Father and said, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life starts the moment you trust Christ as your Savior. We experience it now in our relationship with God, enjoying his love and strength, depending on him for wisdom to make decisions, getting close to him in every way, and making decisions that honor him.
But there will come a day that we will see him face to face. For some of us, that will happen at the Rapture when believers will vanish from the earth and join Christ in the air (see I Thessalonians 4 and I Corinthians 15). But most of us Christians will experience death as the gateway to Heaven. When Jesus was on the cross, He was between two thieves. One of them was just as mean to Jesus as the crowd, but the other one was different:
“He said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’ ” (Luke 23:42-43)
What is paradise like? John wrote about Heaven in his book of Revelations and described it in glowing terms: streets paved with gold, gates of pearls, walls of jewels, all believers praising God and having the time of their lives (or the time of eternity!). We don’t know exactly what Heaven will be like, but it will be far better than anything we can imagine!
And how certain can we be? Paul assured the Roman believers:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
But that’s not the whole story. There is also eternal existence for those who don’t trust Christ. Just as there will be a day for those who trust Christ to be caught up with him in the air, there will also come a day that those who reject Christ will experience sudden destruction and punishment. Paul wrote:
“God is just: he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power. . . .” (II Thess 1:6-10)
Actually there will be two judgments at the end: one for unbelievers and one for believers. The one for unbelievers is called The Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15), and they will be thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity. The one for believers is not about Heaven and Hell at all. It is about rewards for our serving Christ here on earth. In I Corinthians 3:10-15, Paul says all of us believers will someday stand before Christ to give an account (a report card) of our lives as Christians. Those things we did to honor him will become rewards for us for all eternity, and those things which were selfish and harmful will burn up.
If you have trusted Christ, you can be assured of a wonderful eternity in the presence of the God of the Universe who loves you so much, and you can also be assured that you will be rewarded for every word and action that you do to honor Christ and help others experience his love and forgiveness.
