Psalm 102
Whenever I hear the word “forever” my mind immediately jumps to the movie Sandslot. Squints is retelling the story of how The Beast became The Beast. The Beast
The Beast was too good at his guard dog job, so the police said he had to be retired. My grandpa, Squidman Palledorous, was police chief back then. He ordered Mr. Mertle to turn his backyard into a fortress... and chain up The Beast and put him under the house... where he could never get out to eat children and stuff. That's where he's been for years. And that's where he'll be for the rest of his life.
Because Mr. Mertle asked the cops how long... he had to keep The Beast chained up like a slave, they said until forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever.
Forever. Forever in the mind the a child seems like an eternity but when it comes to the Lord, forever is just the beginning.
“But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations.” - Psalm 102:12
It is hard to imagine what “all generations” or “forever” looks like because if we are being honest there are times when we do not believe we will make it through the moment we are in. There are times when “all generations” or “forever” are too abstract because to think of God as a cosmic Creator - from beginning to end - is too big for us to imagine.
Last week I preached two funeral sermons - one in my church and one in a funeral home. While the location and scripture readings may have changed, the basics of the messages remained the same. Because Christ Jesus overcame the power of the grave, defeating the power of Sin and Death, the forever reign of God assures us of the promise of resurrection. Theologian Robert Jenson put it like this in an easter sermon:
“We have said it: Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! So what am I supposed to say now? That cry is all there is to say – about everything! About our lives and sorrows and hopes, about the destiny of the universe, about ancient and current and future human history. If that cry is true, then literally everything is utterly different than we would have thought.” (Robert Jenson, Story and Promise. Page 50.)
When we imagine forever with the promise that Sin and Death - the two things that tried to separate us from the love of God - have been defeated the time does not seem so bad or daunting. In the light of Christ crucified and resurrected, forever means that what we thought to separate us from God is no more. We, clothed in Christ’s righteousness and no longer clinging to our attempts to make the world right, rest in the knowledge that the Lord who endures all things, spanning all generations.