Eternal Perspectives -- A Collection of Quotations on Heaven, the New Earth, and Life After Death

Greetings All!

Just over 15 years ago I had an older gentleman in my church in Honduras ask me: "Pastor, why is it that no one preaches on heaven anymore?  Everything seems to be focused on the here and now."  He was right then, and his words only more so now.  Heaven is not a common sermon topic anymore -- and the lack of it is seen in the lack of life in many churches. Without an eternal perspective, our priorities as Christians become stunted, get twisted, and can even become unchristian.

Thus, in honor of him (who left these earthly shores a few years back) I offer you these selections from Randy Alcorn's book, "Eternal Perspectives -- A Collection of Quotations on Heaven, the New Earth, and Life After Death."  It is a massive collection of quotes on that topic from Christian's throughout the ages. I trust the one's I've selected (read and meditated upon, two or three a day) will increase your hunger to know more and cause you to see the benefit of such a renewed focus. Enjoy.

"Christians are living too much in the "present now" -- and [therefore] the anticipation of better things to come has almost died out in the Church of Christ. We find ourselves so well-situated now, that we don't really need any of tomorrow's heaven. We don't need to hope -- we have everything well enough now."

A. W. Tozer

"All beauty in the world is either a memory of Paradise, or a prophecy of the coming transfigured world."

Nicholas Berdyaev

"O my Lord Jesus Christ, if I could be in heaven without You, it would be a hell; and if I could be in hell, and have you still, it would be a heaven to me, for You are all the heaven I need."

Samuel Rutherford

A mere glimpse of heaven would be enough to re-energize us and give us renewed strength to persevere till the end.  "In 1952, young Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She'd already been the first woman to swim the English channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for fifteen hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat alongside her, told her she was close and could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out.  It wasn't until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than a half mile away. At a news conference the next day she said: "All I could see was the fog... I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it."

C. J. Mahaney

"On a tombstone in Indiana that dates back more than one hundred years is written: 

"Pause, stranger, when you pass me by;

As you are now, so once was I.

As I am now, so you will be. 

So prepare for death and follow me.

An unknown passerby scratched these additional words on the tombstone:

"To follow you I'm not content,

Until I know which way you went."

Ron Rhodes

"Only the pure in heart will see God, because only the pure in heart want to see God.  Heaven would not be heaven to those who detest holiness here. Those who seek not God's presence now, would never be happy to dwell in it for all eternity then. And God is just, He will never give the Christ-rejecting unbeliever then, what they don't want now."

"He who hopes to be gathered with saints in heaven, while he only loves the gathering of sinners on earth, is deceiving himself." 

J. C. Ryle 

"God loves us enough to tell us the truth. There are two eternal destinations, not one, and we must choose the right path if we are to go to heaven. All roads do not lead to heaven. Only one does -- Jesus Christ... As human beings, we have a terminal disease called mortality. The current death rate is 100 percent. Unless Christ returns soon, we're all going to die. We don't like to think about death, yet worldwide, 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, and nearly 11,000 every hour.  If the Bible is right about what happens to us after death, that means that 250,000 people every day go either to heaven or to hell."

Randy Alcorn

"More important than all the physical beauty of the heavenly city; more important than the fellowship we will enjoy eternally with all God's people from all nations and all periods of history; more important than our freedom from pain and sorrow and physical suffering... more important by far than any of these will be the fact that we will be in the presence of God and enjoying unhindered fellowship with Him."

Wayne Grudem

"Some of you while sitting here today (in worship) have been trying to lift up your minds to heavenly contemplation, but you cannot. The business has gone so wrong this week; the children have vexed you so much; sickness has been in the house so sorely; you yourself feel in your body quite out of order for devotion -- these enemies break your peace...  [But remember] life is but a moment. In short time you will appear in eternity. And though impatience counts it long, yet faith corrects her and reminds her that one hour with God will make the longest life seem but a point in time, a mere nothing, a watch in the night, a thing that was and was not, that has come and gone."

