Randy Alcorn - Life Promises for Eternity

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Life Promises for Eternity

Copyright 2012 by Eternal Perspective Ministries. All rights reserved.

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Designed by Jacqueline L. Nuez

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, second edition, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. (Some quotations may be from the NLT, first edition, copyright 1996.) Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NKJV is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible , English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked The Message are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alcorn, Randy C.

Life promises for eternity / Randy Alcorn.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 978-1-4143-4555-0 (hc)

1. HeavenChristianityMeditations. I. Title.

BT846.3.A4335 2012

236'.24dc23 2011033853

Build: 2017-02-28 11:17:41

Eternal Promises

The L ORD will fulfill his purpose for me;

your love, O L ORD , endures forever.

PSALM 138:8

I know the plans I have for you, declares the L ORD , plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

JEREMIAH 29:11

Our Desire Is Gods Idea

Charles Spurgeon expressed this perspective on death: To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.

What God made us to desire, and therefore what we do desire if we admit it, is exactly what he promises to those who follow Jesus Christ: a resurrected life in a resurrected body, with the resurrected Christ on a resurrected Earth. Our desires correspond precisely to Gods plans. Its not that we want something, so we engage in wishful thinking that what we want exists. Its the oppositethe reason we want it is precisely because God has planned for it to exist. Resurrected people living in a resurrected universe isnt our ideaits God s.

Eternal Promises

The L ORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

GENESIS 2:7

The Spirit of God has made me;

the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

JOB 33:4

Let Your Heavenly Imagination Soar

As human beings, whom God made to be both physical and spiritual, we are not designed to live in a non-physical realmindeed, we are incapable of even imagining such a place (or, rather, non -place). An incorporeal state is not only unfamiliar to our experience, it is also incompatible with our God-given constitution. We are not, as Plato supposed, merely spiritual beings temporarily encased in bodies.

Adam did not become a living beingthe Hebrew word nephesh until he was both body and spirit (Genesis 2:7). We are physical beings as much as we are spiritual beings. Thats why our bodily resurrection is essential to endow us with eternal righteous humanity, setting us free from sin, the Curse, and death.

We cannot anticipate or desire what we cannot imagine. Thats why, I believe, God has given us glimpses of Heaven in the Bibleto fire up our imaginations and kindle a desire for Heaven in our hearts.

Eternal Promises

The L ORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the L ORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the groundtrees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.

GENESIS 2:8-9

God, the L ORD , created the heavens and stretched them out.

He created the earth and everything in it.

He gives breath to everyone,

life to everyone who walks the earth.

ISAIAH 42:5, NLT

Hinting at Whats to Come

Scripture provides us with a substantial amount of information, direct and indirect, about the world to come, with enough detail to help us envision it, but not so much as to make us think we can completely wrap our minds around it. I believe that God expects us to use our imagination, even as we recognize its limitations and flaws. If God didnt want us to imagine what Heaven will be like, he wouldnt have told us as much about it as he has.

In order to get a picture of Heavenwhich will one day be centered on the New Earthyou dont need to look up at the clouds; you simply need to look around you and imagine what all this would be like without sin and death and suffering and corruption.

Eternal Promises

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

PSALM 8:3-4

How many are your works, O L ORD !

In wisdom you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

PSALM 104:24

Get Ready to Marvel

When I anticipate my first glimpse of Heaven, I remember the first time I went snorkeling. I saw countless fish of every shape, size, and color. And just when I thought Id seen the most beautiful fish, along came another even more striking. Etched in my memory is a certain soundthe sound of a gasp going through my rubber snorkel as my eyes were opened to that breathtaking underwater world.