TIME can be measured; Eternity cannot.
Time comes to an end; Eternity is unending and eternal. Time is but a moment, and like a drop in the ocean, compared with Eternity.
“Time is short,” saith the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 7:2929But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; (1 Corinthians 7:29)); our life “a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:1414Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14)); “our days upon earth are a shadow” (Job 8:99(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:) (Job 8:9)); and “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever” (1 Peter 1:24, 2524For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:24‑25)).
Beloved reader, think over these solemn facts. They are well worth giving heed to, for today you are in Time, but tomorrow you may be in Eternity. And does not the inquiry spontaneously rise in the mind, “Where shall I spend Eternity?”
Two steamers were going in different directions on the river Thames, at the time of a dense fog, and as the knife-like bow of one of the steamers came plunging into the sides of the other, the captain of the doomed ship cried out, “Where are you going?”
Reader, you are going somewhere; but “Where are you going?” If time is so short, your life a vapor, your days a shadow, and all flesh as grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass, is it not of the utmost importance that you should know where you are going? You are going on to a grand terminus―Eternity. But there are two parts in that Eternity―a deep impassable gulf divides the two, and no means of access from one to the other exist. Heaven is on one side, and hell on the other. “Where are you going?”
Two roads lead to this grand terminus. One is called the “broad road,” with its “wide gate”; the other the “narrow way,” with its “strait gate.” Many go in at the wide gate, and multitudes throng the broad road; while, says the Son of God, speaking of the “strait gate,” “few there be that find it.” Read Matthew 7:13, 1413Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13‑14).
One road goes down, down, down to destruction; the other, up to life and glory. Eternity is the terminus, it receives all; but how vastly different are the estates of the two classes, ―the one “comforted,” and the other “tormented.” Read Luke 16:19, 1319There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: (Luke 16:19)
13No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Luke 16:13). My reader, “Where are you going?”
Eternity is an overwhelming thought, ―eternal glory, or eternal woe! The length, to use a word that can only apply to Time, how blessed on the one hand, but how fearfully solemn on the other. It often rises before the mind in all its immensity.
Supposing we could divide the ocean into drops, and count a hundred years for every drop; and take the sand upon the ocean’s shores, and count a thousand years for every grain; and every ray of light, and count a million years for every ray; and all the minute particles of air in infinite space, and count a billion years for every particle,―then, when these years have, run their course and come to an end, it would be, as it were, but the morning of eternity!
Then think of your soul; you are a being endowed with immortality, a being accountable to God. “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:1111For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. (Romans 14:11)).
There is only one place in which we can see the full value of the soul, and it is there we get God’s estimate of it. It is at the cross. There we find how God values one immortal soul; and He values it by what He gave, and by what was done to redeem it. God gave His Son, and the Son of God laid down His precious life, to redeem us. God was bereft of His Son, and the Son endured the unutterable agonies and woes of being forsaken of God, and brought down to the dust of death, to save us from eternal woe, and bring us to eternal joy and glory with Himself. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone;” but, thanks to His blessed name, He would not reign alone; He would die, and lift us up from our misery, and associate us with Himself forever.
On the ground of his death, salvation is offered to all, pardon is proclaimed to all. Conversion―a soul turning to God―gets us through the strait gate into the narrow way; then what a future is before us―life and glory! Faith in Jesus and His blood gets us pardon, justification, peace―yea, that which is the fruit of His atoning death on Calvary. We rejoice in hope of the glory of, God. We find a present home in the presence of God; and because we are sons, He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying “Abba, Father.” Precious relationship, and happy cry!
Christ bids you, beloved reader, to turn to Him, assuring you that “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
Unsaved reader, “Where are you going?” I will answer, “Out of Time into Eternity!” E. A.