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{Proof That the Heavenly Trade is the Best Trade
The Nature of Those Things about which Wisdom’s Merchants Deal
Reason Proves That Heavenly Wares Are the Best in Their Own Nature
Heavenly Wares Have Eternal Duration}
Fourth, the longevity of heavenly things shows that they are excellent. They are lasting wares; time does not change them. The universe will grow old, and like a garment will be changed (Psalm 102:25–26).195 But using them will never wear out heavenly things. Indeed, how much of them we have and our perceptions of them may change; we may not always have the same degrees of grace or comfort. But the change is not in heavenly things, but in us. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).196 Likewise, grace and spiritual things are, in their essence, the same yesterday, today, and forever. They are good in prosperity and good in adversity; they are good in life and good in death. Changeableness mars all earthly comforts. They are things that do not last; we may have them, but cannot hold them. They are like the fleeting islands about the Tenerife—people see them at a distance, but when they come near them, they vanish.197 The things that are seen are temporary (2 Corinthians 4:18).198 “We may have them,” said Seneca,199 “but cannot possess them, and they no sooner please us, but pass from us.” But unseen things are eternal. God’s love is everlasting and the graces of His Holy Spirit eternal. “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9 ESV). The joys of the Holy Spirit are lasting. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11 NKJV). (See Jeremiah 31:3; Job 15:11; Isaiah 59:21; Hebrews 10:34; 1 Peter 1:4.)200 Indeed, [people’s] acts of grace may fail for a time, but the habit of grace is never lost. One’s spiritual constitution and streams of comfort may decline, but the source of joy [God] is never drained dry. Justification is immutable, pardon of sin is irreversible, and the saint’s treasures in Heaven are enduring and can never fade away. People may outlive their savings here and see all their portion gone before their death. But heavenly portions and immortal souls are alike in that they continue for eternity, and this enhances their value. People esteem a little [certain] land to be more valuable than an uncertain great estate. Wisdom’s wares are certain, and there are no rotten goods among them.
195“Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed” (Psalm 102:25–26 NASB).
196“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 NASB).
197A reference to a medieval legend about the Canary Islands.
198“While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV).
199Seneca (circa 4 BC–AD 65) was a renowned Roman Stoic philosopher and statesman noted for much practical wisdom.
200“The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’” (Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV). “Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?” (Job 15:11 ESV). “‘As for Me, this is My covenant with them,’ says the Lord: ‘My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,’ says the Lord, ‘from now and forever’” (Isaiah 59:21 NASB). “For you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven” (Hebrews 10:34 NKJV). “To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4 NASB).
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