CHAPTER 26
THE ETERNAL STATE OF TIME
Eternity is a complex subject. There are interim states before the eventual permanent state, plus there are four categories of sentient creatures (those with souls) who will have different states along the way. To truly understand the subject of eternity one must understand all of these issues. Eternity will include two very different conditions depending on the choices made by angels and man during their time over the expanse of history. It is important to note that time will continue for all eternity.
As previously discussed, God created two categories of sentient creatures, first angels, and then humans. Every single person in all human history and every single angel in all angelic history will live forever. The issue for each individual creature is whether eternity will be spent with God or apart from Him.
Regarding humans, most people think that once a person dies they go into their permanent eternal status. That has not been true for any human being so far. The death of a person does not result in the immediate transfer into a permanent status, either for believers or unbelievers. And no angel has ever died, and none are in their eternal status. Therefore when the issue of eternity is discussed it must be divided into the four categories of creatures which will have an eternal status: 1) saved human believers, 2) unsaved human unbelievers, 3) elect angels, and 4) fallen angels (including Satan). Then for each of the four categories the discussion must be divided into what has happened so far, what will happen during the remainder of history for each, and what happens after history is completed for each. So the issue is rather complex since a discussion about eternity must include four categories of creatures under several sets of conditions which includes temporary and permanent statuses. It is an understatement to say eternity will be very different depending on which category the creature is in.
Defining the four categories is an important first step since it sets the stage for a discussion of each group. The four groups are:
1) Elect angels: Those angels who refused to join Satan’s revolt against God. These angels remained loyal to God and therefore remained in the status of being able to spend eternity with God. These comprise 2/3 of all angels who remained as elect angels.
2) Satan and fallen angels: Includes Satan and those angels who joined Satan’s revolt against God. These angels sinned and therefore lost the status of being able to spend eternity with God. Satan and 1/3 of all created angels revolted and became fallen angels.
3) Saved humans (aka believers in Jesus Christ): Those who accept salvation from God even though unworthy, which qualifies them to live with God forever.
4) Unsaved humans (aka unbelievers who reject Jesus Christ): Those who reject salvation from God, leaving them unqualified to live with God forever.
With these categories in mind, we will now begin to discuss the eternal status of each of the four groups in order, one at a time.
Elect angels never sinned so they did not require reconciliation with God. They remained loyal to God, therefore defining their eternal state is not so complicated. During the pre-mankind portion of the angelic conflict there were battles between the two groups of angels over a long period of time, and elect angels earned certain rewards for their actions. These rewards were granted at some time before the creation of man, so their eternity is locked in. However, they are not in their final status because the location of their eternity will change in the future as shall be discussed later. Meanwhile, they currently reside in heaven and on the earth where they worship God, support believers, and have functions which change during the various Ages of human history.
God has already sentenced Satan and all fallen angels to the Lake of Fire for revolting against Him, a place designed specifically for them (Matthew 25:41, John 16:11). But none of them are there now since God is currently allowing them to make the argument that they should never be sent there. In fact, the Lake of Fire is empty at this time. The Lake of Fire is not the same as what is commonly called Hell (Torments) where human unbelievers are now temporarily held. After human history ends, Hell will be eliminated and Satan, fallen angels, and unbelieving man will reside forever in the Lake of Fire. Fallen angels will enter their eternal status after the end of human history, which will conclude Satan’s allotted time to make his arguments about God’s fairness. When human history ends, Satan and all fallen angels will be put into the eternal Lake of Fire since they will have failed to prove their claim that God was unfair to sentence them to the Lake of Fire forever.
During eternity all fallen angels and human unbelievers will be put into eternal bodies of condemnation, and they will all be equal; even Satan will be no better off than any human unbeliever in the Lake of Fire. As noted earlier, Satan does not rule Hell, but rather will simply be one more tortured soul in a lowly body in the most awful place imaginable in total misery for all eternity. There is equality of suffering in the Lake of Fire, and it is forever.
The human race is divided into two groups in God’s view, namely believers (saved) and unbelievers (unsaved). Believers are those who at some time during their life on earth believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior, or in the Messiah before the cross. That is all it takes. God makes it easy to accept His grace so no one will have any excuse for rejecting salvation except their own arrogance. (Those who die too young to make a decision about Christ, and those with very low mental capacity who cannot make an informed decision are treated the same as believers.) Prior to the cross all believers went to Paradise when they died, and they were moved into heaven after Jesus Christ was seated there. After that time all believers go directly to heaven when they die.
