https://odb.org/MY/2023/05/02/life-everlasting
I always recall the movie Highlander whenever the topic of immortality crops up. It is about a Scottish swordsman who was born in 1518 and lived through the centuries. In a subtle way, a movie like that, although pure fiction, embodies our human desire to live forever. The novel Count Dracula (that has been adapted into numerous movies) is another example of man’s pursuit of immortality. Throughout the ages, we have been known to search for the elixir of youth that cures all diseases. Even in contemporary times, we have stem cell technology to rejuvenate our bodies and preempt diseases so that we may live longer, although not forever. We, as believers, of course, know that we age and die because of sin, and the only way to eternal life is believing in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.
The movie Highlander and other movies like Charlize Theron’s Netflix’s The Old Guard highlight a fundamental issue with immortality, and that is, living forever is a very lonely experience. This is because if we are immortal, we will outlive all our loved ones who will age and die, and we have to restart that process of loving someone over and over again, and that also means loss and grief throughout time. It is ironical, but mortality then becomes the quest of immortals.
Is the hope of eternal life promised by Christ immortality? In a way, it also embodies the desire of man for immortality. But the big difference is that although we die, we live as Jesus said in John 11:25. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. We need to die in Christ in order to live.
The other significant difference is that the hope of eternal life advocated by Christ has more to do with being with God than living forever. Jesus’s death on the cross reconciled us to God, and thus, that is why Christians proclaim that eternal life can somewhat be experienced here on earth now while we are living here on earth, in our brokenness and sin. We have a glimmer of eternity as Christians.
Man was created by God to have fellowship with Him as He originally intended in Eden. Sin disrupted that. So God had to send His only Son to earth so that we may not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). When we read Revelation 21 and 22, we will see Eden recreated at the end of time with a new beginning with God dwelling again among His people. Heaven and earth become one. The spiritual realm merges with the physical. With sin and the devil banished forever, we will live forever, but that’s not the point. We will live forever with one another and with God, and that’s really the point of eternal life!
Ronnie's Thoughts 