Afterwords -- unfading
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:4)
September 14, 2023
Dear friends,
Faded and torn jeans are currently in fashion -- and this kind of denim sells at a premium these days. (My jeans came by fading honestly through age, but if I wear them now in public, I don't look hip, I look homeless...) Other things in this life are less desirable when they fade. Flowers, of course, are most beautiful when they are fresh. Paint and print fade; curtains fade; our hair color usually fades over time. Also, things like acquired knowledge (once learned but now forgotten), abilities, skills, honor and renown, and one's role in the community. Over time our sight and hearing may fade, along with physical strength and even our memories. It's not only jeans that fade.
I've been thinking about relationships that fade. Now, a long and good friendship can be like a well-worn pair of jeans, and that's a good metaphor, I get that. But a relationship that has deteriorated or decayed, or has been torn beyond repair, that's reason to grieve. Broken marriages, unresolved personal conflicts, or "growing apart and going our separate ways" are deaths of relationships that were once alive and bright with promise.
What has saddened me recently is the fading of relationships due to distance and infrequent contact. Like when a good friend moves away, or someone joins another church or social circle, or a person is homebound and generally out of touch. It's sad because we haven't heard from them, we miss them, and we wonder: where are they now, how are they doing? They were once part of our weekly life, but now the contact is more sporadic, at a distance. It may be a good friendship, but the time and personal contact is not there, so the relationship begins to fade.
So, I woke up today thinking about a very good friend who moved away, whom I miss a lot. And the word that came to mind was a word the Apostle Peter used in his first epistle, that is, "unfading."
The key word used by Peter in the passage above is ἀμάραντος (amarantos, in 1:4), along with a related word, ἀμαράντινος (amarantinos, in 5:4), both of which have the meaning of "not fading away, perennial." Other lexicons add, "unfading, permanent" (UBS); "undecaying" (LS); "enduring, eternally fresh, everlasting" (Friberg); and "not losing brightness, retaining its wonderful character; not losing its wonderfulness" (Louw-Nida). It is the word from which we have named a flower, the amaranth, because of its resistance to wilting.
Peter says that our inheritance in Christ (1 Pet 1:4), and the crown of glory (1 Pet 5:4), are "unfading." This applies, of course, to the Lord himself, whose face we will always see, and whose glory will never diminish. It applies also to the beauty of heaven, and by that, I mean God's glorious dwelling in heaven (now) and also the new heavens and new earth to come. "I go to prepare a place for you," Jesus said. Heaven is, and will be, a place of unfading glory.
What strikes me is that this unfadingness applies also to the people of God in their relationship to one another in glory. Eternal glory is not merely about my (or your) individual resurrected self, but also about the nature of my relationship with all others in glory. The "kings of the earth will bring their glory" into the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:24). Our mutual love collectively as the people of God will be glorious, ever fresh and never decaying. It will never lose its wonderfulness. There will be no cold or broken relationships. There will be no worn-out friendships there. Jonathan Edwards, at the end of his sermon series in 1738 on Charity and Its Fruits (1 Corinthians 13), spoke of this...
"They shall know that they shall forever be continued in the perfect enjoyment of each other's love. They shall know that God and Christ will be forever, and that their love will be continued and be fully manifested forever, and that all their beloved fellow saints shall live forever in glory with the same love in their hearts. And they shall know that they themselves shall ever live to love God, and love the saints, and enjoy their love. They shall be in no fear of any end of this happiness, nor shall they be in any fear or danger of any abatement of it through a weariness of the exercises and expressions of love, or cloyed with the enjoyment of it, or the beloved objects becoming old or decayed, or stale or tasteless. All things shall flourish there in an eternal youth. Age will not diminish anyone's beauty or vigor, and there love shall flourish in everyone's breast, as a living spring perpetually springing, or as a flame which never decays. And the holy pleasure shall be as a river which ever runs, and is always clear and full. The paradise of love shall always be continued as in a perpetual spring. There shall be no autumn or winter; every plant there shall be in perpetual bloom with the same undecaying pleasantness and fragrancy, always springing forth, always blossoming, and always bearing fruit. Psalms 1:3, 'His leaf shall not wither.' Revelation 22:2, 'In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.'" (Jonathan Edwards, "Heaven Is a World of Love", Yale vol 8, pp 382-83)
So now as I remember good friends -- those past and present, those who have moved away or are out of touch, those who have faded in my memory or theirs -- I realize that if we are in Christ together in this life, we shall be together forever with Christ in a future friendship that will never fade. We can and do miss people in this life, this is inevitable. I miss my friend, and I should do all I can to keep up the relationship. However, it is unlikely we can carry all our friendships through life at the same level of involvement. Yet, we do not grieve like those who have no hope. As Edwards said, heaven is a world of love -- unfading, undying, ever-enduring, always bright, eternally fresh -- with a love that never loses its wonderfulness, whether for God or for one another. Heaven is that world where all our friendships will be rekindled to an undying brightness.
One more thing. Since the new heavens and earth will be a place of undying friendship, it's vital that we do whatever is in our power to make sure all of our friends here will be there. For the Christian the strongest and most enduring friendship is with other believers, since the most enduring basis of friendship is built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. There will be no friendship, or partying, or joy in hell, since friendship is a divine gift, and that gift will be withdrawn from rebellious humanity. The "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Jesus' words) does not primarily indicate sorrow, but rather a permanentized anger toward God (Matt 8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). There will be no happiness from God (like friendship brings) in that place of eternal judgment. To reject God means ultimately that we reject all the good things he gives to us along with his grace and friendship. In other words, we should do whatever we can to make sure our friendships here will live beyond this world.
FINAL QUOTES.
"Any philosophy which deals only with the here and now is not adequate for man." (Billy Graham)
"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." (C. S. Lewis)
That's it for this week!
Sandy
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.