Time Is Part Of Eternity
Time and eternity are not separate. Time is actually part of eternity. Eternity is never-ending, but time has a beginning and an end. God took a section of eternity and encapsulated it, and called it time. It is important that we understand this so we can have a right perspective of how our lives extend beyond what we can see. They are not two different things. Our lives right now are part of eternity. As believers, we are actually living in both time and eternity right now.
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3 (NKJV)
Our perspective has to change. We need to understand the continuity between this life and next. In a blink, we can go from this earthly, physical life to life in the very presence of God. And our callings in this life do not end as we step out of the earthly realm into the heavenly one. We are eternal beings and the gifts God has given us will carry over from this physical life to the next phase. God has things for us to do and accomplish in heaven and in the millenium and in the eternal ages that follow. And they are an extension of the things we are learning and doing right now.
If we can grasp this, it would give us a totally different view of death- and especially the death of those we feel left us too early or innocent people who were killed by others. It is a human tendency to think that someone who died young or unjustly got a bad deal because we put an extreme emphasis on this life and we fail to consider that the next life is actually more real than this one. If we can understand that this life is not the only life but just a warm-up for the real thing, we can understand that those who left here and entered heaven before we think they should are not getting short-changed. God is a just God. The person who goes to heaven actually continues their work there and they are not ripped off in any way. God sees to it. He is just, and He makes it up to everyone if they did not get to do something in this earthly realm. They will either get to do it in heaven or in the millennial kingdom on earth or in the new heaven and new earth that we will eventually live in.
When you think of your loved ones in heaven, don’t grieve over the things you believe they never got to experience in this earthly existence. Instead, know that they are getting to experience it in an even better way in heaven or they will experience it later in the millennium period or in the eternity beyond.
