Eternal Glory

Marcel Malgo

“…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (Psalm 23:6).

Whilst the first part of this verse speaks of the life of the believer here on earth, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”, the second part is about eternal glory, “…and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” The writer of the Psalm, David, was surely thinking of the sanctuary of God in Jerusalem, but he was prophetically proclaiming the assurance of being in the house of the heavenly Father one day. As believers of the new covenant, we are reminded of the words of Jesus, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” in John 14:2. Born-again Christians may know with certainty that this life will be followed by eternal glory, eternal life with the Lord. It is for this reason Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” To be eternally with their Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus, is the most glorious hope of all children of God.

Rock-like assurance

In Psalm 23:6 David uses three key words:

“I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” Here he is speaking of an unchangeable fact which is determined and cannot be altered.
“I will remain in the house of the Lord for ever.” With the word “remain” David is not saying that he will certainly get there one day and stay there for a certain length of time. No, with the third key word he is emphasizing that this is a place where he will be for ever. In his letter, James rebukes self-assured people who plan their lives without God, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain” (James 4:13). He then admonishes them earnestly with the words, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (verse 15). With David it was no over-estimation of himself, and certainly not a form of megalomania when he spoke of remaining “in the house of the Lord for ever,” but he said this in great confidence of faith.
“I will remain in the house of the Lord for ever.” Here David is not speaking of a place which we have to leave after a while, in order to go to another place. No, he is saying that he will be there without interruption, without end. It is a finale that does not lead to an end, that is an end in itself.

Do we also have such confidence when speaking of the future? Paul did when he wrote to the Thessalonians about the Rapture and then exclaimed jubilantly, “…and so shall we ever be with the Lord!” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). David and Paul were both writing about the same thing, eternal fellowship with the Lord.

Jesus Christ longs for His own

Not only Christians undergoing persecution, or children of God who are suffering from health or other problems, long to be raptured to be with Jesus for ever. No, the Good Shepherd Himself is also longing to be united with His own. How do we know this? Because Jesus said in His highpriestly prayer to His heavenly Father, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

Were these words only significant for the disciples? No, because only a few verses before this we hear Jesus pray, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (John 17:20). This applies to all children of God up to the present day. In John 12:26 also we have an interesting statement from which we see that the Lord Jesus wants to have his own with Him, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be.” We must read these words in the first place in connection with the calling of His first disciples, but over and beyond this they have a much more far-reaching meaning. When Jesus says, “Where I am, there shall also my servant me”, He is showing how He longs for close fellowship with His own. At that time it was the disciples. Today it is a world-wide Church, and soon the never-ending finale will take place: the eternal fellowship of the Son of God with His Bride-Church.

At the door of heaven

Because our Saviour so longs for eternal fellowship with His own, we should concern ourselves with eternity, like David and Paul. But there is a further reason for us to do this: children of God are far more connected to eternity than they know.

Every child of God finds himself, according to his or her high calling in Jesus Christ, at the door of heaven since his or her rebirth. In other words, as believing Christians, we live, spiritually seen, directly at the door of heaven. This is our lebensraum. Why is this? Every true child of God is incorporated and enrolled in heaven already during his or her life on earth through Jesus Christ. We are not yet in heaven, but we are already registered there. In this sense we are at the door of heaven already; that is, we are very close to heaven. It only takes a small step for us to be there in reality.

What do we have to understand by the words that we are already incorporated in heaven? We form one body with Jesus Christ:

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27).
“Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body” (Ephesians 5:23). If we are one body with Christ, the head, and He is already in heaven (at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Hebrews 1:3 and 8:1), then we are in and through Him incorporated in heaven. Therewith we really are at the door of heaven or near heaven.

On top of this, the names of children of God are already written in heaven, because they have citizenship there. Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi, “Our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven…” (Philippians 3:20). There really is a citizens’ register there in which all future citizens of the kingdom of heaven are registered; it is called the “book of life” (Revelation 20:12 & 15). Paul mentions this in his letter to the Christians in Philippi, “…whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3). We also read in Revelation 3:5, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Only those can be blotted out who were once written in it. The fact is, that, according to the will of God, before the foundation of the world, the names of all people were written in the book of life (compare 1 Timothy 2:4). But all those who were not converted to Jesus Christ during their lifetime, whose sins were not blotted out through His blood which He shed on the cross, and because of this died without forgiveness of their sins, will be blotted out of the book of life.

Those who have received Jesus Christ in their hearts (John 1:12) by faith, and belong to His flock (compare Luke 12:32) are incorporated in heaven through the Son of God and remain in the “book of life.” This is why born-again Christians, children of God, find themselves directly at the door of heaven. And this is why it is like passing from one room to another when a child of God takes his or her last breath here on earth.