All human unbelievers who die go initially to a temporary holding facility commonly called “Hell” or “Hades” but more correctly known as Torments. Every unbeliever who has ever died is currently in Hell. It is a very uncomfortable place and is characterized by torment from extreme heat and lack of respite from it. After human history is complete, all unbelievers of all time will be judged individually and personally by Jesus Christ. They refused to believe in Christ as Savior and accept His salvation work on the cross, and instead they relied on their own “good works” during human history for salvation. But every unbeliever is found to have come short of achieving the required perfect righteousness necessary to live with God, since perfect righteousness is only available through faith in Jesus Christ. Every unbeliever is therefore guilty of imperfection and thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire alongside Satan and his demons. They will all be equal. Satan will not rule in the Lake of Fire. And despite the “fire” reference, there is no light in the Lake of Fire, since light in eternity is only from God. It is totally dark, intensely hot and horribly painful. There will be no respite from the suffering. God can have nothing to do with any of them forever.
All people during their life on earth have a sinful nature. When the believer dies that sinful nature is shed. But when the unbeliever dies it is not shed, but is retained forever, which adds to the torment due to the anger, bitterness, remorse, and other negative thought processes. So also with fallen angels and their sinful nature. While elect angels never took on a sinful nature, the fallen angels did and will retain it forever just as unbelievers will. Not only will they be in agony, they will also be bitter, resentful, remorseful, angry, and will have all the other negative thoughts which intensify misery and suffering.
If anyone thinks God can allow imperfection to live with Him and ignore the only Savior and the only way of salvation God allows, they are mistaken. Jesus Christ suffered unimaginably to provide salvation, and it was the only way possible for God to allow humans to have a relationship with Him. Jesus said: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) As terrible as the Lake of Fire is, the majority of all humans and 1/3 of all angels ever created will reside there forever. They chose it, and even God cannot ignore those choices.
For human believers, after human history is over the Eternal State begins, and it will never end. The current earth and universe will be destroyed, then God will create a new universe with a new earth and a New Jerusalem hovering above that new earth. As eternity begins, all believers are moved from heaven into this eternal universe to live forever in resurrection bodies with Jesus Christ and the entire Trinity. It is important to understand the significance of this, since it means believers will not spend eternity in the current heaven, but rather in the new universe God will create for all believers in resurrection bodies and also for the elect angels.
The Eternal State will go on forever as time continues with all believers and elect angels residing with God, while all unbelievers, Satan, and fallen angels will reside apart from God in the Lake of Fire. Time will continue because souled creatures will still require it, needing to have continuation, sequence, measurability and all the facets of time. But there will be a vast difference between how time continues for believers who live eternally with God, and unbelievers who live eternally apart from Him.
During eternity time will be measured in a very similar manner as it is now for those living with God. Remember, souled creatures need to be able to relate to time and its passage, and they also require location, even during eternity. For those living with God during the Eternal State there will be no sun or moon, as all light will come only from God, but time will still be measured in months, with twelve months in a year as shown in Revelation 22:1:
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations... 5 "And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
We believers have a wonderful eternal future beyond human history in a resurrection body living with our Lord in a new eternal universe and on a new earth far superior to the current one. Elect angels will be there also, but human believers will have bodies superior to the angels. Time will continue and will be measured much like it is on the current earth, but with differences. Believers will recall the past, but only the good parts. We will be as fully conscious of being a person then as we are now. Each one will have task assignments, but not burdensome ones. There will be special events and social life and conversations and entertainment and dwellings and many other things far beyond our current understanding. But it will be very real and we will still be humans with the same soul, but sinless and perfect at that point. We will even eat and drink for enjoyment and not get fat. We will enjoy whatever God gives us, and it will be in varying degrees depending on how each one fulfilled their spiritual life during their time on the current earth. Eternity is not a time of being in some spacey state of existence, but rather our souls will function as they did during our natural life, just without a sinful nature and therefore perfect. It will be very real, and it will be wonderful. The past will continue to be built up as time during eternity continues forever.
We will now discuss the details of the new universe, new earth, and New Jerusalem which will be our eternal home with God.