Mr. Eternity
“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
Years ago, a friend gave me this book called Eternity. It was about a man in Sydney, Australia, named Arthur Malcom Stace who, though illiterate, felt compelled to write the word Eternity all over the city of Sydney. He’d heard a famous evangelist at the time speak on the poignant and compelling thought “where will you spend Eternity?” and later that week felt the word flow out of his fingertips in a beautiful copper script that has now become the famous image above. He maintained that he neither knew the letters, nor could read what he’d written, but he knew it was the word “Eternity.”
Arthur Stace—known as Mr. Eternity—became a bit of local folklore, scrolling the word Eternity from Martin Place to Parramatta, and his life has inspired books, museum exhibits, statues, an opera, and a movie. I think in the end, we love this story because it’s a beautiful example of a man used by God in a way he wouldn’t have been capable of on his own.
But personally, I have always loved the thought that Eternity was literally written on this man’s heart. He knew the word in his bones.
Ecclesiastes 3 states that the Lord has set the idea of eternity on the human heart. Yet none of us can possibly fathom it. And I can’t help but marvel at this. For linear-timed, mortal humans, the idea of eternity is quite outside of us. But the earliest recorded idea of eternity in an afterlife can be traced back to the Ancient Mesopotamians. We may not always agree on what eternity looks like (and how can we?) but it’s clear it’s been set on our hearts as more than “wishful thinking,” or “science fiction.”
So, what do we do with that information? What do we do when faced with the possibility that a creator created us with a finite timeline on earth, but an infinite timeline on the other side of our mortality? We know what Arthur Stace did. He considered with fear and trembling, “where will I spend Eternity.”
There are many images of heaven and hell, the bible provides some strong metaphors and images, and the human mind has filled in the rest. But one thing we can be clear of, is that heaven is a place where we can reunite with our Creator God, for all eternity. Where hell, is very much the opposite, a separation from his presence and his light.
Consider for a second that we don’t even know what that looks like. Because His hand is in His every creation here on earth, even in the darkest moments, His light is present. So, we can’t even comprehend what it would look like if His light was nowhere to be found.
Keep your images of fire and brimstone, that is a frightful thought! A heartbreaking thought. I don’t know about you, but (outside sheer curiosity) I have no desire to know a place without His presence.
Odds are if you’re reading this, you’re either curious about this concept, or you know quite well what you believe and can agree with my sentiments, but today let’s all take a moment and consider the reason our God put Eternity on our hearts. It’s a hope, a promise. And a warning. Jesus went through every horror imaginable so that the spiritual divide kept us from our God—however big, mysterious and unfathomable—could be bridged. So that we could not only know our God here in our mortal lives, but in the Eternity hereafter.
Thank you, Jesus, for all you’ve given us. Not just the forgiveness, freedom, healing, purpose and peace you’ve made available here on earth, but for the Eternity you’ve made possible in the time to come. I commit afresh today, to pursue your path for me, to affix my heart on you once more, and to pursue no other path than the one that leads to you and your presence for all time.
Amen
