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God has put eternity in our hearts. Each and every one of us knows that this life is not all there is. We all have a deep sense that there is something beyond this world and beyond this life awaiting us, and we know that this is not as good as it gets. Because God created us in His image, we know deep down in our souls that God is and that He made us for something beyond what we can now see. We therefore have a longing, a natural inclination to seek comfort, peace, security, community, family, and happiness. That is why we work so hard to attain these things and why we worry about losing them. It is why we strive to be good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us. It is also why we get sad and disappointed when that which comforts us and gives us security and happiness in this life is taken away. Trials, pain, disease, and death hurt so much because we were made for a world without sin and misery.
As Christians, we know that this world is not our home. But we can too easily forget this fact. We not only need to remember that heaven is our home, but we also need to ensure that this truth is at the forefront of our minds so that on bad days, as well as good days, we are resting in the promise of God that Jesus Christ is coming again to take us home.
This is our daily hope—a hope that God has instilled in us and will not take away, and a hope that God has revealed throughout His unchanging Word. That is why the study of last things (eschatology) is not just one aspect of our theology but is woven throughout all our theology. While there is mystery surrounding God’s revelation concerning last things, we ought not to shrink back from studying all that God has revealed to us. As we study God’s revelation, we learn how our eschatology informs every aspect of the Christian life and how it gives us an entirely different perspective from the world’s. By the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, our eschatology gives us hope even when the world’s mindset is dominant and the world’s economy is crashing. Our eschatology gives us joy even when we are unhappy. For Christians, the greatest happiness in this life is knowing that our greatest happiness is not in this life. While the world keeps trying to console itself that everything is going to be OK, we know that for those who are in Christ everything is not just going to be OK—everything is finally going to be perfect.