The author closes this essay with a short concluding paragraph. What is his final comment about man's suffering as it relates to eternity?

44. As we look back on the speck of eternity that was the history of this planet, we will be impressed not by its importance, but by its diminutiveness. From the viewpoint of the Andromeda galaxy, the apocalyptic destruction of our entire solar system would be barely visible, a match flaring faintly in the distance, then imploding in permanent darkness. Yet for this burnt-out match, God sacrificed Himself. Pain can be seen, as Berkouwer puts it, as the great "not yet" of eternity. It reminds us of where we are, and creates in us a thirst for where we will someday be.