Charles Spurgeon

"The reason why we have no ease of heart or soul [is that] we are seeking our rest in things which can never satisfy, and not seeking to know God, almighty, all-wise, all-good...  We shall never cease wanting and longing until we possess Him in fullness and joy. Then we shall have no further wants. Meanwhile, His will is that we go on knowing and loving until we are perfected in heaven...  The more clearly the soul sees His Blessed face, by grace and love, the more it longs to see it in all its fullness."

Julian of Norwich

"When the Bible defines eternal life, it is not in terms of location or duration, but in terms of relationship with God: 'This is eternal life,' says Jesus, 'that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent' (John 17:3)." 

Daniel Brown

     May your contemplation of eternity move you to live more fully in the present, and resolve once-and-for-all where you shall spend it.  Alcorn is right when he says, "not all roads lead to heaven."  That is what the Bible clearly teaches, along with the twin truth, that, "Only one road leads there -- Jesus Christ."

That others may know Him, Pastor Jeff

Puritans

Greetings All!

     This week's "thoughts" come to you from a selection of different Puritans. Yes, Puritans!  I know many are prejudiced against the Puritans from the start (often by exposure to exaggerated and untrue propaganda) but I would ask you (if you are such a person) to let them speak for themselves and not read them through the filter of another person's opinion of them.  Ryken's Book "Worldly Saints" is a wonderful corrective to many of the common myths.
Overall (with a few minor exceptions) they were a very gospel-centered and grace-oriented group of people. Yet you would only know that if you took the time to read the things they actually wrote themselves, instead of things others have written about them (often without ever having taken the time to do what I just suggested)!  After all, wisdom and fairness would say we should never formulate an opinion of someone until we get to know and interact with them personally.
     So, with that said, here are some "Puritan" thoughts! In terms of a time frame, the vast majority lived between the years 1600 - 1690.   Enjoy.

     "The man whose heart is endeared to the woman he loves... dreams of her in the night, has her in his eye and apprehensions when he awakes, muses on her at he sits at table, and walks with her when she travels... She lies in his bosom, and his heart trusts in her, which forces all to confess that the stream of his affection, like a mighty current, runs with full tide and strength." 

Thomas Hooker

     "There is no relationship more near, more entire, more needful, more kindly, more delightful, more comfortable, more constant, more continual, than the relationship of a man and his wife, the main root, source, and origin of all other relationships." 

Thomas Gataker

     "Creatures, like pictures, are most beautiful from a distance.  But it is not so with Christ. The nearer the soul approaches Him, and the longer it lives in the enjoyment of Him, still the sweeter and more desirable He becomes... He is bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, a garment to the naked, and healing to the wounded. Whatever a soul can desire is found in Him."

John Flavel

     "What is the Gospel itself but a merciful moderation, in which Christ's obedience is esteemed ours, and our sins laid upon Him, wherein God, from being a judge, becomes our Father, pardoning our sins and accepting our obedience, though feeble and blemished."

Richard Sibbes

     "Men would sooner believe that the Gospel is from heaven, if they saw more of its heavenly effects in the hearts and lives of those who profess it."

Richard Baxter

     "One word of seasonable, prudent advice, given by a minister to persons in need, may be of more use than many sermons."

Richard Baxter

     "It is the same impossibility for a thing to be created out of nothing, as to be created by nothing." 

William Law

     "He only that stills the stormy seas, can quiet the distressed and tempestuous soul."

John Flavel

     "A man may easier see without eyes, or speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit."

John Owen

     "Humility is a strange flower -- it grows best in winter weather and under storms of affliction."

Samuel Rutherford

     "There are two aspects to love; the one is to give, the other is to forgive." 

John Boys

     "In marriage a husband must choose his love, and then he must love his choice." 

Henry Smith

     "God commands nothing but what is beneficial...  To obey God is not so much our duty as our privilege." 

Thomas Watson

     "If you neglect instructing your children in the way of holiness, will the devil neglect to instruct them in the way of wickedness? No. If you will not teach them to pray, he will teach them to curse, swear, and lie.  If ground remain uncultivated, weeds will spring up on it."

John Flavel

     "Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer."

John Bunyan

     "All married persons must above all things, love, respect and cherish grace in one another."

Thomas Taylor

     In the Bonds of Christian Affection, Pastor Jeff