When someone speaks to me about studying, I picture a classroom with a strict teacher, where I have to sit through forty-five minutes and acquire some knowledge. My interest in the lesson or subject depends more on who will teach it and how than on its content. And when a test or exam begins, I think more about how to avoid making a mistake so that I can get a good grade than about sharing answers based on the knowledge I have gained and becoming even more firmly established in it. This stereotype greatly hinders me from studying in the School of Christ. When I hear the word ‘study,’ I want to stay far away from it and have nothing to do with it, because even the thought that I will have to remain still for a certain amount of time makes me very tense.
Yet if I am interested in a particular field of study, want to learn more about something and gain the knowledge I need, and can choose a method of learning or a teacher who appeals to me, a spark of thirst for knowledge is kindled within me. Then I am ready to listen attentively to everything and absorb a great deal, for as long as my mind is able to receive and process information.
But this way of thinking can play a fatal trick on me, and I may simply reject something extremely important and vitally necessary for my soul merely because I associate it with something boring and tedious.
The science of salvation, the science of love and happiness, and the science of Eternal values possess a special beauty. They readily transform my mind and are easily received by my heart when the Holy Spirit reveals them through a consecrated person. I hear a message spoken from heart to heart; my walls of aversion collapse, and my mind becomes attuned to the speaker. During the examination, the Lord reminds me of the simple truths that will help me pass the test correctly and emerge victorious, or experience the greatest possible joy from having done something right. None of my mistakes provokes indignation in the Teacher; instead, each one shows me that something still remains in my heart that must be corrected. There are no grades, no reproaches, and no coercion of the will.
At times, I myself desire to gain the knowledge I need, gather books, and set aside time to study them. Today, we can learn even while our hands are busy by listening through headphones to useful information or fascinating experiences.
If the School of Christ is already quite diverse today, touching many areas of our lives and opening beautiful prospects of happiness, love, and friendship, can you imagine what it will be like in Eternity?
Even when I merely try to picture Eternity with my limited mind, my imagination is not enough, so I envision it only within the bounds of my earthly knowledge and stereotypes.
Even now, when the boundless expanses of God’s love are being revealed to me, I confine this knowledge within the dimensions of my shell, which I am so reluctant to leave. Yet Eternity is far greater and more fascinating than even the boldest mind and most expansive imagination can conceive.
For example, how will we communicate there? I think that even now our guardian angels smile as they listen to our limited suppositions. Yet they also marvel at how, without seeing what has been promised, we believe in it and strive with all our might to attain, understand, and receive it.
There will be very many of us, and there will be even more Eternal friends. Life with them will be still more fascinating. Every new friend will be like a unique planet that I will want to know, discover, and explore, learning about that soul with special love and interest. At the same time, our old earthly friends will remain, and we will need to continue developing our relationships with them as well. How can my earthly mind contain this entire wealth of information? And where will there be time for all of it?
In Eternity, Jesus will be alive and visible, and He will outshine everything and everyone. Knowing Him personally will bring immeasurable delight and joy.
God the Father will always be accessible for fellowship, ready to give me a new revelation or blessing. His great and kind Heart will always be open to me, so that in Him I may continually find new treasures and rejoice forever in the depths of knowing Eternal love.
The Holy Spirit Himself will be my Eternal Teacher. I will hear His voice with my ears and my heart, and He will continually tell me about His love, reveal the vastness of God’s revelations, and show me new qualities in every one of my Eternal friends. He will give me a unique memory so that I may retain all this knowledge in my mind and recall it at the proper time in all its purity and beauty.
It will also be deeply fascinating to learn the entire history of Creation, beginning with the first speck of dust in the Universe, then proceeding to the creation of the angels, new galaxies, and our Earth. How instructive it will be to hear personal testimonies about how people lived before the Flood and after it, how they believed, how they fought against sin and overcame temptations, and why others did not enter Eternity.
To take in all of this at once, I will need an expansive mind capable of being present everywhere, analyzing everything, learning everything, and never growing weary, but always thirsting for new knowledge, instruction, and revelations. I believe the Lord will endow all of us with such capacities for thought and communication that, even when far apart, we will be able to remain connected with one another and make new discoveries in the hearts of those who are very dear to us, while also communing with the Eternal God and learning His character through a personal relationship with Him.
Our kind and faithful angels, who served us throughout our lives, will also long to meet us personally. They will want to tell us about our lives from the perspective of their ministry and show us how many dangers they saved us from and how many blessings they brought into our lives. How modestly they wait for me to desire friendship with them, so that within this relationship they too may open their hearts and show me how angels are made, how they live, what they eat, how they think, and what their personal lives are like. All of this will require time and a perceptive mind, which God will give me so that I may be filled forever with new discoveries and blessings.
We will be given other means of communication and travel. Great distances on Earth and throughout the cosmos will no longer trouble us. No matter where in the Universe we may be, we will always remain connected with one another and with our dear Jesus, continuing to open our hearts and discover something new in the lives of those we love.
A little more should also be said about love. It will be present everywhere and, like air, will unite us in one universal fellowship, passing through our hearts and bringing joy to everyone with whom we share fellowship and relationships.
We should also remember all the Heavenly inhabitants of the unfallen worlds, who patiently await the opportunity to meet each of us, share their joys and knowledge, and come to know us personally so that we will never part again. They will tell us about their understanding of God and about what they experienced as they watched us.
All this knowledge is called the Eternal School of Christ, in which we will ceaselessly learn that God is Love. And this School has already begun here.
Bible verses for this chapter:
John 14:1–6; 1 Corinthians 2:9; 2 Corinthians 12:1–9; Revelation 21:1–27; 22:1–7; Isaiah 11:6–9; Job 38:3–41; 39:1–35