In Hope of Eternal Life
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Yesterday evening around 10:57 pm, Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr. departed into the presence of his Lord. We are grieving his loss and rejoicing in his gain. He has finished his course, fought the good fight, and kept the faith. Yesterday morning, knowing that he was soon to be with the Lord, I abandoned the sermon I had planned to preach and instead looked to the words of the apostle Paul here to Titus at the beginning of his epistle. It is from these words that I want to speak to you this morning:
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. (Tit. 1:1-2)
Elder Bradley could say the same thing as Paul did here, with the sole exception that he never claimed to be an apostle in the sense that Paul was. But Elder Bradley has lived his whole life and given his whole ministry for the very things that the apostle speaks of here.
Paul describes himself here, first as a servant, or slave, of Jesus Christ, which he considered not as a humiliating term, but as a term of honor and privilege. Then, as an apostle of Jesus. As a servant of the Lord, he was commissioned and sent by him with a message. What follows is a description of his aims as an apostle: to bring about the faith of God’s elect through the knowledge of the truth which is after godliness. All of this is fueled and informed and shaped by the fundamental reality of the “hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Paul was a man himself who lived in this hope and all his ministry was in a sense a prolonged effort to bring others to this hope. Has this not been the life-long aim of Elder Bradley as well?
For Paul, this hope is fundamental to the Christian life, and today I want to remind us of why this is so. It is still true for the 21st century Christian today as it was for Paul in the first. There are three reasons that this verse points us to. Christian, set your hope on eternal life because of what it is, because of who promised it, and because of when he promised it.
Because of what it is
What is this hope? What does Paul call us to here? “In hope.” We are not called to a tentative wishfulness. Rather, we are called to something which is described in the book of Hebrews as an anchor of the soul: “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Heb. 6:19). This is significant because there isn’t anything in this world that is like that. Nothing! Everything in this world is like something that, as soon as you grasp it, slips through your fingers. Even the things most seemingly fixed are in flux.
In some sense, this is what the entire book of Ecclesiastes teaches us. Later in the book of Hebrews, the author reminds us that “now he [God] hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Heb. 12:26-27). In other words, there is coming a time when literally everything in this earthly creation is going to come undone. The mountains will be cast into the sea. The stars will fall from the sky. But even now, we experience this in part. Who among us can say that things have continued unchanged and unchanging even over the past five years? Do we not experience great and sometimes earth-shattering and painful changes that rock our world and leave us reeling? As the hymn writer so ably put it:
And yet, in the midst of change and chaos, the Christian is called to hope. In fact, remember that Paul tells us in Rom. 8 that we are saved in hope (26). What is a Christian? The Christian is man or woman who hopes, not in the sense of wishful thinking but in the sense of a confident expectation based upon the sure promise in Christ. Again, the author of Hebrews calls us to “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Heb. 3:6). He exhorts us to “hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (14). Confidence! This is what God calls us to. He calls us to be people who are steadfast and sure in the midst of change and uncertainty. He calls us to be people who are confident and joyful in their hope. There is something remarkable and attractive about this. We need people in the church who are filled and animated by this kind of hope. We should want to have this kind of hope!
Now, what kind of hope is it? It is hope in change? Is it hope in ourselves? Is it hope in the doings of our elected officials? Is it hope in the evolutionary progress of human nature? Is it hope in some kind of inevitability of the march of history in some direction? Is it hope that tomorrow things will be better? No, our hope is in none of these things. Our hope, the hope of the Christian, is the “hope of eternal life.”
What is this? What is eternal life? First of all, it is not something less than what we have now, but it is something more. Our Lord put it this way, speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd and his people as his sheep: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).
You might actually be loving life right now. But wait a minute, life, like milk will sour on you! However, the fact of the matter is that we do enjoy many good things now, and we are meant to enjoy them as gifts of God. Paul teaches us that “every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim. 4:4-5). Solomon writes on multiple occasions in Ecclesiastes that though the things in this world are fleeting and though we should not put too much stock in them, yet that does not mean that we can’t enjoy them! He writes, for example, “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God” (Eccl. 2:24).
