1 Chronicles 23:13
The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever. The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever.
The verse belongs to the account of how the worship of God was established under David. It records that Aaron and his sons were separated forever to sanctify the most holy things, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name forever, making temple service their hereditary duty. Such genealogical records gave the strict legal proof of hereditary descent needed after the exile to assign the land to its hereditary owners and to restore temple service and its offices to the proper families.
The verse shows God's particular care in keeping the genealogy of Levi unbroken until the Lord's first coming, because the Aaronic priesthood had to continue until the Jews ceased to be a nation, when it was superseded by the priesthood of Christ. As God instructed His people to keep records of genealogies, so a faithful record of each soul is kept in the books of heaven.
The for ever spoken of Aaron and his sons proves that for ever does not always mean endless duration. When everlasting or eternal is used its duration is determined by the person or thing to which it relates, and must be understood in a limited sense when applied to that which will come to an end. The limited for ever of Aaron and his sons therefore proves that everlasting applied to the future punishment of the wicked is limited, because the wicked will come to an end and be no more, suffering literal death as the penalty of the law for personal disobedience.