- Time without beginning or end; infinite time.
- The state or quality of being eternal.
- The timeless state following death.
- The afterlife; immortality.
- A very long or seemingly endless time:
“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart; but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” Ecclesiastes 3:11
Every generation and culture that has ever walked the earth believes in some aspect of this concept. So where did it come from? I chose the scripture verse above because, I believe it speaks to the connection that we already have with eternity. Something has been deposited on our inside, which forces us to grasp the reality, that there exists a place, outside the realm of human comprehension. Eternity is relatively unknown, as I said earlier, some things are mysteries, and revelations of the mysterious are to be earned. We imagine many stories and theories of what we think eternity will be like. Personally, I think eternity will be the most sublime of all experiences.
The Bible has quite a lot to say on the subject, but what is most striking is the dual states it presents. We pass from life into death and eternity, eternity is unknown, largely because it is a place that many never return from and thirdly it is portrayed as a reward based on how we lived our lives on earth. So if eternity is a reward, earth is the preparation center. Whenever we are journeying, we always take some time to prepare ourselves and take with us the things we will need for our trip. Once we have entered into eternity there is no coming back, what you left behind, stays behind. People get rewarded for both good and bad behaviors in the earth realm; eternity seems to be a similar idea because we are told of two locations, Heaven and Hell. Since these states exist independent of time, we too must undergo change as we exit the realm where time operates and influence our actions. William Blake said “To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour. Here the poet captures the essence of the thread of my musings.
The bible teaches that Eternity is a place like no other, the trials and problems of living in the earth realm will be no more. Living and death is interconnected. We must pass from one state to the other. I have mentioned before that death has meaning, life has meaning; they are two states of being.Time affects us all, as we can clearly see the aging process; occurring right before our eyes. From what the Bible teaches eternity will be a beautiful time for those who have prepared themselves to journey there.
Woundedbirdnomore 