Life of the Age to Come

Have you thought much about eternal life?  People over the centuries keep trying to figure out how to live forever, or at least a lot longer.  They look for the fountain of youth.  They spend thousands of dollars to just make themselves look younger, even though with each passing day they are one step closer to death.

Why would anyone even want to live forever in a fallen world, in a world with pain, sorrow and suffering?  If you have a good life now that you live comfortably, maybe you could see living longer as a blessing, but what about people in war-torn countries or third-world countries?  So, do you think that there could be something better to look forward to, for all people?

The Bible promises a future with no more sorrow, pain or death.  It is a promise for a truly brighter tomorrow.  It unites the physical and spiritual together on a renewed Earth, not some fanciful existence disembodied somewhere out in the Universe or playing a harp on a pink cloud.

Often, we read the verses about the Earth being destroyed and don’t understand the true meaning of there being a new heaven and a new Earth.  If we read the rest of the Bible in context, we will see that the meaning really is that of a REnewed heaven and Earth, not utter destruction of what exists today.  The Bible also says that the world was destroyed at the time of Noah during the flood, but we know that the Earth did not cease to exist, it was just cleansed to its very core.

Unfortunately, the English translation, “eternal life”, makes this promise and reward a bit vague. If to translate it in from the Greek, it actually means life in the age to come. We must understand that there are different ages. In the beginning God-created the heavens and the Earth and that was the first age that we know, from creation until the time of Noah, when everything was destroyed.  So when you read the words “eternal life,” substitute “life in the age to come”.  It will make much better sense.

Then there was a new age after Noah, which we are living in at this present time.  At some point, when Jesus returns, this age will end, then we will enter into the millennial age which will be a period of 1000 years. After this there will be what is known of as the White Throne Judgment, when all evil will be destroyed, even death itself.  Then we will enter into the final age that will last forever.

Our finite minds cannot totally grasp or understand eternity, but the Bible tells us that God has put eternity into the hearts of men, which is why so many keep searching for something more in this present life.  If we look at the world today, people are looking how to live longer or be assured of some better life after they die.  Most religions promise some sort of afterlife because that’s what people are looking for.  But unlike most of those false teachings and false hopes that lead people astray and farther from God, the Father offers something very real, tangible, and understandable to our minds.  It is not something that we cannot grasp at the basic level. You do not need to believe in some fantasy as your hope, or have a PHD in order to understand God’s plan and how life works.  You die, and then you are resurrected, either to immortality or  destroyed forever.  It’s that simple!

Why do many religions or churches make this so difficult?  We can see throughout history that many of the false teachings were merely to control people.  Often a church or religion controlled people by making them think they would not “go to heaven” or they would be disfellowshipped if they didn’t follow what the religious leaders said.   They also used this faith control to collect money from people.  Churches would require money from people to help their deceased relatives go to heaven or get a better reward.  Also, there are some Christian denominations, that hold out a reward, but make it so difficult to attain that they control people their whole life as they try to attain this reward, or not lose it.

The New Testament teaching is quite simple, if you choose to be a citizen of the kingdom Jesus spoke about.  You follow his teachings today, and walk in that righteousness and in obedience to what he taught, today, then you are promised resurrection to immortality and all the other wonderful things spoken of.

What will life in the age to come look like?  The beginning of that age to come, the first 1000 years after Jesus has returned and triumphed over the false prophets and Anti-Christ, and put Satan in a prison for that time, will be a time of teaching the nations about the one true God and governing the nation’s righteously with love.  We will be helping Jesus manage the nations and teaching them about the one true God.

After the second resurrection and the destruction of Satan and the wicked, that age will continue into eternity.  The Bible tells us that there will be a restored (new) heavens and Earth where the righteous will live forever with Jesus and his Father, and ours.

Revelation tells us that there will be a new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven.  Where God and Jesus will have residents of some sort.  We only have a limited understanding of the complex city of God, the father’s presence and what things will be like.  It does say that God will be with us and He and Jesus will be among us.  Just as Adam-and-Eve walked with God in the garden and communed with him, it sounds like we also will.  Yet, the Bible also tells us that we cannot even begin to imagine how wonderful this eternal Kingdom life will be. .If we look around us at the beautiful and different creation, nature and all of the wonderful things that God-created, we can only begin to imagine how beautiful and wonderful it will be. There is not much said about this life in the age to come, other than it will be better than anything that we can imagine.  We are told that there will be no more death, dying, tears, pain, and all that will have passed away.  We must accept that this is enough knowledge for now.  Personally, I think that this is enough for us to know in order to trust God that it will be well worth living and sacrificing this life now for!

Later we will talk about how to get let’s say a passport and be a citizen in this Kingdom. That too is quite simple.

Scripture to consider:

•  Revelation 21:4
• 2 Peter 3
• 1 Corinthians 2:9
• Revelation 2:25-29
• Revelation 5:10
• Revelation 19-21