Eternity

Eternity-Where will you spend eternity?

Do you remember the Y2K scare? Where were you when Sydney Australia brought in the new year amidst scare of annihilation of the human race due to computer malfunction, power plants shutting down and automation coming to a sudden halt?

In Sydney Australia, at the stroke of Midnight, Dec 31, 1999, (a date the artist formerly known as Prince wrote about) elaborate fireworks erupted over the Sydney harbor to the delight of more than 1,000,000 people.

It was the display to end all displays. It was designed to outdo every other new years celebration on planet earth. The natural beauty of the harbor was brilliantly illuminates on that mild summer night down under. But there was one feature, one phrase that seemed out of place.

Suspended from the giant arch of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, amidst the exploding rockets and the deluge of light pouring like a waterfall from the roadway, hung one word: ETERNITY. Like a message from heaven flashed across the world stage to billions of souls, it shone like a beacon from beyond warning all who saw it time was passing by and we are creatures of eternity. A sobering one word sermon.

Eternity

A word none of us can grasp

After we have watched Louie Giglio’s illustrations of the universe, the galaxies, the stars and the size and scope of some of those stars and galaxies, none of us can comprehend the size and shape and scope, the height, length, breath, depth, of God’s universe.

Imagine if you were present with God on the day the universe was created. Imagine watching as God spoke the world into existence. Now imagine being with him when He tears it apart. When the earth and the sun cease to exist. 21:1

Before the new heaven and new earth, the old must be destroyed.

Psalm 102:25–26 NKJV

Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed.

2 Peter 3:10 NKJV

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Isaiah wrote about it in

2 Peter 3:10

Isaiah 51:6 NKJV

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished.

This destruction will occur right before the great white throne judgement in

You will be there. You will be with God at the Great White Throne Judgment when the world, the universe goes up in smoke.

By the spoken word He will break down every atom.

Amazingly John uses the same word here when he states God will wipe away every tear: the same word God will wipe out the earth. Gone! Abolished! Extinct! Finished!

New Heaven and a New Earth

But there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Not a redo, not a make over, not a flip or flop but a remake. You will be at the Great White Throne when God says, give me a new heaven and a new earth

Isaiah 65:17 NKJV

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

Isaiah 6

Isaiah 66:22 NKJV

“For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain.

2 Peter 3:13 NKJV

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

God will put it back together again as you watch. What all the Kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t do, God will do in your presence.

The Greek word here is kainos. Kainos denotes something new in time and new qualitatively, superior to the old. A perfect place a perfect environment.

I Can Only Imagine...

You will see it, with your own eyes.

What Will Be There

1. The Holy City Jerusalem

2. God Himself will be there dwelling among His people

3. Righteousness

What won’t be there? , , 22:3

Also, no more sea, no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain, no more thirst, no more wickedness, no more temple, for God is with the people, no more night, no more closed gates, no more curse.

Author Steve Lawson writes the following will not be present:

Funeral homes, hospitals, abortion clinics, divorce courts, brothels, bankruptcy courts, psychiatric wards, treatment centers. There will be no pornography, teen suicide, AIDS, cancer, talk shows, rape, missing or exploited children. No drug problems, drive by shootings, no racial tension, no prejudice. There will be no misunderstandings, no injustice, no depression, no hurtful words, no gossip, no hurt feelings, no worry, no emptiness, no child abuse. There will be no wars, no financial worries, no emotional heartaches, no physical pain, no spiritual flatness, no relational divisions, no murders, no casseroles or fruitcake.

There will be no tears, no suffering, no separations, no starvation, no arguments, no accidents, no emergency departments, no doctors, no nurses, no heart monitors, no rust, no perplexing questions, no false teachers, no financial shortages or crises, no hurricanes or tornadoes, no bad habits, no decay, no locks. You wont need to confess sin, apologize, or straighten out strained relationships. You’ll never have to resist temptation or Satan again.

Revelation Describes the New City Rev 21:10-14

Read when you have a moment. The glory of God is there, the Wall of Jasper, The Twelve Gates, the Twelve Foundation Stones, the Street of Gold, a River of Life, the Tree of Life. Nothing but the best! No cinder blocks, no shag carpeting, no cheap imitations. Just the Lord God and His perfect peace.

Colossians

You should feel the heavenward pull. Our feet are on earth, but our hearts should dwell with God.

Colossians 3:1–4 NKJV

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Three Identifiable Groups in Heaven

Angels

Church age believers

All other people of God from other ages.

All, who by God’s grace have trusted in the person and promises of God will be in heaven.

