A Ripple on the Sea of Infinity

Psalm 90:2-4 "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night."

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

I mention these verses from the bible to demonstrate something. Before the heavens and the earth had been created, there was no dimention of time. Time doesn't have any standing with that which lasts forever. Time didn't become a factor until something with a temporal nature came to be; like the heavens and the earth. We know that God is from everlasting; having no beginning and no ending. This is a concept that, TRY AS WE MAY, we simply don't have the capacity in our finite minds to grasp. We know that it's true, but to even make an attempt to explain how such a concept is possible is to venture into the realm of the unattainable. This is why I find it fascinating when various sects and profigators of doctrine attempt to put God in a box and declare to all that they have it ALL FIGURED OUT. We learn of him through scripture and he reveals things to us as we seek him in fervent prayer. He truly does get sweeter and sweeter and his ways are indeed incredible. Yet we could never understand it all.

As a person begins to grasp, in some small way, the awesomeness of God, there's also an accompanying realization of just how insignificant this world is and how irrelevant, from the perspective of time, a natural life is. A life itself is not irrelevant in any way. Jesus came into the world and died a torturous death at Calvary to redeem those that were lost. But as far as the span of time in which a person walks the earth, it's but a speck of dust, floating in the vastness of forever. Your time in the land of the physical is but a gentle breeze on a lazy summer afternoon. The next passage of scripture, I refer to often, however it explains just how temporal this life is.

I Peter 1:24-25 "For all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass witherth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

I recently found a list of men who "conquered the most miles" in their military campaigns which they used to enlarge their borders. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered 720,000 square miles as he brought large swaths of the european continent under his domain. Attila the Hun conquered 1,450,000 miles, as his empire encompassed central and eastern Europe along with the western Russian plain. The "mother of all conquerors" is Genghis Khan, who, ruled conquered a vast empire of 4,860,000 miles as large swaths of Asia came under his control. To this day, the world has never seen such a vast conquest of territory by a single individual. (that is until the one world beast government comes to power. In it's brief time of being, it will encompass the world.) Here's the proverbial question that one should ponder. "Where are they now? Attila, Napoleon, Hitler, Alexander, Genghis, all of these men who put together mighty emipres are now in eternity and their legacy confined to the pages of history. Their empires are gone with only a few ruins dotting the landscape. Yet each of them has an eternal soul that will live on forever in eternity and the brutal truth is this. If they didn't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are in everlasting torment at this moment, right along with the rich man that Jesus mentioned in Luke 16:19-31. This rich man who had everything that life could offer, has now been in hell for over two thousand years. In the story, Jesus gives us the name of the beggar, Lazarus, who suffered much in this life and died, looking for the promise. He doesn't mention the name of the rich man. When God doesn't mention your name, you are in a perilous situation and you need to turn to Jesus, who died for your sins, before it's too late. (Incidentally, Lazarus has been in the presence of God for over two thousand years now)

Matthew 16:26 "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Revelation 20:12 "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which was the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

There will be no heros on judgment day. There will be no athiests, no revellers, no excuses, and no jesting. The white throne judgment is where those who didn't accept Jesus Christ as Savior will be judged according to their works. The book of life contains the names of all who accepted Gods free gift of salvation; those who came to know Jesus in this life. If your name doesn't appear in the book of life, your name becomes thoroughly insignificant.

Revelation 20:15 "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Does it sound scary? If you haven't accepted Jesus as your Savior, you should be terrified. But as you read this, you're obviously still in the land of the living and that means that if you turn to him now, you can escape the wrath to come. You may not live to see the sun rise tomorrow morning, however, right now, you can in sincerety, confess your sins (all have sinned, none is righteous) repent of your sins, (be sincerely sorry and turn away from) and ask the Lord Jesus to save you. He shed his blood on an old rugged cross and paid for your sins along with mine and everyone elses with his own innocent blood. The work is already done; he's just waiting for you to come to him. If you do this, you will be ready to face tomorrow; even if tomorrow doesn't come. If you give your heart to Jesus, you will come into the greatest relationship that you will ever know; that being with the King of glory who is always as close as the mention of his name. He never takes vacations and he knows them that love him.

Ezekiel 18:31-32 "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye."

Luke 21:33-34 "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surteiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares."

Infinity. This is what I began this post with; a discussion of the everlasting realm of forever. From this day forth, there will never ever be another moment in which you don't exist. From here into the eons afar off, there will never be another moment when you are not you or a moment when you simplt cease to be. A soul cannot cease to be; it's an everlasting entity. Where you spend that eternity is completly up to you. If you look around you and take note, things here aren't going particually well. The things coming to pass; the things that will soon fulfill the scriptures are perilous to be sure. Even if the end was hundreds of years away, your end can come at any moment. As I write this, I have no promise that I'll get to work this afternoon. I have no guarentee that I'll ever see my family again. Don't take this wrong; I love my wife and children more than you can imagine. When you see things from an everlasting perspective, the love and concern that you have for your own takes on an entirely new dimention. When you, by the grace of God, begin to see the bigger picture; that being the temporal nature of this world and the power of the world to come, you'll have compassion like never before; not only for your own family and friends, but for all; regardless of how contrary some of them might be. Each true saint will remember back to when they were lost and undone. If I had died in August of 1983, I would be, at this very moment, in hell along with the rich man, and every other person who neglected such a great salvation. That understanding causes you to see folks differently. As I close out this morning, I pray that any passer by would take these things into consideration.

Matthew 18:11-14 "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and n ine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."

John 6:37 "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

The final two chapters in Revelation, (21 and 22) tell of the world without ending that is to come. I would urge all to read it. If you've read it a thousand times; go and read it again. The word of God never grows old; it only grows sweeter. In these perilous times, it's all the more important to keep our hearts on the world to come.

Revelation 22:20 "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

One more note; this post mirrors "Which Built Desolate Places" in many areas, but the concepts are well worth bringing back to the forefront.