Then Cometh the End
We are quickly approaching the end of the current year. As each year draws to an end, we all probably look back on the past twelve months to consider our victories, accomplishments, achievements, and even our failures. The goals we had set for the passing year are contemplated and sometimes, because we didn’t reach a specific goal this year, we might even set that goal to be attained in the coming year.
All of life on earth has a beginning and has an end. Each start carries with it a feeling of joy as Proverbs 23:25 indicates. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. Then the end of a life brings sorrow to those who remain on earth to finish their time here. Even the death of the unrighteous does not give the Lord any pleasure as Ezekiel 18:32 points out. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. He wants all to come to repentance. We are told this in 2Peter 3:9 which also indicates that there is also a real purpose for our being here. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. This is why there is a beginning to life. Genesis 1:1 tells us what God did to provide us a place for our beginning here. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Then in Genesis 2:7 we are told of mankind’s beginning. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
We also know that we shall not live on this earth forever. Ecclesiastes 9:5 tells us this is a well-known thing by all. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Following the creation of Adam and Eve, all of us had our beginning by birth. Our end on earth is called death.
But even the end of our lives here on earth is really a beginning. It is, for each of us, the beginning of eternity. Some may surmise that eternity is an end, but life or death is dependent upon the individual and what they do with that limited period which is called life. This is where the Bible comes in. The Bible is the record of God’s plan and communication to man, as well as how that plan came to be and what it can do for us. In 1John 5:11-13 we find Words the Spirit provided to John to write so we can know eternal life. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. This is what Jesus was speaking of in the last part of John 10:10 while He was here on earth and fulfilling His part of bringing about the plan of God for man. He said: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Just because Jesus came and died does not mean that you or I will enjoy that eternal life with Him. We have to make the choice as to where we will spend eternity, and then live to have that abundant life. The Spirit had the apostle Paul write to Timothy in 1Timothy 6:19, warning to the rich of the world so they would use the material goods with which they had been blessed properly in preparation for the end. Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. But one has to “work” to lay hold on eternal life. This is why in Acts 2:40, Peter was given the Words to speak as he testified and exhorted the hearers that day. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. This “saving” of oneself and “laying up in store” for eternity has its beginning in our obedience to the gospel, our continuance in faithfulness and its fulfillment in our receipt of the promise of God to all the obedient. Romans 6:16-17 points out the choice each must make as we continue through life toward our end on this earth. This is true for all spend time on this sphere. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
There is an end to all life on earth and God has told us how it will occur. The earth and its works will be burned up per 2Peter 3:10. This verse also tells us we cannot know when this will happen. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Then 1Corinthians 15:24-26 tells us what happens in the end. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Get ready for the end before it is too late.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
