The clothing store Forever 21 recently announced that it has filed for bankruptcy and is closing all of its locations. The headlines went something like this: “Business will not last at Forever 21,” “Forever has come to an end at Forever 21,” “The ‘eternal’ store is no more.”
The shuttering of this mall staple is yet another reminder to us all that nothing on this earth lasts forever. As the Bible says, “The grass withers, the flower fades…” (Isaiah 40:8a). Only one thing remains: “…the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8b).
Jesus reiterates this fact to his disciples: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
We as Christians, who believe and follow God’s Word, know that “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20-21). We know, like the faithful before us, that we are “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13) and we, like them, “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). For us, forever is a reality, not a business slogan. For we know, by faith, that our forever will come, as recorded in Holy Scripture: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
