trong argument against such doctrines that the same word which
our Lord employs to describe the permanent blessedness of the redeemed
is used by Him to denote the punishment of the wicked. The reward and
the punishment are both declared by Him to be everlasting or eternal.
The same Greek word is in the English New Testament sometimes rendered
eternal and sometimes everlasting. The portion of the righteous will be
life--life everlasting; that of the wicked is described as consisting,
not in annihilation or in terminable suffering, but in "everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his
power."[239]

While this article may be regarded as bearing upon the doom of the
ungodly, it is rather to be viewed as affirming the eternal blessedness
of the risen saints. The everlasting life begins on earth, but is
perfected only in eternity. It is sometimes spoken of as a present
possession: "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is
passed from death unto life."[240] Again it is spoken of as a reward in
futurity: "He shall receive an hundredfold now in this time ... and in
the world to come eternal life."[241] Our knowledge of what that life
will be is very limited. Human words cannot describe it; human beings in
this life cannot understand it. We know that it will arise from
knowledge of God. Men will be equal to the angels who see God. "Now we
see through a glass darkly,"[242] but "we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."[243]

Statements regarding the happiness of the saints are in Scripture
expressed sometimes in negative and sometimes in positive terms. In the
new heavens and the new earth the redeemed "shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more";[244] "There shall be no night there; and they
need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them
light."[245] Pain and sorrow and death can never touch them; they shall
be delivered from perplexing doubts, from all misery and trouble. Care
and anxiety shall be banished for ever, and God will wipe away all tears
from every eye.

There are also many positive statements regarding the future life. Not
only will there be the absence of all that is painful and productive of
sorrow; those for whom it is prepared shall enter into rest. They shall
possess abiding peace, and the joy of their Lord will beco