I must realize that there are several kinds of immortality. First, there is natural immortality, the simple endless existence of all human beings, whether saved or lost. Second, there is everlasting, or eternal, life, which is referred to in the Bible as qualitative life, rather than simple duration. That is the kind of immortality every believer in Jesus Christ receives the moment he is “born again” (John 3:3). It is a “gift of God,” apart from any good works (Ephesians 2:8–9).
The third kind of immortality is the immortality of works. That kind of immortality is an achievement by my own effort. It is said of Abel that because he offered his sacrifice by faith, he, being dead, “yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4, KJV). Men can achieve an immortality of works that are violent, cruel, and merciless, but God’s men can achieve an immortality of works only by faith. That is, the life that is lived in simple dependence upon God carries in it the seeds of its own immortality. God will “testify” of that simple life forever. Good works done in simple dependence upon God will live forever. That is the kind of “forever” John referred to when he said, “The one who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17). That kind of immortality is better than either the natural or the eternal because it carries God’s peculiar honor; it is “better” (Hebrews 11:35).
I must not merely live; I must live so that I will be remembered after I die. The only way to do so is the way of Abel, a man who lived by faith and is remembered with honor—God’s honor and men’s. That way I will earn another one of the blesseds: “Blessed are the dead who [keep the commandments of God, and] die in the Lord … [for] their works do follow them” (Revelation 14:13, NSRB).
“I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely” (Psalm 16:8–9).
Daily with the King 