Who Won’t Be There

Revelation 21:8 NKJV

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Rev 21:8

Will you be there? Do you feel the heavenward tug?

Eternity

The single word Eternity was written in lights and placed on the bridge. But Why?

Arthur Malcolm Stace (9 February 1885 – 30 July 1967),[1] known as Mr Eternity, gained fame as a reformed alcoholic who converted to Christianity and spread his message by writing the word "Eternity" in copperplate writing with chalk on footpaths in and around Sydney, from Martin Place to Parramatta for about 35 years, from 1932 to 1967.

Here is His story:

Arthur Stace was born in Redfern, New South Wales, in inner west Sydney on 9 February 1885.[1] The fifth child of William Wood Stace, from Mauritius and Laura Stace (née Lewis), a child of alcoholics, he was brought up in poverty. In order to survive, he resorted to stealing bread and milk and searching for scraps of food in bins. By the age of 12, Stace, with virtually no formal schooling, and working in a coal mine had become a ward of the state. As a teenager, he became an alcoholic and was subsequently sent to jail at 15. Afterwards, he worked as a "cockatoo" or a look-out for a Two-up "school". In his twenties, he was a scout for his sisters' brothels. In March 1916, at age 32, whilst working as labourer he enlisted for World War I with the Australian Imperial Force 19th Battalion 5th Brigade AIF, entering with the 16th Reinforcements, service number 5934. He suffered recurring bouts of bronchitis and pleurisy, which led to his medical discharge.

Early years[edit]Stace was born in Redfern, New South Wales, in inner west Sydney on 9 February 1885.[1] The fifth child of William Wood Stace, from Mauritius and Laura Stace (née Lewis), a child of alcoholics, he was brought up in poverty. In order to survive, he resorted to stealing bread and milk and searching for scraps of food in bins. By the age of 12, Stace, with virtually no formal schooling, and working in a coal mine had become a ward of the state. As a teenager, he became an alcoholic and was subsequently sent to jail at 15. Afterwards, he worked as a "cockatoo" or a look-out for a Two-up "school". In his twenties, he was a scout for his sisters' brothels. In March 1916, at age 32, whilst working as labourer he enlisted for World War I with the Australian Imperial Force 19th Battalion 5th Brigade AIF, entering with the 16th Reinforcements, service number 5934. He suffered recurring bouts of bronchitis and pleurisy, which led to his medical discharge on 2 April 1919. Conversion to Christianity[edit]Stace converted to Christianity on the night of 6 August 1930, after hearing an inspirational sermon by the Reverend R. B. S. Hammond at St. Barnabas Church, Broadway. Inspired by the words, he became enamoured of the notion of eternity. Two years later, on 14 November 1932, Stace was further inspired by the preaching of evangelist John G. Ridley MC,[5] on "The Echoes of Eternity" from : For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Reverend John Ridley's words, "Eternity, Eternity, I wish that I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. You've got to meet it, where will you spend Eternity?" proved crucial in Stace's decision to tell others about his faith. In an interview, Stace said, "Eternity went ringing through my brain and suddenly I began crying and felt a powerful call from the Lord to write Eternity." Even though he was illiterate and could hardly write his own name Arthur, legibly, "the word 'Eternity' came out smoothly, in a beautiful copperplate script. I couldn't understand it, and I still can't." After eight or nine years, he tried to write something else, "Obey God" and then five years later, "God or Sin" but he could not bring himself to stop writing the word "Eternity". The Sydney City Council brought him to the attention of the police as they had rules about the defacing of pavements, so much so that he narrowly avoided arrest about twenty-four times. Each time he was caught, he responded with, "But I had permission from a higher source". Several mornings a week for the next 35 years, Stace left his wife, Pearl Stace (born as Ellen Esther Dawson) and their home in Bulwarra Road, Pyrmont around 5am to go around the streets of Sydney and chalk the word "Eternity" on footpaths, railway station entrances and anywhere else he could think of. It is estimated that he wrote the word around 500,000 times over the 35 years. Workers arriving in the city would see the word freshly written, but not the writer, and so, "The man who writes Eternity" became a legend in Sydney. The mystery was solved when Reverend Lisle M. Thompson, who preached at the church where Stace worked as a cleaner, saw him take a piece of chalk from his pocket and write the word on the footpath. Thompson wrote about Stace's life and an interview was published in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph on 21 June 1956. In 1963, photographer Trevor Dallen cornered Stace and asked to take a few pictures of him writing his famous phrase. After four photos, Dallen ran out of film and asked Stace to stay put while he got more but upon his return, Stace had gone. Death[edit]After his wife Pearl died in 1961, he left the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in 1965 and moved to a nursing home in Hammondville in Sydney's south, where he died of a stroke on the 30 July 1967 at the age of 82. He bequeathed his body to the University of Sydney; subsequently, his remains were buried with those of his wife at Botany Cemetery in the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park (General 15, no. 729) around two years later. Eternity script[edit]

