We’re nearing the end of our sermon series, “The End of
Time”.
Our Bible readings up to this point have focused on all
the bad things that are going to happen before the end comes. We looked at the prophecy given to
Daniel. We looked at what Jesus had to
say about it. We looked last week at
what it says in Revelation six about the breaking of the seals. Everyone agrees that there are going to be
some really bad things that happen before the end comes.
But today, we
look at the rest of the story. And you
know what? God wins! Even though all these bad things are going to
happen, in the end, God wins! And you
know what else? If we’re faithful to God,
we win, too! You and I and everyone
else, if we’re faithful to God, we win!
Now, I don’t suppose that comes as a shock to anyone
here, but it’s an important thing to remember.
And all too often, when we talk about the end times and the second
coming of Jesus, we forget it. We focus
on all the bad things. We focus on the
persecution and the disasters and all that stuff. Now those things are real, and I’m not
suggesting we should ignore them. But we
need to remember that those things are temporary. They’ll come, they’ll happen, but then
they’ll go away again. Their time will
end. And God will win.
So what does that mean, to say God wins? Listen to what the apostle John says:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first
heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any
sea. I saw the Holy City, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully
dressed for her husband. And I heard a
loud voice from the throne saying, “Look!
God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with
them. They will be his people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God.
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or
crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am
making everything new!”
And you know, maybe I don’t need to
say any more than that. I mean, it would
make the sermon awfully short, but seriously.
There’s not really a lot more to say, is there?
There will be no more death. Why is there death now? Because it’s only through death that we can
go to be with God, right? I mean, God is
present on earth, and sometimes we can feel God’s presence here, but what we
see and feel of God while we’re on earth is what the apostle Paul called “a dim
reflection” of what God truly is. It’s
only when we leave this world and go to the next one that we can truly
experience what God is.
But when the end comes, God’s dwelling place will be
among the people. God will actually live
among people. People won’t need to die
to be in the presence of God. God will
be with people in the new earth.
And there will be no mourning, either. And no crying. And no pain.
Those are things that exist now.
They’re part of the “old order”, as our reading put it. But when the end comes, that old order will
pass away. God will make everything
new. That includes a new heaven and a
new earth.
So why did God set all that up for the future? Why does God not do that now? Why does God not take away death and mourning
and crying and pain now?
Well, I don’t
know. We talked about that last
week. There are all kinds of things
about why the world is the way it is that I don’t know. All I know is that the world is what it is. In fact, the way this works kind of reminds
me of how our lives on earth work sometimes.
Sometimes there has to be some bad stuff before we can get to the good
stuff. I don’t know why the world is
that way, either. But again, the world
is what it is. And all I can do is trust
that God has reasons for allowing it to be that way, even if I don’t know what
they are. We either accept that, or we
decide that God does not have a reason because God does not exist and all this
is nonsense. It’s our choice.
But why don’t we talk about this part more? Why is it that, when we talk about the end
times, we focus so much on the bad stuff?
Why don’t we focus on the new heaven and the new earth? Why don’t we focus on God living with God’s
people? Why don’t we focus on the happy
ending?
I don’t know.
Maybe it’s just who we are as human beings. It seems like, even in our own world, we have
a tendency to talk more about the bad stuff than the good stuff. You turn on the news, and almost all you hear
is all the bad things that have happened in the world. That seems to be how we’ve defined news any
more—bad things happening. And it seems
like it’s always easier to be pessimistic about things than it is to be
optimistic. So maybe it just comes
natural to us to focus on all the bad things that will happen before the end.
Or maybe, we’re scared.
Maybe the reason we focus on all the bad things that will happen is
because we’re not sure we’re going to be a part of this new heaven and new
earth. Maybe we’re afraid that we will
not be among those who will be God’s children.
Maybe—even if we have a strong faith—maybe, in the back of our minds,
there’s a part of us that’s worried that we’ll be among those who will, as our
reading says, experience “the second death”.
I think that’s more common than we realize. I think a lot of us, even if we have faith,
have that feeling sometimes. We don’t
talk about it much, but it’s there in the back of our minds. We wonder, is God really going to let me into
heaven? Am I really good enough? I mean, I’ve done some good things, but there
are a lot of times I’ve failed. There
are a lot of times I’ve messed up. And
some of those mess-ups have been pretty serious. With all the stuff I’ve done, is God really
going to want to hang around with me? Is
God really going to let me be a part of God’s new heaven and new earth?
Yes. Yes. God is really going to let you be a part of
all this. God does want to hang around
with you. And God wants to hang around
with me. Sure, God knows all about our
mess-ups. God knows more about them than
we do. In fact, God knows about mess-ups
that we’ve long since forgotten about.
God knows about all our failures.
And God knows about the good things we’ve done, too. And God loves us, in both the good and the
bad.
So, are you really good enough to get into heaven? Of course not! And neither am I. And neither is anyone else on earth. God does not do all this for us because we’re
good enough. God does all this for us
because, for all of our failures and all of our mess-ups, we have faith in
God. Our actions may not always show
it. In fact, our actions may sometimes
appear to show the exact opposite. But
we still have faith, and that’s all God asks of us. And if we ask God forgiveness and a second
chance, God will give it to us. And God
will give us a third chance and a fourth chance and a fifth chance. If we have faith in God, God will keep giving
us these chances. God knows we’re not
capable of living perfect lives, so God does not ask us to. God just asks us to have faith and to do the
best we can.
Now, we should not use that as an excuse. We should not just do whatever we feel like
and say, “Well, I’m not perfect”. But we
should not beat ourselves up for our imperfections, and we should not think
that God stops loving us or will condemn us for not being perfect. God knows when we’re doing the best we can,
and God forgives the times when our best still is not very good.
And God does not want us to be scared. Over and over, the Bible says things like “do
not be afraid”. “Do not fear”. God does not want us to be scared during our
time on earth. God does not want us to
be scared when our time on earth comes to an end. And God does not want us to be scared of the
time when everything on earth comes to an end.
We don’t have to be scared, because God knows how it all
comes out. And you and I know how it all
comes out, too. We may not know all the
details, but we know the most important thing.
We know God wins. And we know
that, if we’re faithful to God, we win, too.
We know there are going to be a lot of bad things that
happen before the end comes. But if
we’re faithful to God, we’ll get through them.
And in the end, God will win. And
so will we.
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