It’s tough to be alone. Sometimes we’re surrounded by people and yet we still feel alone. Well, one of God’s promises for you is this; that one day … one day you’ll be reunited with Jesus. And not only that. You’ll be spending the rest of eternity with Him. How’s that for a promise?!

Hope – is one of the most important things to our wellbeing that there is. It’s a feeling or expectation or desire for good things to happen in our future. You know when you sit there and you daydream about this or that – it’s always about good things isn’t it. It’s as though you’re creating a photo album in your mind of the good things that you want to happen to you in the future.

Worry and fear is pretty much the same – but that photo album is full of dark, negative pictures.

When we lose hope in the future, we often lose the will to go on. That’s why hope for tomorrow, is such an important part of who we are. 

But it’s really interesting, the word hope appears around 133 times throughout the Bible, but it’s meaning is a little different to what we’re used to. When we hope for something, it has a sense of uncertainty about it generally. 

I hope I get a promotion at work, I hope that the scans didn’t detect cancer, I hope that my kids grow up to lead healthy, productive, successful lives. When something is certain – like you know that you’re going on a 2 week holiday starting next Thursday – we look forward to that with anticipation.

But when something is uncertain then we hope that it will happen. But the biblical word for hope doesn’t make any room for uncertainty. The moment you read hope in the Bible, it’s an indication of certainty. As the article on bible.org says, the word Hope in Scripture means a strong, confident expectation.

So you see, there’s a profound difference between the way we use the Word today, and the way it’s used in God’s Word and if we transpose our meaning, onto that Word in Scripture we completely miss the point. Take this passage for instance:

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Romans 8:24,25)

If you read those words using our modern-day understanding of the meaning of the Word Hope, it’s not very helpful at all. Let me give you that version:

For in uncertain hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we have a wishy washy, uncertain hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Not only isn’t it helpful, but it just doesn’t make sense. Because if we wait with a wishy washy uncertain hope, then there is no way that we’re going to feel patient on the inside. Now let’s read it the way that it was meant, when it was written:

For in a certain, rock solid hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we have a strong, certain hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Now it makes sense. Now it’s a help. So the hope that God talks about, the hope that the Holy Spirit puts into our hearts, is a rock solid, guaranteed, done deal, it’s going to happen, certain kind of hope. It’s more akin to our understanding of anticipation – you know you’re going on holidays next Thursday, so you anticipate and savour that certainty – that’s what the Biblical Word hope actually means. 

And one of the things that we can hope in with absolute certainty, is that when we die and when Jesus comes again, we will be reunited with Him. In those days before He was crucified, Jesus told His disciples that He was going away – that was a scary thing for them, because they could sense the assassination plot, and they were wondering if they were going to be next. But this is what He said to them (John 14:1–3):

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also”

So this Jesus who was born as a babe onto this earth for us, this Jesus who died for us and who rose again, this Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father, this Jesus whose name is above every name, to whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord – this very same Jesus is the one that we will be reunited with on that day. The Apostle Paul puts it this way, in his letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter 4, verses 16 to 18:

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Forget the dramatic happenings around Christ’s second coming for a moment – as glorious and as wonderful as that day will be – the bit that grabs my heart is this – that we will be with the Lord forever. Forever – we will be reunited with Jesus and we will be with Him for ever and ever and ever without end. 

Therefore – writes Paul – therefore encourage one another with these words. And that’s exactly what I want to do today – encourage you with these words. Because whatever your present circumstances are – and the disciples, when Jesus told them He was going away, their circumstances were desperate, they were in fear of their very lives – whatever you’re going through at the moment, if you believe in Jesus then you have the absolutely, rock solid, it’s a done deal hope that one day you will be reunited with Him and that you will dwell with Him forever and ever and ever amen. That’s what I call something to really look forward to. 

The reason that I’ve called this series of messages “Merchants of Hope” is that this rock solid, certain hope of an eternity with Jesus is meant to do two things. It’s meant to make a difference to our lives and it’s meant to make a difference to the lives of those around us.

