AN existence that has no end the mind of man can well comprehend, for God has made man to live forever. An existence that has no beginning man's mind cannot conceive, for every man had a commencement. We are creatures of the hour. Born into this world, we pass away out of it, when we know not, but we are creatures who, when this world and its fashion have long passed away, shall live forever.
The swiftness with which changes occur in our present day, the rapidity of the decay of many of those things, which men in the past generation regarded as stable and enduring, are but signs of the times betokening the approaching end. Now, as the Christian takes his stand-point and views the process of decay, he opens the word of God, and gives thanks that, though "all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass., the word of the Lord endureth forever." (1 Pet. 1:24-25.)
Fellow believer, the word of God can never decay, it must ever abide. You have a new nature, a new life: you belong to God, of whom and by whose word you are born. Seek, then, so to live in this decaying world that you may witness for the enduring and the unchanging; seek to live the Christian life. "See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." The world and all its glory is but as the flower of the field; yours is a living hope—yours is faith that is fixed on God—yours is the love which is of God. All that God has said shall come to pass. The world will be burned up; its glories are but of the moment. Your portion is an inheritance that is incorruptible; not one blessing of which God has assured you in His word shall fail. The word of your God liveth and abideth forever.
This year has ended, and time's course has run with many whom we knew and loved. How sure is the word "forever" to them. The veteran has passed from battle into rest, which is forever; the sufferer has passed from weariness and pain into peace, which is forever; time's trials, afflictions, anxieties, are exchanged for "ever... with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:7.)
Presently He will come, as He has said, and as it is written of Him, and He will call home all His people. "We, who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them (who sleep) in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." Life's brief day will be over—the world and its changes left; ours will be eternal joy. "So shall we ever be with the Lord.”
We open the last pages of the word of God, and the future of His people is declared, and its duration is "forever and ever." No end to the glory and the bliss of heaven. No termination to the songs and the pleasures of the home on high. In these last pages also is the future of the lost declared, and its duration is "forever and ever." No end to the wretchedness and sorrow of hell.
When the Lord Jesus Christ comes He determines our eternal state by that wherein He finds us. Should He come this hour, the unconverted would remain forever unconverted, as the true believer would remain forever the true believer. “The time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.”
Reader, what is your present state? This is the vital question which the close of another year once more presses upon us. How many such appeals have the passing years made to you? Can you dare say that this shall not be your last year on earth? Are you still unsaved? What you are, you will be forever, unless indeed to-day—while it is yet to-day—you harden not your heart, but hear God's voice. Ponder over these solemn words "forever," for
You will live in eternity forever.
You will be either in joy forever and ever,
Or you will be in woe forever and ever.
And what you are either at death or when Christ comes, you will be forever.