So when our Lord tells us that he came to give us life and life more abundantly, that tells me that we should not interpret eternal life as something less than what we have now. Eternal life is not the taking of something away; no, it is the giving of somethign more. It is life upon life, life clothed with more life. We cannot, in some sense, live life to its fullest here: that is reserved for the age to come. I like the way Paul puts it to the Corinthians: “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (2 Cor. 5:4). Right now, we live as dying people. We are mortal. But eternal life is life without mortality. It is life upon life. It is abundant life!
Our enjoyment of life is a but a shadow of the life to come. In the resurrection, we shall enjoy abilities and sensations that we can only imagine now. In the age to come, we will be unhindered by disease and sorrow and sin. We will be in a new heaven and new earth. All things will be new, renewed. But there will be continuity, hence the description of the age to come in terms of heaven and earth. But they will be new! Life upon life. John saw it:
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” (Rev. 21:1-6)
Second, it is eternal. There is an eternal death, a sort of existence that will also last forever that should make us shudder. There is the lake of fire, which John also saw, which is the second death (20:14-15). Eternal life is not mere eternal existence. It is life in the presence of God. It is life in the perfect enjoyment of God. It is life in Paradise. Imagine never-ending, ever-increasing joy. Can we? That is what heaven will be like. There will never be a time when we are bored. There will never be a time when we want to move on.
Have you ever been on a vacation that you wished would never end? Well, I guarantee you that, if it did go on, you would want it to end. The things of this world simply cannot satisfy us for long. Finite things wear out, even with finite people like we are. Only the Infinite One can satisfy us to eternity. And he will: “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. 7:15-17).
Nevertheless, death is terrible because it ends things. Death undoes things. Death is our enemy. The fact that the life in the age to come is eternal means that death has been undone. Our enemy has been conquered. Death puts a time-stamp on everything here. Death reminds us that we cannot go on like we are here on this earth forever. But those who enjoy eternal life will never again have to face the unraveling of their lives by death. The enemy death will be dead, forever.
We’ve already seen this, but it bears repeating. Eternal life is the immediate enjoyment of the presence of God. This, my friends, is really what redemption is about. Salvation is not primarily about having your sins forgiven. It’s not primarily about having the power of sin conquered in your life. Those things do happen and are necessary ingredients to salvation, but the whole purpose of salvation is to bring us to God. This is what John sees so clearly in his visions in the book of Revelation. The New Jerusalem has no need of the temple or the sun or the moon. Why? Because God is there. We will be in his immediate presence. We will see his face. We will be with Jesus forever. We will walk with him. It’s hard to visualize this as we ought, but this is the beatific vision, and crown of all our happiness and satisfaction and joy. Our joys here are diluted joys. The Spirit gives us but the earnest of our inheritance now. But there is coming a time when the saints will enjoy the fulness of their inheritance, which is God – “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17).
What can this world give you? Do you want the fame of people? They will easily turn on you. Do you want riches? Worldly riches cannot keep you from “your miseries that shall come upon you,” as James puts it in his epistle. He goes on to write: “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days” (Jam. 5:1-3). What about health? It will not last forever. This world will give you nothing that it will not one day take away. But God gives to his people, to those who through grace alone have found forgiveness in Christ, he gives them life abundant, never-ending joy in his own presence forever. Christian, this is the hope to which you are called.
This alone should be enough to want to make us people of this hope. But wait, there is more! We should want to be people of this hope . . .
Because of the one who promised it
“God, who cannot life, promised.” Our hope does not hinge upon the word of men, whether fools or wise. It hangs upon God upon whom all things depend. “What is God?” asks the Shorter Catechism. I love its answer: “God is a spirit, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.”
Think about what this means about the promise of eternal life. This eternal life is sure because it hangs upon God who is eternal and unchangeable. God is self-existent. He needs nothing and depends upon no one. The apostle Paul exults: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom. 11:33-36). Our promises often fail because of a lack of foresight, but God sees all things and calls the end from the beginning. Our promises often fail because of a lack of ability to bring is about, but God is the one who created all things from nothing and sustains them by the word of his power. God promised eternal life.
This eternal life is sure because it hangs upon God who is faithful and true. Politicians make promises to get elected and then promptly go back on them. Scientists make promises about the benefits of this or that technology, but more often than not every advance brings with it the seeds of our undoing. But none of this is true of God’s promise, for He is the one who cannot lie. I love this description of God. Satan is a liar and the father of lies. His empire is built upon piles of spiritual corpses murdered by his deceits. But God has made given us this promise and he will fulfill it. None who put their trust in him will ever be finally ashamed.
And God wants us to know this. He wants you to bank your life on the surety of his promise in Christ. Here again is what the author of Hebrews reminds us:
“For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil” (Heb. 6:13-19).
God not only gives us this promise, but he seals it with an oath. He didn’t have to. So why did he do it? Do what we might have “strong consolation,” that’s why. So that you might have this hope “as an anchor of the soul,” that’s why. So that your hope might be “sure and steadfast,” that’s why. God is unchangeable in his purposes and promises. He cannot deny himself. Having made this promise, he is going to see it through.
But again, that’s not all. There’s yet one more thing the apostle points us to in order to show us the greatness of this hope. It is great . . .
Because of when he promised it
“Promised before the world began.” Literally, “before eternal ages.” Do you wonder why Paul said this? Does it matter when God promised it? Yes, it does matter, and let me tell you why. There is great hope and consolation in the fact that God made the promise of eternal life before the world began, in eternity.
I think we can find a hint as to the meaning of the apostle here in the ninth chapter of his letter to the Romans. Speaking of God’s promise with respect to Jacob and Esau, Paul writes, “For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger” (Rom. 9:9-12). Now Paul is not talking here about a promise made in eternity, but nevertheless the point he makes here is relevant to what we’re talking about. It’s relevant because Paul makes much of the timing of God’s promise concerning Jacob and Esaw. When was it made? It was made when the children were not yet born, Paul says, when they had not yet done any good or evil. Why was this? “That the purpose of God” (which is eternal) “according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.” The apostle’s point is that since the promise preceded their works, therefore their works had nothing to do with the promise. God’s purpose with respect to Jacob and Esau hung upon the sovereign and gracious promise of God. As the apostle will say a few verses later, “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Rom. 9:16).
This is Paul’s point here. The fact that this promise is made in eternity is an indication that this promise is not based upon our works done here in time. It is a promise of sovereign and free grace. What this means is that there is no event or change in time that can annul the promise of God or cause it to fall to the ground. The apostles says something very similar in his second letter to Timothy: God, he writes, “hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9).
Why must God’s promise come to us in this way? Why is it a promise of grace that is given in Christ Jesus? It is because we are all sinners. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). God is holy and we are not. We have broken his law and flaunted his commandments, and we are all therefore deserving of his holy and just wrath and punishment forever in hell. We are not basically good people. We are selfish people, and even our good things are often done for selfish ends. But God, who sees the heart, is not pleased. All our righteousness before him are like filthy rags.
That is why we need Jesus Christ, who is the eternal Son of God, who became man, in order to become our substitute before God’s law, to keep it in our place and to suffer our punishment in our place. In his life and death, Jesus perfectly satisfied all the demands of God’s law in the place of all who put their trust in him: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jn. 3:16-18).
And this shows us how we can know that this promise of grace, this promise of eternal life, belongs to us. It belongs to us if we believe on Jesus, if we have put our faith in him, if we trust in him as the only Redeemer of God’s elect, if we have received him as Lord and Savior. Paul had said that his apostleship was “according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” That is, he was made an apostle to bring about the faith of God’s elect through the preaching of the gospel. These are the ones who have a claim to this hope.
Do you trust in Jesus? Is he, and he alone, the basis of your hope before God? My friends, you cannot drag your good deeds through the door into heaven. You have to leave them behind. You have to leave behind your self-righteousness for Jesus will only be had as the only Savior of mankind. You have to leave aside your self-sovereignty for Jesus will only be had as the only Lord of lords and King of kings.
All who rest themselves upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ, can say with Paul, “in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.” I encourage you this morning, whoever you are, wherever you are, to put your trust in Jesus Christ today. Don’t imagine that it’s your worthiness that gives you admission to come. It is his gracious and sovereign command that calls you to come, whoever you are and whatever you have done. I love these words at the end of the book of Revelation: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:16-17).
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