Dr. Dan Hayden •
Forever is a long time, and God says you can spend it in heaven with Him. Now that’s something to think about!
Notice how John 3:16 ends – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” To have life is one thing, but to have eternal life is something else.
This word “eternal” is the Greek word aion. We get one of our English words from that. It’s the word “eon” – we talk of eons of time. The New World Dictionary defines “eon” as “an extremely long, indefinite period of time” – thousands and thousands of years. Well, that’s exactly what the Greek word “aion” means. It means “eternal; everlasting; an infinite duration of time.”
You probably know the song “Amazing Grace,” right? Well, one of the verses of that song says, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun.” John Newton certainly grasped something of the meaning of eternal life in that verse. Ten thousand years into eternity (he said) we will not even have begun to diminish the time we still have ahead of us. When you trust Jesus as your Savior, God gives you eternal life.
Hey – eternal life – WOW! What a gift!