When you look through history and consider many of the great civilisations and major religions, they all have one thing in common, they all believe that this life is not all that there is.
Although we may disagree with many of their statements and beliefs, it is interesting that they all seemed to agree about this one point. The Egyptians, in their great pyramids, stored all their treasures in the hope that this would accompany them to the ‘after life’.
Why would this belief in life after death be so prevalent in all these cultures and religions?
If you were to read in the book of Ecclesiastes, which is found in the Bible’s Old Testament, you would find there that ‘God has put eternity in our hearts’. In other words, deep down, we all know that this life is not all that there is. There is another life. Some people choose to ignore this, refuse to believe that there is a God, pushing away what the Bible tells us they know. Others look around for answers, but they do not know where to look for God and remain doubtful about where they will spend eternity.
It is something that we need to take seriously, for the Bible talks about perishing and eternal death. The Bible also talks about eternal and everlasting life with God and gives us glimpses of Heaven, which are wonderful. That is where God would have you and I to be, but He does not force anything on us. We have free will to choose.
The Bible, which is God’s word to us, is quite clear about eternal life. In John chapter 3, we read of God’s great love in sending His perfect Son for us. This is an amazing fact in itself as we are all sinners who have offended Him. He, the Lord Jesus, did not just come to Earth to do good, heal the sick, and impart His wonderful wisdom to us. He came to die and suffer for our sins.
As the perfect Son of God, He was the only one who could do this, and He did it so that we might have everlasting life. John chapter 3 verse 16 goes on to tell us that we have a small but vital part to play, too. It tells us that ‘whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life’. Nobody is excluded, the verse tells us it is ‘whoever believes’, so the question really is, have we trusted in Him and what He has done for all of us on the cross of Calvary?
If we have repented of our sin, we will never face punishment but rather know the love of God forever in the glory of Heaven.
Trying to imagine what Heaven is like is a difficult task. The Bible describes parts of it for us, but it is so wonderful that our minds can not really comprehend it. Someone in the Bible who was given a glimpse of Heaven called it paradise and said that he heard inexpressible words. Language probably does not contain the words to express how great it is.
It is full of God’s glory! We can not really comprehend the vastness of the universe and things contained in it, but God’s word tells us that its purpose is to declare God’s glory. How wonderful He is, how wonderful is His love, how immense was the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, what a future can be ours when we accept His great gift and trust in Him!
DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (09/04/25)
Written by STUART SCAMMELL
All photos courtesy of Unsplash
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