“The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.”— Deut. 33:27-2927The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. 28Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. 29Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. (Deuteronomy 33:27‑29).
I WANT to raise the question seriously, Where will you spend Eternity? In the last number of this magazine we saw the eternal realities that lie before a man that is not saved, that is not really a Christian. There are seven, and that is the number of absolute completeness, and I should think to have these for eternity is complete enough for any man. I will recapitulate them.
We read in the book of Isaiah of “everlasting burnings” (33:14); in Matthew, of “everlasting fire” (18:8) and “everlasting punishment” (25:46); in Mark, of “eternal damnation” (3:29); Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, speaks of those who know not God being punished with “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:99Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (2 Thessalonians 1:9)); and writing to the Hebrews the same apostle describes something that the Jew knew well— “eternal judgment” (Heb. 6:22Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:2)). Then another apostle Jude says that those who pass godless into eternity sustain “everlasting chains” and “eternal fire” (vers. 6:7).
All that is very serious, and I do not want to minimize the seriousness, for mark this—that is what lies before every soul that is not Christ’s, for I believe God, and the Word of God. Now I will tell you of something you will surely be very glad to believe, as we look at the other side of the subject—at the eleven “everlasting” things that belong to the real, genuine Christian, and I prefer the eleven to the seven. There are eleven wonderful blessings that a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should know well are his, and they are “everlasting.” But are you a Christian? is the question. You may be the child of Christian parents, and yet not be one yourself. You may be surrounded by Christian privileges, but as yet have never tasted these blessings, since you care only for the things of time and sense, and have not faced eternity. I like to gaze into it, because I am so happy in God’s love, and know what I possess now, and what I shall have forever.
Moses says, “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord.” There are two companies—those who have been “saved by the Lord,” and those who have not. Which company are you in? If “saved by the Lord”— not saved by your own efforts, by aught that came from you—but “saved by the Lord” and knowing you are saved— “happy art thou.” You say, I have seen some Christians and they do not look happy. I fear they are the electro-plate kind, they do not know Christ. They have an external veneer of religion without reality.
What made Moses so happy? He spent forty days with the Lord. And what made Stephen so peaceful? He was looking steadfastly up to Jesus. A real Christian is a wonderful person. Are you trying to be one? Now do not try—I want you to trust in the Lord, in His grace, His love, and then you will be one, and escape these seven everlasting realities that assuredly await a man that dies in his sins. I think if you knew the joy of Christianity you would want to be a Christian. Moses was quite right when he said, “Happy art thou, O people saved by the Lord.” It was the Lord whom they had got to know, whom I also know, and whom I want you to know, for that is what the gospel is preached for, that you might be brought to know God. There is none like Him. I know the eternal God—He is my Father. The gospel brings to you the revelation of God, and though you have been the guiltiest sinner that ever trod the earth, you may learn how to become one of “the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
Do not get away from this truth—that you have to meet the eternal God, and if you take my advice you will meet Him now. Let me urge you to get the knowledge of Him now— “This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)). Remember that God is eternal—so are you. I know I live in a day when the devil is poisoning the minds of men, and telling them that when they die that is the end of them. Stop and think of this, that, as a creature, you are the offspring of God. Do you know how long you will last? As long as God lasts, and how long is that? He is “the eternal God.”
I wanted a refuge, and where did I find it? In God. Do not be afraid of Him. Be afraid of yourself, of your sin, of His wrath, but not of Him. Note these words, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” If you have the eternal God for your refuge, and are reposing on the everlasting arms, you are blessed indeed. I can imagine the prophet saying immediately, “Happy art thou, O Israel.” Is it not a wonderful place of refuge, of “corn and wine”— food and joy, and more than that, there is a “fountain”— there is living water, and the “heavens shall drop down dew”—i.e., there is always refreshment.
If we took the place God gives us in Christ, I believe we should make the mouths of sinners water with desire to have what we have. What was it led that gloomy, frowning elder brother to ask, “What these things meant” (Luke 15:2626And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. (Luke 15:26))? He heard the music, and saw the dancing. That if Jesus’ way of depicting God’s joy in the salvation of the sinner, and it will be a wonderful day for you when you get saved. When you see the eleven blessings God gives us Christians, you will want to be a Christian too.
Now turn to John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)— “For God so loved dm world, that he gave his only begotten Son, the; whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The believer in Christ possesses eternal life. What becomes of a man that dies in his sins? He perishes, and passes into the regions of darkness. That does not mean that he ceases to exist, but that he passes out of things here into eternity. You have got to exist forever; eternity is before you, and that is a very serious thing. As regards earth, your life is forfeited. You have not paid forfeit yet, but if unsaved you will have to. I rejoice to know that Another has paid it for me, and not only has He paid it for me, but now, in the power of an endless life, He is risen, and having Him I have, therefore, everlasting life. Jesus alone could be my Saviour, who being God was also a man. If He were not God He could not meet God’s claims, and if He were not man He could not meet my need. Man is under sentence of death. Look at Romans 6:22,22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. (Romans 6:22) “The wages of sin is death.” What is the end of man’s pathway here? Death. You may depend upon it those wages will be paid. How came death into the world? By man’s sin, and death lies before you. You may tell me you do not believe in eternity. Do you believe in death?
