That Which Shall Remain


1 Corinthians 13:8-13
8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

After giving to us an extensive description of the characteristics of love, Paul now sums up the permanent nature of love. Those exciting and amazing gifts of the Holy Spirit will pass away when Jesus returns for us. There will no longer be any need for them when we live in perfect love with the Savior for eternity.

Paul describes the Love of God in the same verbiage as is used for His Word by saying that it will never “fail”, “fall”, or “end”. All of these adjectives fall in line with the Greek word used here. Joshua and Isaiah say the same thing about God’s Word.

Joshua 21:45
45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Isaiah 55:10-11
10“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Here and now we know and experience the truth that love is the greatest of powers. But our experience of love is but a shadow of the full force of God’s love. We are shrouded by sin and struggle. And so we see “in a mirror dimly” but that too shall be completely clear when we see God face to face.

Paul explains in 13:9, our knowledge and our prophetic insights are at best only partial. This does not mean that the knowledge provided by divine revelation is false, distorted, or imperfect. But while the knowledge we have is liberating and life-giving, it is still only partial. Our darkened minds find it difficult to comprehend God’s truths. And his Word still provides only glimpses of what will be fully revealed in eternity, when we will see “face to face”.
Lockwood, G. J. ©2000. 1 Corinthians (p. 471). Saint Louis: CPH.

Finally, when God chooses to send Jesus back to restore all things and bring us into eternity with Him, everything else will fall away – except for love. There will no longer be any need for faith or hope. All will have been revealed and we will live in perfect knowledge and understanding. We will no longer have to wait in confident expectation for the Savior to return. But love – love will remain forever, because God is Love and He is eternal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more