TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL
	TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” - 2 Cor. 4: 18 The first thought which I commend to the attention of my reader is this : We live in a world where all things are temporal and passing away. Humbling and painful as these truths may sound, it is good for us all to realize them and lay them to heart. The houses we live in, the homes we love, the riches we accumulate, the professions we follow, the plans we form, the relations we enter into they are only for a time. “The things seen are temporal”. “The fashion of this world passeth away”. The great unseen state of existence which lies behind the grave, is for ever. Whether it be happy or miserable, whether it be a condition of joy or sorrow, in one respect it is utterly unlike this world - it is for ever. There at any rate will be no change and decay, no end, no goodbye, no mornings and evenings, no alteration, no annihilation. Whatever there is beyond the tomb, when the last trumpet has sounded, and the dead are raised, will be endless, everlasting, and eternal. “The things unseen are eternal.” Let us settle it in our minds, for one thing, that the future happiness of those who are saved is eternal. However little we may understand it, it is something which will have no end; it will never cease, never grow old, never decay, never die. At God’s “right hand are pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16: l l). Once landed in paradise, the saints of God shall go out no more. The inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away.” They shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away”. Their warfare is accomplished; their fight is over; their work is done. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. They are travelling on towards an “eternal weight of glory,” towards a home which shall never be broken up, a meeting without a parting, a family gathering without a separation, a day, without night. Faith shall be swallowed up in sight, and hope in certainty. They shall see as they have been seen, and know as they have been known, and “be for ever with the Lord”. I do not wonder that the apostle Paul adds, “Comfort one another with these words.” (I Thess. 4: 17, 18). Let us settle it, for another thing, in our minds, that the future misery of those who are finally lost is eternal. This is an awful truth, I am aware, and flesh and blood naturally shrink from the contemplation of it. But I am one of those who believe it to be plainly revealed in Scripture, and I dare not keep it back in the pulpit. Our state in the unseen world of eternity depends entirely on what we are in time. The life that we live upon earth is short at the very best, and soon gone. But short as our life is here, and endless as it will be hereafter, it is a tremendous thought that eternity hinges upon time. Our lot after death depends, humanly speaking, on what we are while we are alive. It is written, God “will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but to them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.” (Rom. 2: 6, 7). The Lord Jesus Christ is the great Friend to whom we must all look for help, both for time and eternity. The purpose for which the eternal Son of God came into the world can never be declared too fully, or proclaimed too loudly. He came to give us hope and peace while we live among the “things seen, which are temporal,” and glory and blessedness when we go into the “things unseen, which are eternal”. These mighty privileges our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us at the cost of His own precious blood. He became our Substitute, and bore our sins in His own body on the cross, and then rose again for our justification. “He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God.” He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we poor sinful creatures might have pardon and justification while we live, and glory and blessedness when we die. Let us all settle it firmly in our minds that the only way to pass through “things seen” with comfort, and look forward to “things unseen” without fear, is to have Christ for our Saviour and Friend, to lay hold on Christ by faith, to become one with Christ and Christ in us, and while we live in the flesh to live the life of faith in the Son of God.