Titus 1:2; In the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Now I do not know where God promised eternal life before the world began, except that God existed before the world began. This word eternal is the Greek word aionios, which is age abiding life. And it is important that we recognize that this is more than duration, it is quality of life. When the rich young ruler came and fell at the feet of Jesus and said, Good Master, what good thing must I do to inherent eternal life, he was using this same Greek word, this age-abiding life. He no doubt had been observing the life of Jesus and he saw that there was a quality in the life of Jesus that was above and distinct from anyone else he had ever seen. There was this glorious quality of life, this age-abiding life. And so his quest was for this quality of life, as well as the duration. Now God has given to us the hope of eternal life. This of course was promised by Jesus Christ when He said to Nicodemas, That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). It is a blessed hope that we have a hope that has been confirmed by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. So Peter in his epistle said, Thanks be unto God who has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God. (1Peter 1:3-5) There is the promise in the Bible to those who would believe in Jesus Christ, that God will give to them the gift of eternal life. We read, this is the record God has given to us eternal life, the life is in the Son. And he who has the Son has life (1 John 5:11). It is reasonable to assume that this promise of eternal life is a valid promise. As we look at nature, we see that God has created in nature the very hope of resurrection in the principles of nature, in the planting of a seed into the ground. The seed, first if all dies before it comes into new life, then the form that comes out of the ground isnt the form that you planted because all you planted was a bear seed, and God gives it a body as pleases Him. And so in the resurrection of the dead; planted in corruption but raised in incorruption, planted in weakness, raised in power; planted in dishonor raised in glory; planted as a natural body but raised in a spiritual body. This past week as we were up at the conference center I (Chuk Smit) saw one of these little caterpillars crawling along, and I was reminded of our little girl, when she was a little girl. She is now a young lady, lets settle for that. How excited she was one day when she came running into the house and said, Daddy, daddy, there is a furry coat walking outside. And as I watched that little caterpillar as it was crawling along, I realized that it existed in a body that was designed to do just what it was doing, crawl along the earth. I could imagine that, that little caterpillar could in his mind wish that maybe it could fly, but the body is not designed to fly. The body of a caterpillar, with all of its legs, is designed to just crawl across the ground. But one day the little caterpillar crawls up the wall of the house and exudes a little glue, spins chrysalis around itself. And in time that chrysalis will begin to shake and jerk with convulsive movements until it breaks open and there unfold the beautiful gold and black wings, and the tiger swallow tail butterfly begins to fly across the yard, over the fence, over the fields and away. What has happened is a metamorphosis in nature; its a change of body, where the caterpillar went into the chrysalis-state. If you had taken during the chrysalis-state and pinch the chrysalis, juices would have just popped out all over, nothing but juice. But yet it formed into that glorious tiger swallow tail butterfly, which incidentally has the identical markings to the butterfly that laid the egg that hatched the caterpillar. Now there you find a change of body that is now a new body designed for a totally different environment. So God, when He made our bodies designed them for the environment of the planet earth. But it is reasonable to believe that if God brought forth resurrection in a seed into a beautiful flower, the seed that germinated or died, if God can change a caterpillar into a butterfly and give it a body for a totally new environment, then God can also give us a body that is adapted for a totally new environment. And that is exactly what the Bible teaches. Even as we have born the image of the earth and have been earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavens; God has made this body and adapted it for the earth. And so we know when this earthly tabernacle, our bodies dissolve, we then have a building of God that is not made with hands thats eternal in the heavens. So then, we who are in these bodies often groan, earnestly desiring to be delivered, not that I would be unclothed [or unbodied] but clothed upon with the body which is from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:4). So the Bible teaches that for the child of God there is no death, there is only a metamorphosis, a change of body as I move from the tent to the house. The hope of eternal life, a building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. That new body that God has prepared for me, simply because of my faith, belief, and trust in Jesus Christ. Oh, what a glorious gift and what a glorious hope we have. Now, outside of Jesus Christ I know of no real hope beyond just life, as it is in this span of seventy years, plus or minus. Live like a hog, die like a dog and it is all over, you know. Thats all you got to look forward to, because thats all that she wrote. Paul said that if our hope were in this world only, we would be miserable. Man, if I thought, Hey, this is it, all of the purposes and everything else that are accomplished in this span now, and looked around and see Gods best, I would think, oh, help. I would be miserable. But I have a hope that sustains me, that keeps me going when things are dark. I have a hope that sustains me when things are going against me, and Im discouraged, there is that hope that keeps me going. Hope is so vital and hope is so important to existence to keep you going, and its amazing how hope can just keep you going. Weve mentioned before the experiments done with the Norwegian wharf rats. There are some corollaries. They put them in these tubs, and they spray these tubs constantly with water so that they couldnt roll over and float. And the rats drowned in an average of seventeen minutes. Then with an experimental group, as they were about to drown, they would take some of the rats, lift them out of the tub, dry them off, put them back in their cages, feed them, and let them live a normal life again. And then later on after they had recovered fully, their health, they put them back in the tubs under the same conditions. And these rats that lasted an average of seventeen minutes, now were able to survive for thirty-seven hours. Interestingly enough, the psychologist who conducted the experiments contributed it to the fact that the rats had experienced a salvation experience; that is, they had almost drowned when they were saved, so they kept hoping for salvation again. That kept them going, not just seventeen minutes, now it kept them going thirty-seven hours. The hope made that much difference. Oh, what a glorious hope we have. Dont let anybody take it away from you, that hope that is in Jesus Christ of eternal life that is made by God, the promise of God, something so sure. God, who cannot lie, Gods Word that cannot fail, has given to us the promise of eternal life, and thus the hope of eternal life. And so we live in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:38:19 +0000
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