Conversion to Christianity[edit]Stace converted to Christianity on the night of 6 August 1930, after hearing an inspirational sermon by the Reverend R. B. S. Hammond at St. Barnabas Church, Broadway. Inspired by the words, he became enamoured of the notion of eternity. Two years later, on 14 November 1932, Stace was further inspired by the preaching of evangelist John G. Ridley MC,[5] on "The Echoes of Eternity" from : For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Reverend John Ridley's words, "Eternity, Eternity, I wish that I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. You've got to meet it, where will you spend Eternity?" proved crucial in Stace's decision to tell others about his faith. In an interview, Stace said, "Eternity went ringing through my brain and suddenly I began crying and felt a powerful call from the Lord to write Eternity." Even though he was illiterate and could hardly write his own name Arthur, legibly, "the word 'Eternity' came out smoothly, in a beautiful copperplate script. I couldn't understand it, and I still can't." After eight or nine years, he tried to write something else, "Obey God" and then five years later, "God or Sin" but he could not bring himself to stop writing the word "Eternity". The Sydney City Council brought him to the attention of the police as they had rules about the defacing of pavements, so much so that he narrowly avoided arrest about twenty-four times. Each time he was caught, he responded with, "But I had permission from a higher source". Several mornings a week for the next 35 years, Stace left his wife, Pearl Stace (born as Ellen Esther Dawson) and their home in Bulwarra Road, Pyrmont around 5am to go around the streets of Sydney and chalk the word "Eternity" on footpaths, railway station entrances and anywhere else he could think of. It is estimated that he wrote the word around 500,000 times over the 35 years. Workers arriving in the city would see the word freshly written, but not the writer, and so, "The man who writes Eternity" became a legend in Sydney. The mystery was solved when Reverend Lisle M. Thompson, who preached at the church where Stace worked as a cleaner, saw him take a piece of chalk from his pocket and write the word on the footpath. Thompson wrote about Stace's life and an interview was published in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph on 21 June 1956. In 1963, photographer Trevor Dallen cornered Stace and asked to take a few pictures of him writing his famous phrase. After four photos, Dallen ran out of film and asked Stace to stay put while he got more but upon his return, Stace had gone. Death[edit]After his wife Pearl died in 1961, he left the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in 1965 and moved to a nursing home in Hammondville in Sydney's south, where he died of a stroke on the 30 July 1967 at the age of 82. He bequeathed his body to the University of Sydney; subsequently, his remains were buried with those of his wife at Botany Cemetery in the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park (General 15, no. 729) around two years later. Eternity script[edit]

Stace converted to Christianity on the night of 6 August 1930, after hearing an inspirational sermon by the Reverend R. B. S. Hammond at St. Barnabas Church, Broadway. Inspired by the words, he became enamoured of the notion of eternity. Two years later, on 14 November 1932, Stace was further inspired by the preaching of evangelist John G. Ridley MC,[5] on "The Echoes of Eternity" from :

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Reverend John Ridley's words, "Eternity, Eternity, I wish that I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. You've got to meet it, where will you spend Eternity?" proved crucial in Stace's decision to tell others about his faith. In an interview, Stace said, "Eternity went ringing through my brain and suddenly I began crying and felt a powerful call from the Lord to write Eternity." Even though he was illiterate and could hardly write his own name Arthur, legibly, "the word 'Eternity' came out smoothly, in a beautiful copperplate script. I couldn't understand it, and I still can't." After eight or nine years, he tried to write something else, "Obey God" and then five years later, "God or Sin" but he could not bring himself to stop writing the word "Eternity". The Sydney City Council brought him to the attention of the police as they had rules about the defacing of pavements, so much so that he narrowly avoided arrest about twenty-four times. Each time he was caught, he responded with, "But I had permission from a higher source". Several mornings a week for the next 35 years, Stace left his wife, Pearl Stace, around 5am to go around the streets of Sydney and chalk the word "Eternity" on footpaths, railway station entrances and anywhere else he could think of. It is estimated that he wrote the word around 500,000 times over the 35 years. Workers arriving in the city would see the word freshly written, but not the writer, and so, "The man who writes Eternity" became a legend in Sydney.

