FINAL THINGS

         "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" (I Cor. 15:24).

         The Bible is a book of beginnings and endings.  It has its
    firsts and lasts.  Genesis, the first book, means "beginnings."  In
    it is the beginning of the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1), the
    first of everything on earth, including mankind.  There was a first
    command, a first temptation, a first sin, a first punishment.
    There was the first child and the first murder.

         The Bible is also a book of endings.  The scriptures deal with
    the thousands of years that begin with creation and end with life
    ceasing on earth.  Everything falls between two eternities.  If one
    could stand at the first day of creation and look back he would see
    an unending eternity.  Were he permitted to stand at the final day
    of this world's existence and look forward he would see an unending
    eternity before him.  What happens between the first and last makes
    up the history of mankind.

         We are living in the Christian age.  No one knows how long it
    will continue, although it will certainly come to an end sometime.

         The earliest age in scripture, called the Patriarchal age,
    extended from Adam to Moses.  Our current age, called the Christian
    age, began with Christ and extends to the present.  As the earliest
    age was a period of beginnings, so the Christian age has a number
    of endings, or final things.  those who lived in the Patriarchal
    age could look forward to later developments, as the prophets
    announced they could.  When we think of the future we come to
    realize after the church age is eternity, when the kingdom will be
    delivered up to the Father (I Cor. 15:24), when the world and its
    elements will melt with fervent heat and time as it is currently
    reckoned will be no more (II Peter 3:10).

         This is not to suggest we have been given a sad situation --
    far from it.  We live in the greatest period of all, at the end of
    the development of God's scheme of redemption, when we are humanity
    from the beginning.  As Adam lived in the starlight age and David
    in the moonlight age, we live in the sunlight age when Jesus brings
    light and immortality to light through the gospel (II Timothy
    1:10).  The very fact humanity has been given the full revelation
    suggests we have come to at least one end already -- the end of new
    revelation.  But who is to say this is a disadvantage?

         One thing it does for us -- it makes us face up to the fact we
    must make a choice.  We accept what God offers or we reject it.  We
    accept it and receive the benefits or we reject it and suffer the
    consequences.  We do not expect Him to make a better offer sometime
    later on.  His final offer has been made.
         There is something special about living in the last age.  We
    may not personally live to the end of it, but it is certain there
    is not another age to follow, that is, in this world.  The
    provisions God has made and the conditions of His blessings and
    promises are complete and unchangeable.  The New Testament, in a
    very real sense, contains God's final communication to us.  It
    involves:

         1.   The Savior made His last appearance on earth.
         2.   He made His last and final sacrifice (Heb. 10:12).
         3.   He extended His final invitation.
         4.   The faith has been once and for all delivered to the
    saints (Jude 3).

    As this age comes to a close there will be:

         1.   A final day when the world, as we know it, will end (II
    Peter 3:10).
         2.   A last trump will sound (I Cor. 15:52).
         3.   There will be a final moment when the living will be
    changed (I Cor. 15:51).
         4.   When events on that last day begin the door of
    opportunity will close forever (Heb. 9:27).

         Those who do not live till the last day will still have a last
    year and last day, a last hour and even a last moment.  There will
    be a time when they will say their last words and breathe their
    last breath.

         We need not ask ourselves if these things will happen.  They
    will!  The question we should consider should be whether or not we
    will be ready when the time comes.  The only way to be sure is to
    make preparation now.  We must take time to think seriously about
    these things.  We live in the days of the greatest blessings heavy
    offers.  We can't afford to lose them by inattention or unconcern.

         May God bless us as we strive to learn His will and do it.


    This file may NOT be modified, copied or distributed without express
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    MUST accompany the ajoining .TXT file.
    

    Copyright by Haun Publishing Co. P.O.Box 3426 Pasadena, Texas 77501



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