You may talk lightly about death, and you might die, and there be no bands in your death (Psa. 73:44For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. (Psalm 73:4)), but what then? I have seen men die like dogs, and I have seen them die in misery and wretchedness. Tell me, if I were called to your death-bed tonight, how would you die? That is a serious question. If you die in your sins you get sins’ wages—death, and “after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). What should I and every Christian get? Thank God, everlasting life. You say, how did you get it? God gave it to me. And what did you do? I took it. If you do not take the gift of God, you must have the wages of your own sin. The wages belong to me as a sinner—I deserve them, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “God so loved the world” made up of people like you and me, who were living for sin, and self, and pleasure. God loved the world, and so loved it that He gave His Son, not merely in life; but to death, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” You own Christ, you bow to Him, you believe in Him, and you will get it. It is not then that you hope to have, but that you have ever lasting life. Look at God’s side—loving and giving, the eternal God loving and giving. What is your side and mine? Believing and having. That is the gospel.
Eternal life, in Scripture, is presented in two ways: as a present possession, “He that hath the Son hath life” (1 John 5:1212He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:12)), and as the end of the pathway, “Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life”. (Rom. 6:2222But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. (Romans 6:22)). I begin with the gift of Christ, and then, when Christ is received, I here on earth commence’ a new path, a new life, a new history. What is the preliminary step? I receive Him. “To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12)). How do you receive Christ? It is very simple—you believe on His name. I never saw Him, but I know Him. You will never see Him till He comes, but faith sees Him. We know Him, His love, His grace, His interest in us—He is a great, wonderful reality to our souls. You say, What must I do to get Him? Do you buy gifts, do you go and ask for gifts? No. Receive Him—God’s gift.
You say, Must I not pray for it? No. The gospel is God coming out to you and me in all the blessedness of His heart of love, and then through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has paid the forfeit for the sinner, Who has tasted death for every man, God gives eternal life, and it is in Christ. “We know that the Son of God is come... and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)). Christianity is the revelation of the Father through the Son. That Son who was ever in the bosom of the Father has come to earth, become incarnate, and wrought a work whereby the sinner’s sins are blotted out, and the wages due to me have been paid to Him, while my history as a guilty lost child of Adam is closed in His death, and now “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Who has it? The one that believes in Jesus. Turn to John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24); what could be more simple? This is a moment when Christ is speaking to men dead in their sins—we are all dead in sins until we hear His voice. The eternal God has sent His Son into this world that He might bring to me what I needed—life, and take away what oppressed me—my sins.
On the cross all my sins that came between me and God were taken up by the Lord Jesus Christ, and, propitiation having been affected, were blotted out from God’s sight. The barrier was removed. But more than that, God proposes life, and Christ says, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” He that heareth and believeth hath, for God has joined together two things that you must not separate, life—life eternal. It is a wonderfully blessed reality that the one who for the first time hears the voice of the Son of God “hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.” “They that hear shall live,” we are told, not they that work, nor they that pray. No, it is “they that hear,” for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:1717So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)).
We have life only in Christ: “In this was manifested the love [of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:99In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9)). When do you begin to live? The moment you touch Christ.
The knowledge of (1) the eternal God, and the possession of (2) eternal life head the list of eternal blessed realities the believer in Jesus can call his own and enjoy. We will glance at them briefly. Christ risen from the dead has become “the author of (3) eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:99And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Hebrews 5:9)). Further “He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained (4) eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:1212Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)). That redemption embraces every believer, who as a consequence has a purged conscience, for we read: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through (5) the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)). The blood purges the conscience, and the eternal Spirit dwells in the body of every believer (Rom. 8:1111But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)).
Another direct consequence of this is that they which are called “receive the promise of (6) eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:1515And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15)), to which they will be safely and certainly guided, since “the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of (7) the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:2020Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (Hebrews 13:20)). That covenant secures the eternal blessing of the feeblest sheep or lamb of Christ’s flock, and while on the road each child learns that “God, even our Father, hath loved us, and hath given us (8) everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace” (2 Thess. 2:1616Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, (2 Thessalonians 2:16)).
But may I not fall on the road? says a timid soul. Peter would say, No. Hear his words: “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his (10) eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a little while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:1010But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)). He gives us also the sure receipt against falling.
If you will turn to the first chapter of his second epistle you will find the Christian’s arithmetic book. His multiplication table (vs. 2) well learned ensures a deeper knowledge of God. His subtraction table (vs. 4), if understood, takes him out of the world with its corruption. Finally, his attention to his addition table (vers. 5-7), which he can never safely neglect for a moment, ensures a happy, holy pathway in life, without falling; and more, having “these things” in remembrance, “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into (11) the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1111For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:11)).
Who would not be a Christian and have the eleven rather than the seven?
W. T. P. W.