Everlasting
When seeing or hearing this word, some people think of an everlasting gobstopper from the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The idea that something is never-ending.
Translators used the word “everlasting” when translating from Hebrew and Greek to English to describe either a time with a beginning and an end or a never-ending reality.
The average person tends to see this word in English and deduce that it means the same thing everywhere it appears in the Scriptures. The problem is the only definition most give to it when seeing it is that it means eternal, having no end. This has complicated things sometimes.
Since God and heaven are outside the bounds of time, and Jesus is eternal in nature as well, everlasting in reference to them or to the life Jesus gives is eternal, and therefore will have no end. However, there are others things referred to as everlasting that have an end.
Consider the covenant God made with Noah.
Genesis 9:16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
Will heaven need a covenant reminder about the earth being flooded when everything on earth comes to an end? Yet translators used the English word “everlasting” when describing that covenant.
Exodus 40:15 You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as priests; for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”
Some think the Law Covenant is everlasting in the sense of everlasting being eternal. They misconstrue Jesus’ words.
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
The phrasing, till heaven or earth pass away, is simply a way of making sure it is clearly understood that the law must be fulfilled before it is no longer needed. It is not saying that earth and heaven must pass away before the law does. Think about it: Will heaven ever pass away? Jesus is emphasizing fulfillment. Jesus came to bring the law to completion. It must be forever satisfied in order to be no longer needed.
Jesus satisfied the law with all of its demands by fulfilling all that the law demanded and established. Do you really think the Law will be in heaven? Will the Law be what governs the kingdom of heaven? However, the law of love that Jesus said governs His kingdom here on earth will be in heaven as well. Therefore, the law of love supercedes the law of Moses.
It was love that conquered sin and death on our behalf at the cross. Love did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Love (Jesus) made us righteous with God’s righteousness. The Law of Moses was in place for a time in order to demonstrate the unrighteousness of men and their inability to attain the righteousness of God in their own strength. It was not an everlasting covenant in the sense of being eternal, but now an eternal covenant has been given to us in Christ Jesus—the New Covenant of His blood. Jesus made us righteous with God’s righteousness by grace through faith in Him. In Jesus, we have an everlasting righteousness in the sense of it being eternal. Thus, we have inherited everlasting life!