The sufferings of this time in the light of eternal glory

Certainly the fact that we, as children of God, actually live very close to heaven fills us with great joy and new courage. Like David and Paul, we should think of heaven and speak of it with great confidence. When Paul, who was daily afflicted (2 Corinthians 11:23ff and Romans 8:36), considered his present sufferings in the light of eternal glory, he wrote, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). And in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Peter also informed his readers, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations” (1 Peter 1:6). Certainly we have “manifold temptations” today, but one day we shall rejoice with unspeakable joy when we are with Jesus. For this reason we may look forward to the day on which this will all be fulfilled with great confidence today.

Where will you spend eternity?

Not only old and incurably sick people are at heaven’s door, but all born-again Christians live there. It is their spiritual environment. Are you also at heaven’s door? Can you say with certainty whether, if you were to be called today, you would pass through this door into eternal glory? Or do you have to fear that you are still at the door of hell? If you are not yet born again, this is indeed the case! Then there is only one thing for you. Let Jesus Christ save you today, through which you will be transported to the door of heaven (compare John 1:12, Colossians 1:13-14)! If you have taken this step of faith, and then are called away from this world to eternity, you will enter through the door of heaven into eternal glory. If you belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, of which the Lord Jesus said, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” in Matthew 16:18, then the whole power of hell will have no more right to you. The gates of hell will only be unable to overcome you, however, if you have come to the door of heaven through the power of the blood of Jesus.

Walking with God

To receive Jesus Christ into your heart and life, and become therewith a child of God (John 1:12) is only one side of the coin: Jesus died for me! The indivisibly connected other side of the coin is: I died with Jesus (compare e.g. Galatians 2:19-20)! This concerns my daily walk.

We see from the short biography of Enoch how this can be achieved. Of this man we read, “God took him” (Genesis 5:24). Enoch is an example of a person who reaches this glorious house of the Lord to remain there for ever. This will take place with every child of God, whether they die a natural death or are raptured: God will take each one of His children to Himself in a moment!

Enoch lived in consciousness of this moment. His walk shows us how our daily lives should be so that God can take each one of us with joy. What characterized Enoch’s life should also be found in us, “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:21-24).

It is not by chance that in this short biography it is said twice that Enoch “walked with God.” No, the Lord Himself saw to it that we are given this important fact in duplicate. This is not strange, for there is no better reference to the walk of a born-again Christian than the testimony of Enoch’s walk with God.

Are you also walking with God and in this way preparing yourself for the day on which you will move into the heavenly dwelling place? This is very important, for you want to be prepared when the Lord Jesus takes you to be with Himself, at your death or at the Rapture.

What hinders a walk with God?

Those who really want to walk with God must not look back at their old lives but must consciously renounce everything that was sinful in them. Paul writes to the believers in Ephesians, in chapter 4:22, “…that ye put off concerning the former conversation (life) the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” There were people there, apparently, who were converted Christians, but who had not completely renounced their old lives, and the apostle had to admonish these earnestly. It applies to us children of God also: if we have not renounced our old lives with all our hearts, we cannot possibly walk with God. Then we are too taken up with our earthly lives and cannot say with great confidence, like David, concerning the heavenly homeland, “I will remain in the house of the Lord for ever.”

A further hindrance on the way to a walk with God is greed. We are told, therefore, in Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation (lives) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Why is greed or covetousness — “the love of money” the New Internal Version writes — mentioned here together with our walk or lives? There are many other sins, such as lying and deceiving, which hinder our walk with God. The love of money is a sin with enormously far-reaching consequences, according to the Bible, which is why it is called, “the root of all evil”: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10). Those who are lovers of money harm their own faith, for they open a door for themselves which leads to further damage. A person who is possessed by love of money cannot walk with God, and certainly not look forward to remaining “in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Miserly, covetous people worship money. In the epistle to the Ephesians we find the terribly earnest words, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5). This verse speaks of harlotry, impurity and covetousness, but only of the covetous does it say that he is an idolater. The New International Version translates this verse, “No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” This does not mean that immorality or impurity are less sinful than greed. No, sin is sin. But it is said clearly here that the love of money really is the root of all evil, a cardinal sin.

What helps a walk with God?

The Bible does not only show us the hindrances (sins) to our walk with God, which can even make it impossible, but it is the signpost to a walk with God. James wrote in 3:13, “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” A walk with God, a good “conversation,” is supported in actual practice by two important characteristics: meekness and wisdom. Jesus called to His disciples, “Learn of me; for I am meek…” (Matthew 11:29). And those who see that they lack wisdom should ask God to fill this deficiency, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).

For a walk with God we need meekness and wisdom, because we are living in this world as sheep of the Good Shepherd amongst wolves. This is why the Lord Jesus said to the twelve disciples at that time, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). “Wise as serpents” — this means wisdom, and “harmless as doves” — this is a picture of meekness. We do well to learn meekness from our Lord Jesus and to ask God for wisdom. Through these two characteristics, our walk with God in this world is helped. In this way we shall be children of God who look forward to the eternal homeland in heaven and can testify to this joy, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (Psalm 23:6), or “So shall we be ever with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

MidnightCall Magazine

August 2010

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