The End is so Wonderful

The End is so Wonderful!

Have you ever read a really good book, or perhaps now days, played a really superb video game, and you disparately want to know how it ends yet paradoxically you don't want it to ever end?  You are enjoying the journey of the story so much that you immerse yourself in it; eagerly awaiting each twist and turn of the plot to the climatic satisfying conclusion.

That's the way the life with Jesus is like.  When you are trusting in Him, life can be an adventure, because He is in charge and you do not always know where the will of God is leading you. We find the more we trust and not worry and plan things out for ourselves, the more surprised we are at what God offers in this life; people who come into our lives who, either we have something to offer or/and, they to us; new ways to glorify God with our lives and our talents; deeper levels to grow in the Faith of Jesus Christ.
We know the ending too! We have the promise that we are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we know we are going to be with Him in heaven. What a wonderful state that will be!

We can both enjoy the 'story' and eagerly anticipate the end of this life with it ending in heaven with God.

Sometimes we don't enjoy the 'story'. We long to be released from this life of sin, sorrow, death and decay.  We yearn for our new spiritual bodies that will be free from sin! Often the pain of this life can attack us and lure us away from God and His promises of eternal life in Jesus.  We forget that the 'kingdom of God is within you'. Many people spend much of this life in the state of yearning for it to end because they feel they can no longer take the pain:  childhood trauma, the unexpected death of a child or spouse, or the burden of poverty, disease or addiction, all sap the joy of life and leave the scars of our sins on our souls.

Perhaps the balance is to be like Paul: want to do work for the Lord here on earth, but long for God's full redemption when we pass from death to life.  We know we are here to glorify God through (the work of) Jesus Christ.
"God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:11 )

Soon we will be with Christ in the new creation of Heaven and earth.  There we will truly be able to love the story that has no end – eternal life in Christ.

By S.R. Rantala/Armahda

Bible References

2 Corinthians 12: 1b-4
I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.

1 Corinthians 2:9
9 However, as it is written:
   "What no eye has seen,
   what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived"—
   the things God has prepared for those who love him—
2 Thessalonians 1:
5 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

2 Corinthians 5:
Awaiting the New Body
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Philippians 1:
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
   He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."

2 Timothy 1:9-10
9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

1 Peter 4:11
11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Luke 11:
The Coming of the Kingdom of God
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is in your midst."
22 Then he said to his disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
   26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
   28 "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
   30 "It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot's wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left." [36]
37 "Where, Lord?" they asked.