If you believe in Jesus and you’re not filled with this rock-solid, certain confidence and hope in Christ, then it’s pretty difficult, I think you’d agree, to impact the lives of the people around us with the good news of Jesus. And actually, I think that good news is a complete understatement.

I’d go with fantastic news. Mind-blowingly stunning news. The best news that’s ever been told or that ever will be told. Anyone who believes in Jesus needs to be telling this great news to those around them – not by being one of those boring, Bible-bashing, condemnatory Christians. But by letting our confidence in Christ, the certain hope that we have in Him overflow out of our lives into the lives of those around us.

If you have forgiveness where others want to create conflict, if you have a warm smile on your face when others just have a furrowed brow and steely eyes, if you have a sense of assurance when the ocean of life is tossing people to and fro in some great storm – people notice that. As Paul Said – 2 Cor 5:20:

We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Anyone who believes in Jesus is an ambassador of His – you and I should be merchants of hope. That’s the whole point. That’s how lives are transformed.

Now that I’m over sixty – even though I’m pretty fit and strong – I’ve noticed that the old body isn’t working quite as well as it used to. But here’s a promise from God that I am really looking forward to. One day, He’s going to give me … and you … a new body. One that won’t get sick. One that will last us forever.

Eternity as things turn out is rather a long time. Right now the oldest person I know in my circle of friends has just turned 100 years old. This woman is a great lady, with a sharp wit. I love her dearly. But at age 100, her body is starting so show the signs of her age, you’ll understand.

She walks with a walking frame and she’s kind of stooped over. Her eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be and of course she has a few more wrinkles than the rest of us. Her body is in pretty good nick for her age, but as you’d expect, age is taking its toll.

One day, she, like you and me, will return to dust. That amazingly complex, finely tuned body that we’ve all been given to look after, one day – will be no more.

So the question then arises, okay we die. So what happens then. The Bible promises us resurrection. That’s the point of Jesus rising from the dead. The writer of the book of Hebrews puts it this way:

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything (Hebrews 1:18).

So how does that work? You’re dead. Your body has decayed either in a coffin, or through cremation. And then one day Jesus returns … you and I are raised with Him – but what do we do for a body?

It might on the one hand seem like a bit of a strange, esoteric question for us to ask and answer. But it’s a very real question. Because this resurrection thing isn’t a theory. I know, I know, most of us think of our death as being a long way off, unless I guess we’ve just had our hundredth birthday.

We push these things way, way off to the side – because it’s all about living life today, and the things we can buy, the fun we can have, the things we need to tick off our to–do list today and tomorrow and all that busyness of life today. But friend, listen to me, one day that will stop dead … if you’ll pardon the not so gentle pun. One day none of those things will matter and indeed the only thing … the … only … thing … that will matter is our relationship with Jesus. Full stop. End of story.

So on that day, what are you and I going to do for a body? Well, here’s the answer the Apostle Paul writing in 1 Cor 15:35–58:

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life- giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain

So you and I, if we believe in Jesus will receive an imperishable, spiritual body through which we will inherit the kingdom of God. A body that won’t age like the one that we have today. We see that in Jesus – His resurrection body, the body He had after He was crucified and rose again, He had a body, He ate food, His body bore the scars of His crucifixion, and yet He didn’t seem to be particularly bound by physical constraints like locked doors. 

Will our bodies be exactly like His? Will we look the same as we look now? Those things we don’t know. But this we do. That the body we receive will be a new body and one that will be good enough to last us for all eternity. So those of you with a few aches and pains, I think that’s pretty good news, don’t you. A new body that is imperishable, one that won’t decay of the years, decades, hundreds of year, millennia, billions, trillions of years …. Eternity .. that you’re going to need it for. My friend that’s just brilliant news in my book. 

I’d like to tell you about the second oldest person I know – he’s a man who is about to turn 97 years old. He’s blind, he’s incontinent, he walks very slowly, feeling his way along the walls from room to room in his home in which he still lives. If you took a look at his physical presence, you’d think to yourself – not much left there. 

But of all the people I know, he has one of the strongest fires of faith and hope burning in his heart that I have ever seen. His passion for the lost is amazing. His faith–filled prayer I have no doubt moves mountains around the world on a daily basis.

I think of him often and pray for him. And I imagine what is going to happen when God gives him this new body, this imperishable, immortal resurrection body that He’s promised us here in His Word. That’s going to be an awesome day.

And my friend, if you’ve put your faith in Jesus – that awesome day is around the corner for you to. In your future is a day when you will receive your resurrection body. Your imperishable body. Your forever, never get sore or sick or sorry body.

Why am I harping on about this – because this is the stuff of the certain hope that we have through our faith in Jesus Christ. Not some pipe dream. But a certain hope. And the problem is that most of us just don’t spend a lot of time thinking about this. We should. Go grab a Bible. Read 1 Cor 15. Don’t read anything else for a week. Just that Chapter over and over again.

And then tell me what sort of difference your hope in Jesus Christ, is making to your life here and now. I’ll eat my hat if it doesn’t make a world of difference as you take your mind off the immediate, and rest it in the certain hope of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes I look around at the world in which we live, and wonder – how long will this planet survive given all the things that we’re doing to it? Good news is though that one day, it’ll all be gone. So … why is that good news? Because it’ll be replaced by a new heaven … and a new earth. 

We tend to think and live and behave as though this life we’re living is going to go on forever. Here’s a little tip. It’s not. And in fact, the things we take for granted, this great planet we live in, the sun getting up every morning, the moon … one day all those will be gone too. So … then what? 

Some people find these sorts of discussions a little … unsettling. The idea of Armageddon. We’re all wary of the doomsday cults, who are preparing for the end of the world next Thursday week. How many times have you seen one of those on the evening news, and of course they’re always wrong.

Well, don’t worry I’m not one of those – that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m simply going to the point that the Bible tells us that at some point, all this stuff that we take for granted is going to come to an end. And those who have put their trust in Jesus will spend the rest of eternity with Him, in their new resurrection bodies. And there will be a new heaven and a new earth. So how does this all turn out? Well fortunately we know to some extent how it all ends.

Have a listen to what God says to us from the last book in the bible, second last chapter, Revelation 21:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.

There’s the good news and the bad news. All throughout the Bible you see God talking about the fact that He wants to be our God and He wants for us to be His people. And yet over and over again, His people rebelled against Him, until eventually He sent Jesus to dwell in our midst … and then the Holy Spirit to dwell in each man and woman and child who believes in Jesus. But look at how it ends.

We’re reunited with Jesus. The old earth and the old heaven pass away. All things are made knew. Hmm. No pollution. No tsunamis or earthquakes. No disease or pain or suffering. None of that. Just God Himself in our midst. And those who persevere and conquer, those whose trust in Christ – all those will inherit this new, perfect creation. And those who don’t … won’t. And then John – the writer of this book of Revelation goes on to paint this amazing picture of what this new heaven and new earth will look like. We don’t have the time to read it all, so I really encourage you to grab the Bible, grab a cup of tea or coffee sometime in the next couple of days, and sit down and just immerse yourself in Revelation Chapter 21 and 22. 

The picture that God paints for us there of what is coming – is utterly amazing. Anything we have today, any joy, any beauty, any trials, any pains … just pale into insignificance when you compare them to this. John goes on to write:

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

I don’t know what you’re looking forward to most in the future – but this is what I’m looking forward to. As big and as important as all the things going on in my life today and tomorrow seem, they will be completely meaningless when I stand on that day in the Presence of God.

We’ve been given a beautiful world to live in. We’ve been given amazing bodies. God has given us the fish of the see and the birds of the air and the animals and beasts and insects and weather and wind and sunshine and the rain and the moon and all these amazing things. But friend one day … one day those will all pass away. They will all be gone. The good, the bad, the ugly … it’ll all be gone. And it will be replaced by … this – Rev 22

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” “See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

What are you looking forward to in your future? Hmm?

I’ve said a few times in this series that without hope for the future, our lives cease to have value and meaning and purpose. People who take their own lives do so, because they’ve completely lost hope.

But look at the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Have you given your life to Jesus yet? Would you like to? Well, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t give you the opportunity to do just that. So if you want to step into the hope that you can have through what Jesus did for you, then why don’t you pray this prayer with me in your heart. Pray it to God:

Lord God as you’ve shared this amazing picture of what is to come with me today through your Word, and I can’t put this off any longer. I’ve been running from you and running but it hasn’t been working and today Lord is the day that I’ve come to my senses. Today I want to say sorry for all the things that I’ve done wrong and turn my life over into your hands. Please forgive me through the price that Jesus paid for me on the Cross and give me a new life. Put your Holy Spirit in me to give me the power to live my life for you. Lead me wherever you will. Call me to whatever you would call me to. And give me the courage to take up my Cross and follow you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you have just prayed that prayer with me then you are forgiven, you have a new life in Christ, all the old things have passed away, the slate is wiped clean – and all things are new. And you have just stepped into the certain hope of resurrection after death and a life eternal in the very Presence of God. Welcome to the rest of eternity with Jesus.

Let me encourage you to find a Bible-believing Church and become part of a dynamic, vital faith community to worship and serve God and to grow in your relationship with Him.

Can I ask you – when was the last time that you cried. I mean really cried. What caused you to cry? I bet it was something that hurt deep inside. It’s tough, isn’t it? But one day, here’s a promise from God that I absolutely love, one day, He will come and wipe away every tear. Yours …. And mine. 

Over the past little while on the program, we’ve been talking about the importance of having hope in our lives. Hope is like a photo album in our hearts and in our minds – images of the good things that we hope are going to happen to us and for us in the future. And when we run out of positive image – that’s called … hopelessness.

But the important thing that I’ve learned over the course of this series – is this. That the sort of hope the Bible talks about is entirely different to the sort of hope we talk about. For us, hope has a dimension of uncertainty to it.

You’re sitting in the doctor’s surgery, waiting to go in to be told whether the x–rays reveal cancer or not. You hope that it will be okay, but … you just don’t know. Or you hope that next week, you’ll receive that promotion at work – the bosses are getting together over the next couple of days, to evaluate the candidates. You’re hoping that your name will be at the top of the list … but, you just don’t know.

There’s a kind of a tension involved in the way that we think about hope. I hope it’s going to be okay. I hope it’s going to be great. I hope … my marriage doesn’t fall apart. I hope my teenage kids are going to be okay at the party tonight.

And when things don’t turn out the way we want – often there are tears. The disappointment that ensues when the hope we had proves to be misplaced, is really, really tough. It often leads to tears. Think about the last time that you shed tears – what was it about? A betrayal? A relationship breakdown? Missing out on that promotion? A scary prognosis from the doctor?

I read in Wikipedia that according to the German Society of Ophthalmology, which has collated different scientific studies on crying, women cry on average between 30 and 64 times a year, and men cry on average between 6 and 17 times a year. Men tend to cry for between two and four minutes and women cry for about six minutes. Crying turns to sobbing for women in 65% of cases, compared to just 6% for men. But these differences don’t start to occur until adolescence.

Inevitably, those tears are related to the disappointment that comes when hope has failed us. Think back to the last time that you cried – what was it about? Why did you cry? What was the trigger? Sometimes it’s physical pain, but mostly, it’s when there’s some trigger or breaking point that brings lost hope to a head; that thing we’d hoped for – a good marriage, an obedient child, trustworthiness in a work colleague whatever it is – has failed us. 

Do you enjoy crying? No. I don’t think there’s a single person on the planet that does. And if you or I had our way, we would never, ever, ever encounter another situation that causes us to cry anything but tears of joy, for the rest of our days on this earth. Right?

The things we hope for on this earth don’t always happen. But the sort of hope that the Bible talks about is completely different – and there’s no better passage to tell that story than Romans 5:3–5:

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Did you pick it? The sort of hope that the Bible talks about is the sort that doesn’t disappoint us – it never disappoints us, because God is faithfull; God’s Word is true; God’s promises never fail and so we can hope in Him with an absolutely, rock solid, certain hope. No ifs. No buts. No maybe’s. 

Even, as is the case here, during times of suffering. Because during that suffering, God’s building our character and our endurance and through that He grows a godly hope in our hearts, by pouring His Spirit into us. So, when it comes to the tears that you and I shed from time to time there is a promise that I want to share with you today that you can have a rock solid, unfailing hope in. Revelation Chapter 21, verses 3 to 5. This passage tells us what our eternity with Jesus will be like. Have a listen:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.

Just think about that – whatever sadnesses and tragedies that you’ve had to travel through, whatever disappointments and losses that you’ve experienced in your life, God Himself will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Death, suffering, sickness, pain, mourning, loss, tragedy, disappointment will be no more … because those things will have passed away.

All the things that matter today, all the things that cause you hurt today, every single thing that brings a tear to your eyes, will be gone because those things – the first things – will have passed away. PAUSE ….

It’s hard to imagine isn’t it? I know there’s someone listening to day who has lost a child. Another whose life’s work was taken away from them. Another who’s wife or husband has just died and was suddenly taken away from them. And there’s no doubt someone listening whose marriage is a complete mess – not what at all what you’d planned when you walked down the aisle all those years ago.

One day, all those things will be gone, and if you believe in Jesus, all that will be left, will be you, with countless others, in glory with the Lord your God for all eternity. Billy Graham once said this: “I’ve read the last page of my Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.” That’s the rock solid truth in which you and I can place our hope – and never, ever, ever be disappointed.

So let’s bring that hope now, into the middle of the situations and circumstances that you’re travelling through at the moment. The things that you have uncertain hope about. The thing that last moved you to tears and to sobbing – the pain so deep, that you don’t have the words to express it.

What difference does this hope make? What difference can it make? Does it completely take away the pain and the tears now? No, I don’t think so. Probably not. Some hurts are incredibly deep. But what it does do, is it puts them in an eternal perspective. Just … stand back and look at the whole picture. What you’re going through now in the context of the hope that you can have for where you’re going to be and what you’re going to be doing and what God will have done on that day that you go to be with Him. 

And listen to His Words again, as He speaks them personally to you:

I will dwell with you; and you will be mine, I myself will be with you; I will wipe every tear from your eyes. Death will be no more; your mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for those things will have passed away.

And my friend that very same God, the God that speaks those words of love to you now, is with you now. Through your faith in Jesus, His Spirit – the very Presence of God – dwells in you. He feels your pain. He knows your tears. He is here to comfort you. And He is here to pour his rock solid certain hope into your heart, so that you will know beyond any doubt, that one day, these things will come to pass.

The Word of God is able to do things that no man can do. May His Word and His Spirit bring deep comfort and great hope to you today.

If I live to an average age, I have about 20 Christmases, birthdays and Easters left in me. In one sense that’s short, but hey, I get a lot done in just one day, so 20 years is quite a while. Have you ever thought about eternity? That’s a very long time. Question: if you believe in Jesus, what are you actually going to be doing, each and every day … for eternity?

Have you ever tried to imagine eternity? It’s a bit like infinity. You and I are tiny specs in the cosmos – in fact, we live on a tiny spec hurtling around the sun at 30 kilometres a second. So we’re tiny, tiny, tiny in the overall scheme of things.

At least a hundred trillion stars out there – and those are just the ones we know about.

Of course day to day, we don’t think about that all that much. As I sat at my desk this morning pecking away at the keyboard it seemed totally incongruous to me that I was hurtling through space at 30 kilometres per second. (Actually, it’s a whole bunch worse than that, because as well as flying around the sun at breakneck speed, our solar system is whirling around the centre of our galaxy at another 220 kilometres per second – that’s 792,000 kilometres or 490,000 miles per hour – but I try not to think about that).

So when it comes to our sense of space, we cope with these ridiculously, unimaginably large numbers, by retreating into the few square miles in which we live, and somehow fencing our mind and imagination to live in that space, because it’s much more comfortable that way. Am I right?

And the same is true with our sense of time. I’m 54 years old and every now and then I think to myself if I live to what is the average life expectancy for a male in Australia – say to my mid eighties, that’s what, another thirty years. Could be more, could be less – only God knows. I’m pretty fit and healthy so I’m hoping it’ll be more, but I don’t know that. 

Thirty years left. Thirty birthdays. Thirty Christmas’. Thirty Easters. Thirty summers. That’s not that many is it when you think about it. Basically I’m almost two thirds the way through an average lifetime. And yet – even a day is a long time. I look back on yesterday and I got an awful lot done. I tend to pack a lot into my days – because I love living life to the full. It’s just me. So, thirty years, that’s another 10,950 days. Well, I tell you something if I get as much done on each of those as I did yesterday, then that’s an awful lot. So now, I turn my mind to the lyrics of that wonderful old hymn – Amazing Grace:

When we’ve been here ten thousand years.
Bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.

Hang on ten thousand years! That’s three million, six hundred and fifty days (I’m assuming we’ll have given leap years the ditch by then). What do you do for that many days?! I mean after a three week holiday, I’m raring to go to get back to work, back into harness, back to doing stuff.

And yet 10,000 years is a still drop in the ocean, when it comes to eternity which by definition is infinity years. Have you ever wondered what we’re going to do for that long in heaven?! Well, when we talk about heaven, we’re really talking about the new earth that God is going to create and when God creates that new earth, heaven will literally be on earth as God makes His home with us.

Okay, so if you believe in Jesus today, if you put your trust completely in what He did for you on the cross, if you’re living out your life for him then … you’re going to be spending eternity in heaven on earth with Him. As we’ve seen in this series, the effects of our sin will be rolled back. As one author writes, we’ll effectively be picking up where the garden of Eden left off.

Will we be working in heaven? Or will it be one long holiday? Will we get bored? Is that pain in the neck, busy body, gossip Mrs so-and-so from down the road going to be there to bend my ear? Come on – eternity is an incredibly, unimaginably, long time. What are we going to be doing?

The last book of the Bible – Revelation gives us the best indication of what we’ll be doing. Now it’s written in a style of literature called apocalyptic literature, for which we have no real equivalent in our culture today. The best way to describe it is picture language. So – here are the words, let them paint a picture in your heart – Revelation Chapter 5: 

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty- four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They sing a new song:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Hmm. I don’t know what else we’ll be doing, but t=one of the main things that we’re going to be doing is worshipping God. What? For eternity? Sure. He is an infinite God – He is an amazing God and when you and I stand in His Presence, I have to tell you, our instinctive reaction will be to worship and worship and worship. Have you ever been in a great time of worship at your church and wished it would never end? Well that … that was only a shadow, just an inkling of what is to come. We will be in His Presence and worship Him. Forever.

There’s a great song by Mercy Me called I Can Only Imagine. It goes like this:

I can only imagine what it will be like, when I walk by your side. I can only imagine, what my eyes will see when your face is before me. I can only imagine. I can only imagine. Surrounded by your glory what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of your be still? Will I stand in your Presence, or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to sing at all? I can only Imagine. I can only imagine.

I don’t think that you and I can begin to fathom what it will mean to be in glory with Jesus, knowing that we are only there by His grace, through His suffering on the Cross – and because of His great love, God is our God, we are His people and the home of God is in our midst. 

Friend do you believe in Jesus? Then this is the certain hope that is in you. This is absolutely what is going to happen. And it will go on for ever and ever and ever AMEN! And that hope my friend is meant to fill your heart today. That hope is meant to overflow out of you into the lives the hearts the hurts the fears the failures the sin of the people around you. That hope is meant to spill out and flow out and touch them with the love of your God.

Are you a follower of Christ Jesus? Yes? Then you are meant to be a merchant of hope. An ambassador of Christ. We don’t see the people around us come to Christ through the condemnation that we hurl at them? How well have you ever seen that working?

We see them come to Christ when they see the hope that is in us, and they ask us – why are you so upbeat? How can you be so happy? Why are you so strong through the trials that you face? And you turn to them with a smile and you say, let me tell you about the hope that is in me. You and I are meant to be, merchants of hope.