"Remember [God] before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is crushed, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel is broken at the well, before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it." - Ecclesiastes 12:6-7
One benefit from writing angelic characters in my Celestial series is the way it forced me to expand my Biblical views. 'What might angels have seen?' 'How might that have affected them?' 'What would those impacts say about the God they serve?' You see, metaphysical beings like angels would naturally hold very unique opinions on life, death, and time compared to us.
So have you ever really considered what it'd like to be immortal?
Stories about eternal life aren’t new, of course, and usually come in two flavors. Either immortality is the unobtainable prize, or it's an unnatural curse. One school of thought says, "Immortality is not what it's cracked up to be." The other, "To value limited days is the best part of being human." They sound like reasonable sentiments. There's a ring of truth to them too, but they're just band-aids over mortal wounds. Ultimately non-sensible and useless.
Here’s something I suspect most Christians don’t admit. Eternal life is intimidating—even fatiguing to consider sometimes. Sure, we'd rather be in heaven than stay here. Who doesn’t crave a life without sin, sorrow, or pain? But picture this: an earth stripped of negative setbacks. Say it just rid itself of evil and death in one day. Would you still want to live forever? Seriously now. Think about it.
No. I doubt you would.
You’d be doomed to limitations. Even occasionally shaking up your status quo wouldn't outlast forever. Sure, it might take a couple thousand centuries for sameness to set in, but eventually, the well dries up. Options are exhausted. You're trapped in an open world that started out expansive, but just like in a videogame, you discover the map's edges. The initial freedom wanes, as you're caged on a planet that shrinks with your ever-increasing awareness of how boxed-in you truly are. So why seek immortality?
Well, here's a shocker. We’re already immortal! (No, I’m not drinking Clorox. Let me finish.) Scriptures revealed every human is technically immortal via our souls. Bodies perish, but souls are eternal. Thus, though we die, the person him/herself endures forever. That’s a fact. So what's with the Bible saying those redeemed through Christ alone gain eternal life? And no one else? Isn't eternal life and immortality the same thing? Sounds contradictory. Well, there can only be one clear reason—something most fictions fail to get. Immortality and eternal life are not the same thing. God never equated perpetual existence to eternal life. Often, He warned about eternal death! Thus, a person’s final future isn’t hinged on their existence. It’s how they’ll be spending that existence. It’s a matter of quality, not quantity.
Tolkien accurately pictured this in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. His elves were immortals. They were also offered an undying realm for a home and invited to help increase the beauty of God’s creation. However, some elves, discontented to serve anyone above them, left their paradise. They wanted to be rulers in Middle-earth themselves. Millenias later, elves who humbly remained in the Undying Lands still rejoiced there, but those who left wearied of mortal lands. Self-rulership lost its allure, and longevity for longevity's sake proved itself an utter dreariness. Thier souls cried out for something more and thus left Middle-earth forever in the Third Age.
Jesus is our 'more'. He’s fathomless in thought, power, and good character, which makes Him the best and most endlessly interesting person to be with. He never runs dry of secrets, joys, or love for those who want Him. Who sensibly wouldn’t want to be with Him?
"Now this is eternal life: that they know You [the Father], the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." - John 17:3
Like those elves, immortality wasn’t formerly unnatural to us. Puny lifespans was our punishment! God intended us for an eternal place by His side, but in selfishness, we rejected His rule. We insisted on a self-rulership that cost us greatly. Still, even today we mask that loss by pretending no loss occurred at all. Immortality is now just a fantasy best left alone. Not so according to the Word! You’re immortal already. You exist now. You’re going to exist later. There’s no real end to it. So how will you spend endlessness? Personal relationship with God Himself is intimacy with living itself! To exist otherwise is death. So the only difference between imperishable days or immortal fatigue is this:
Do you want unending life for yourself? Or abundant life with Him?
"[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." - Ecclesiastes 3:11
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