The mystery was solved when Reverend Lisle M. Thompson, who preached at the church where Stace worked as a cleaner, saw him take a piece of chalk from his pocket and write the word on the footpath. Thompson wrote about Stace's life and an interview was published in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph on 21 June 1956. In 1963, photographer Trevor Dallen cornered Stace and asked to take a few pictures of him writing his famous phrase. After four photos, Dallen ran out of film and asked Stace to stay put while he got more but upon his return, Stace had gone.

After his wife Pearl died in 1961, he left the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in 1965 and moved to a nursing home in Hammondville in Sydney's south, where he died of a stroke on the 30 July 1967 at the age of 82.

He bequeathed his body to the University of Sydney; subsequently, his remains were buried with those of his wife at Botany Cemetery in the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park (General 15, no. 729) around two years later. Eternity script[edit]

His remains were buried with those of his wife at Botany Cemetery in the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park

Aluminium replica Eternity at Town Hall Square, Sydney

The National Museum of Australia in Canberra holds one of only two existing original 'Eternity' inscriptions by Stace. He chalked it on a piece of cardboard for a fellow parishioner.[6] The museum also has an Eternity gallery, inspired by Stace's story. The gallery features 50 personal stories from ordinary and extraordinary Australians. Each individual feature tells a separate story, anchored by a significant object. The stories are tied together by emotional themes including joy, hope, passion, mystery, thrill, loneliness, fear, devotion, separation and chance, which are all elements of Stace's story. In Sydney the word "Eternity" can be seen written in a few places, of which only one is original: Inside the bell in the Sydney General Post Office clock tower, which had been dismantled during World War II. When the clock tower was rebuilt in the 1960s, the bell was brought out of storage and as the workmen were installing it they noticed, inside, the word "Eternity" in Stace's chalk. This is the only surviving "Eternity" by Stace's own hand in Sydney. (No one ever found out how Stace had been able to get to the bell, which had been sealed up).[citation needed]On Stace's grave in Botany Cemetery.[7][8][9]In Town Hall Square, between St Andrew's Cathedral and the Sydney Town Hall. When the area was redeveloped in the 1970s, a wrought aluminium replica of the word in Stace's original copperplate handwriting was embedded in the footpath near a waterfall[10][11] as a memorial to Stace.

📷 Eternity Playhouse in Darlinghurst.

The heritage-listed Burton Street Tabernacle was restored by the City of Sydney and transformed into a theatre. It was named the Eternity Playhouse on 5 December 2011 in tribute to Arthur Stace. His famous "Eternity" script is replicated on the marquee and throughout the theatre.[12]

As a tribute to the man known as Mr Eternity, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit up with the word "Eternity" as part of the celebrations for the beginning of the year 2000 Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations,[13][14] as well as part of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, at the celebration of the XXVII Olympiad. This was done to not only celebrate Arthur Stace's achievements, but to celebrate the new millennium. A screen print homage of Stace's copperplate "Eternity" was made by Martin Sharp in 1990, now at the National Gallery of Australia.[15] The Eternity Man is an opera based on Stace's life, written by the Australian composer Jonathan Mills to a libretto by Dorothy Porter.[16] This was adapted in 2008 into a film directed by Julien Temple.[17] Four known photographs of Stace were taken by Trevor Dallen for Sydney's The Sun newspaper. Dallen took the pictures in the former Fairfax building on Broadway. A photo of Arthur Stace, at his desk in the Hammond Hotel in Chippendale is in the archives of the HammondCare charity and was published in "Faith in Action:

Mr Eternity, Arthur Stace, having written the word Eternity over 500,000 times, in chaulk, around the city of Sydney, unknown, unassuming, answering his call of God to spread the good news who’s name is written in the lambs book of life.

Will you be there? Do you feel the tug of heaven? Do you long for the perfect peace of God and the absence of Satan?

Squire Parsons wrote this beautiful song

I'm kind of homesick for a country To which I've never been before. No sad goodbyes will there be spoken For time won't matter anymore. Beulah Land (Beulah Land) I'm longing for you (I'm longing for you) And some day (And some day) on thee I'll stand (Someday we will stand) There my home (There my home) shall be eternal (Eternal) Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land I'm looking now, just across the river To where my faith, shall end in sight (Shall end in sight) There's just a few more days to labor. Then I will take my heavenly flight. Beulah Land…

Beulah Land (Beulah Land) I'm longing for you (I'm longing for you) And some day (And some day) on thee I'll stand (Someday we will stand) There my home (There my home) shall be eternal Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land Beulah Land, oh it's Beulah Land Oh Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land

Will you be there? Have you received the promise of God?

Moon Pies!