In God there is no was or will be, but a continuous and unbroken is.
In him history and prophecy are one and the same.
~ A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
~ Ecclesiastes 3:11
Oh beloved, it is true. That which He created is good. But, somehow we created beings pulled out of the everlasting moment of joyful innocence with Him, and were dragged out from under the shadow of His wing. Whereupon we fell, full-on, into this temporal mess we call “the world;” not the world of order and beauty that He made, but the fallen corrupt cosmotic system around us – the world that ever seeks to keep us away from the One from whom we have fallen away. It is a horrible, wretched place. And the prospects for the fallen do not ever improve.
But G_d!
Thankfully, G_d provided a way for us to return to that place with Him. Through, the Life, Death, Burial, Resurrection, Ascension and Imminent Return of Jesus Christ, we have both the assurance that our sins are forgiven AND we are given a Blessed Hope for the future!
So, the past is handled. The Future looks REALLY GREAT for those who have trusted Christ alone for all of it!
But, what about now?
I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
~ Psalm 16:7-11
He is the answer, of course. Him… now… at the very end of all things – even ourselves – is a place called His Presence. Surely, G_d is everywhere, but he is best perceived by a created being when we leave behind any of that which is stained by sin and corruption, and give the temporal future absolutely no attention whatsoever.
Said a different way: There is one more death to reckon true: Ours. Everything that we were – upon entering into a right relationship with Him – has passed away. And we are now (ever) at a new and bleeding edge of an eternal moment full of Joyful Hope in His Presence.
This new self is introduced in Colossians 3:1-3
(And MANY other places in His Word)
If then you have been raised with Christ,
seek the things that are above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth.
For you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
His Presence is real. He is there. In His Presence is an intimate relationship we never knew to be possible. We just can’t take anything with us when we go. We gotta leave it all behind. Even our old selves. Only the new creation can move forward into eternity with Him.
May i share something though, beloved? His Presence is a place of Joy that simply cannot be described in writing. i invite you tonight, to leave your old life behind and allow Him to meet you at the end of all things. Your only question will be: Why did i ever think i ever wanted to do ANYTHING else, or be ANY other place!?
E.M. Bounds makes the same point from a different angle. But the message is the same: Everything has got to go.
The life-giving preacher is a man of God, whose heart is ever athirst for God, whose soul is following hard after God, whose eye is single to God, and in whom by the power of God’s Spirit the flesh and the world have been crucified; his ministry is like the generous flood of a life-giving river. Life-giving preaching costs the preacher much—death to self, crucifixion to the world, the travail of his own soul. Only crucified preaching can give life. Crucified preaching can come only from a crucified man.
~Edward McKendree Bounds (1835-1913)
