Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

1 December 2025

Reading From II Peter 3

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

—II Peter 3:8-9

     God invented time and space and placed us within our present reality.  He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things and He is greater than everything He has created.  This is why it makes no sense to worship anything but Him.  Why would I want to worship something when I know that there is someone else more worthy of my affection and adoration?  As human beings we are currently trapped in time and space and limited in our understanding by our finite minds.  Thankfully, as we are sensitive to the voice and guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Father divinely reveals to us great and precious truths that broaden our knowledge, understanding and wisdom. 

     In this context here in II Peter 3, the fact that to the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day is used to communicate that He has His own plan and timing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  For infinitesimal humanity, it has been two thousand years since His ascension into glory, but to Him it has only been two days, or only seems to Him to be two days.  He has been waiting for the Church to do His work upon the Earth.  His work is to share His love and message and make disciples so that as many people as possible will be sealed into His eternal family. We can hasten His coming by our diligence in allowing Him to work through us to expand His Kingdom by living out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

     God’s power over time and space should be a great comfort to us for many reasons, but one of the most important to me has to do with the death of my loved ones who followed Jesus in mortality.  The Apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:6-8, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” 

     In our present reality, we are spiritually connected to God and to one another, but we are physically separated; we do not (usually) see Him with our physical eyes.  But when a born again believer dies, the invisible part of themselves (which makes them truly themselves) is immediately with God and their faith becomes sight.  As they step outside time and space, they are with God who is not limited by such constraints.  For the loved one who has physically died, time passes for them in an instant while the rest of us are still trapped in time and space. 

This is what causes us, who are left behind, frustration and grief. There is that temporary, physical separation.  But for them, there is no need for impatience, because the moment their body falls asleep in physical death, their spirit continues and they are reunited with us at the resurrection; our bodies restored, perfected and glorified; we will experience judgment day together; and become one with God and with one another at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Read I Corinthians 15 and Revelation 19.

Death seems so traumatic and final for those of us who grieve. For our departed loved ones, the moment of physical death was just a blip, an experience as brief as the twinkling of an eye. It is a matter of perspective. I want to have a more eternal perspective from the Lord of these matters for the sake of my own emotional, mental and spiritual balance, health and wellbeing.

     My heart is comforted and encouraged at the deepest level by the doctrines concerning the eternal family of God.  How great is He to provide us with the means to be eternally connected to Him and to one another.  Unfortunately, there is so much division among the peoples of earth.  Perhaps there are even people in your own life who you don’t relish the thought of spending eternity with. They might be born again but while God has called us to love everyone, you don’t necessarily like them. 

What we need to bear in mind is that as we are sanctified in this life and glorified in the next, we are being remade in the image of Jesus so that when we are perfectly united with Him and with one another, we all will be like Him and experience perfect love and fellowship.  Those old annoyances and grievances and struggles and hurts and sins and failures will all vanish away. All will be forgiven between us and we will enjoy Paradise in the Presence of God, the New Heaven and the New Earth. For now, we are admonished to learn to forgive and bear patiently with each other here in our present reality in preparation for our eternal reality.

“God, I am so grateful for the great and precious promises You have given to me and to all humanity.  Through trust in You and Your promises, we have been graciously given the way to be delivered from sin and its corrosive effects, healed from the inside out, empowered for life and godliness, and blessed with hope for the glorious future You are preparing for those who love You and show their love by obedience.  Thank You for who You are and all You do.  I worship You and You alone.  In the strong and mighty Name of Jesus Christ I pray these things, Amen.”

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

—II Peter 3:11-14