Good morning:
You know the joy of a good book. It’s the one that draws you into its world from page one and becomes more engrossing with each chapter. It’s the book that makes you put off chores and other activities so that you can keep reading. Even though you know you’re going to be tired the next morning, you can’t help but stay up late with it. There’s nothing quite like a good book.
Even with the best book, though, there is a problem. It ends. As the bookmark inches deeper into the book, you may purposely slow down the pace of your reading. But you’re just putting off the inevitable. The last page will come, and then what?
It is not just books. Games, concerts, Thanksgiving dinners, long weekends—they all end, and we’re left feeling let down. The Lord warns that everything on the earth and the earth itself will one day end. “For here we do not have an enduring city” (Heb. 13:14). Then what?
A book may have a sequel which we can look forward to. Sometimes the sequel is even better than the first book. Likewise, Peter writes, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). This present world is destined for destruction because of sin. But the Lord has promised a new, flawless creation in which we will live in perfect happiness with Him and all other believers of all time. We can be sure of our future home and our place in it because Jesus has gone ahead of us. He has taken away our sins, clothed us with His righteousness, and called us into His kingdom by faith.
The end is really just the beginning. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:16-17). There will be no end to spoil the joy!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor
