A Pastor’s Perspective

“Forever Means Forever” by Mike Hill, pastor of Calvary Chapel Aberdeen         

Listen to CALVARY RADIO 90.3 FM (mjhill@ida.net)

     Call me sentimental.  I suppose some could accuse me of being a romantic at times.  My heart resonates with the song Randy Travis wrote as he sings, “This love that I feel for you always will be ·... Oh baby I’m gonna love you forever—forever and ever amen.”  My wife and I are celebrating our seventeenth anniversary and I still feel this way—even more so!  God’s sentiment concerning how He feels towards me is the same as well—even more so!  It’s exciting for me to realize that God can’t help but love me—not because I deserve it but simply for the fact that “God is love” (1John 4:8).  His love is unconditional.  And, His love is forever.  How long is forever?  Forever and ever…amen!

     I’m reminded of how God “set His love” upon the Jewish people, that is, the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  One way He expressed His love toward them was by choosing them “to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6).  He did not choose them because they were great in number or possessed some inherent worth that caught His attention.  Rather, He chose the Jewish people simply because He loved them unconditionally and is faithful to keep His promises (Deuteronomy 7:7, 8).  God promised to multiply Abraham’s descendents like the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5).  He kept that promise.  God also promised Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).  God kept that promise by bringing forth the Messiah, the Savior of the world, through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God also promised the land of Israel to His people, and He will keep that promise. 

     The current world opinion—even of our own administration—is that Israel must give up the land for peace.  Would you rather listen to God or the opinions of the majority?  God promised to Abraham and the Jewish people: “For all the land which you see I give to you and your descendents forever” (Genesis 13:15).  The borders of the land to which God was referring included even more than what Israel currently possesses.  That real estate is not for sale or barter.  Any nation that attempts to meddle with this land subjects themselves to God’s judgment.  God said it belongs to the Jewish people not just temporarily in Bible times—but forever.  God’s Word declares concerning the land: “Confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance’” (Psalm 105:10, 11).  How long is everlasting?  Forever.

     God will keep the promises He made to Abraham and to the Jewish people.  He will keep His promises to you as well.  The Bible proclaims, “…God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son (Jesus).  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1John 5:11b-12).  Do you have Jesus?  He is the source of eternal life.  If you repent and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior by faith, you have eternal life (John 1:12; 6:47).  How long is eternal?  Forever and ever, Amen!

“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).