QUESTION No. 13 - SUNDAY JULY 12, 2026

Q. How long is eternity?

Seems simple - to reach forever just start counting (1…2…3…) and never stop.

We all know how painfully long ten minutes seems when waiting on someone.

But what about forever?

How do we measure timelessness?

And, what do we measure it against?

Maybe there’s no need to worry about eternity. Perhaps it’s pure fiction. The end is just…the end.

But if eternity does exist, and we are part of it, it sounds like we’re in for a long, long time.

However, the more important question might be…what will we DO for an eternity?

......

“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”
- 2 Peter 3:8

We resist confronting eternity because our finite minds cannot comprehend a concept as overwhelming as infinity. Our modern minds get quickly twisted around the hands of time.

I mean, life is confounding enough without the need to wrestle with the concept of endlessness.

Might as well ask: How far is blue?

“And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.”
– 1 John 2:25

Eternity was the key catalyst for me to begin studying the Bible more deeply. I couldn’t get my head around “forever and ever and ever”.

The enormity of it all was just too oppressive to absorb. For much of my life, I chose to avoid the subject altogether.

“How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?”
- Psalm 13:1

A WORD ON THE WORD: In the Bible, the Hebrew word “olam” (pronounced: oh-LAHM) means “the hidden time, not visible to the observer.” The Greek word used is “aionios” which means the “the life of the coming age” – a different quality of life, not yet visible. Both languages use a baseline word for duration then amplify it by doubling it or adding a modifier to verify the concept of eternity as infinite.

In the Old Testament, the word “olam” appears over 420 times. This recurrence hints at the vital importance of knowing eternity as infinite, but also unimaginable.

And this vast foreverness is amplified by the wisdom of the ancients who declared our life as nothing but a vapor - a puff of smoke that rises and is gone.

“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
– James 4:14

Roman Senator and Christian martyr, Boethius, wrote an essay from prison prior to his execution proclaiming:

“Eternity is the complete, all-at-once, and perfect possession of boundless life”.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:18

Unlike man who has a beginning, God alone is eternal, both forward and back.

Yet we too have no end.

To ensure we grasp this potential while never knowing the completeness of His works, God planted a seed within each of our hearts.

"He 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

In the realm of the infinite, all will be provided and we will know no death, no fear, no envy, no pride, no sin, and no unmet need except one - we shall always yearn to know and grow without ceasing.

We will forever seek what is infinitely great about God.

We will pursue the unending source of God’s grace. God’s glory. God’s wisdom.

And, God’s love.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
- 1 Corinthians 13:13

And so humbly we ask, how much love is possible?

Infinite.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever."
– Psalm 136:1