What This Week's Plane Crash Can Tell Us About Eternity

What Really Happens When We Die?

Jan 31, 2025

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (James 4:14)

The tragic and untimely deaths of 67 people in a tragic mid-air collision came unexpectedly on the evening of January 29th, 2025. The airplane passengers had likely assumed they would soon be in the terminal retrieving their luggage. Instead, like all the rest of us will someday, they found themselves standing in front of Jesus Christ Himself. Their near-instantaneous deaths are a reminder that no one is guaranteed tomorrow… not a figure skater, a flight attendant, or even a teenager.

Our hearts go out to the families of all of the victims, both civilian and military.

The purpose of this post is not to judge any of those who died that day, (only God can and will do that), but to remind the rest of us that our life on this earth is short when compared to all eternity. The decisions we make in this life will affect each one of us for all eternity.

It is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)

After we die, we will be judged by Christ Himself. The first thing to understand about this final judgment is that it cannot be avoided.

Regardless of how we may choose to interpret end times prophecy, the writer of

Hebrews tells us there is one thing for sure… During our brief stay on earth, we should live with eternity in mind. Whether we are nine or sixty-nine years old, our lives can end at any moment.

In 2012, Besse Cooper made world news by celebrating her 116th birthday, making her the oldest person on earth at the time. Her wisdom for longevity was simple… “I mind my own business,” she told the Guinness Book of World Records. Besse passed away just four months later.

Even if you live to be 116, it is still very short compared to all eternity.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has “set eternity in the human heart.” In every human soul is a God-given awareness that there is “something more” than this transient world. And with that awareness of eternity comes a hope that we can one day find a fulfillment not afforded by the “vanity” in this world.

So, the big question is… What is eternity and what is forever?

The book of Revelation details end-time events and the finality of God’s creation as we know it…

And he swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, there should be time no longer. (Revelation 10:6)

Eternity and forever then are defined by the absence of time. In fact, time, space, matter, distance, and measurement won’t matter anymore. In Luke 16, Abraham told the rich man who found himself in Hades…

And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. (Luke 16:26)

Eternity is real. There is no turning back, no second chances. Even if we don’t understand it… we must prepare for it.

Eternity can start for any one of us in a decade, a year, a month, or just before 9:00 PM on a Wednesday evening… just like it did for those people on both the plane and the helicopter.

Where do you want to spend your eternity?

If you have not already, I would encourage you to repent, give your heart to God, and live your life to please Him…

Anything else is beyond foolish.