THE END OF THE MATTER

None of us know what we will happen in the end. Will we stay faithful? Will we stay on course?

Someone once said that in heaven, you will be surprised at how some people you do not expect to be there will be there, and some whom you are expecting to be there are not. The Bible is filled with examples of those who were faithful until the end and those who were deflected from the course that God has for them.

The Thief on the Cross and His Good End

Consider the thief that gave his life to Jesus when he was crucified on the cross. (Luke 23:39-43). The greatest mercy he received is to be crucified on the cross, for it is there he received salvation.

Whatever he did must have been so severe so as to be crucified on the cross. And while his persecutors might have cursed him to go to hell, he made it to heaven in his dying moment by the mercy of God (Luke 23:43)!

Judas the Disciple Who Betrayed Jesus

How about Judas, who spent the last three and a half years of his life being taught by Jesus? He heard the greatest Teacher, Jesus Himself. He saw the miracles with his own eyes. He did the miracles with his own hands. He preached the message of Jesus.

In fact, he blended so well with the other disciples that when Jesus announced that someone’s going to betray Him, the disciples had a hard time finding out who it was! Do we blend so well with our Christian friends?

Judas betrayed Jesus and sold him for 30 pieces of silver. He even ended his own life (Matt. 27:3-10). His ministry and gifts of healing the sick were not enough to secure him a place in heaven. His life was a warning that being in the company of believers alone will not take one to heaven.

Like Judas, there is a warning that our ministry and the success of it cannot save us. 

We cannot use our talents and giftings as an indicator of our good standing with God no matter how long it has been, or how much fruit we have borne. Judas had a good start but he also had a bad finish.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 tells us, “The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” How we start out counts but how we end up matters the most. Ecclesiastes 11:3 tells us, “In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.”

Our spiritual condition at the end of our life will determine where we will spend eternity.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, “Those who will endure till the end will be saved.” It does not matter how you run the race but we must endure until the end and be faithful.

The thing is we might not know where we will end up but God knows! God knows the end of the matter. He declares the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10). God knows what we shall be. He knows our end. He knows who will be faithful. He knows who will choose to fall.

He knows who will run the straight course. He knows who will forsake Him. He knows all things!

Peter Who Denied Jesus but was Fully Restored

Jesus knew that Peter will deny him (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus knew about Peter’s fall. He knew He will be denied thrice by Peter. Jesus knew Peter will fall and be lost, but He also knew that Peter will return.

It is interesting that Jesus prayed to the Father that Peter’s faith should not fail, even if He knew that Peter will return to the faith. Jesus gives us the example of needing to pray until breakthrough comes. Also, it is a comfort to know that Jesus is our Intercessor (Romans 8:34). He knows our needs and intercedes on our behalf before the Heavenly Father!

Sometimes, like Peter, we feel discouraged and disappointed with our shortcomings but in reality, Jesus intercedes for us. He is our Great High Priest. We take much joy if we are prayed for by the fathers of the faith here on earth, but how much more should we be thankful that Jesus Himself intercedes for us! As for Peter, he was restored to the full.

Hazael the King Who Had a Bad End

In 2 Kings 8:7-15, Elisha, a messenger of God, knew by the gift of knowledge that Hazael will be an evil king. The thing is that Hazael was not aware that he is capable of doing such a thing, and even questioned the prophecy of the man of God by saying “But what is your servant—a dog, that he should do this gross thing?”

Interestingly, Hazael’s name means “God has seen”. Hazael should have had the fear of the Lord and should have taken Elisha’s prophecy as a warning. Instead of being broken before God, he hardened his heart, and went on to fulfill the prophecy on him.

Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful and beyond cure, who can understand it?” We will not fully understand our heart. Our heart might say, “I will never do that kind of thing!” But God knows what is in the heart of man. He searches our hearts to find out what’s really inside.

Our heart has a way of making us resistant to correction and blindly leads us to think that we are not the person that we have become. God will put people in our path to warn us. We should be open to correction given by the people of God to us. Proverbs 16:18 “Pride comes before a fall...”

Pride is from the enemy. Pride can keep us from repenting unto the Lord. Pride can deflect us from the course that God wants us to take.

C.S. Lewis said “How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshipping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of this phantom God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people… Luckily, we have a test. Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else—I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil.”

What is the way to be kept on the right track then, knowing that our heart is deceitful and cannot be relied upon?

How do we not walk that path of forsaking God? 

Much of it is dependent on the mercy and the grace of God. The grace of God is the strength that He gives us in times of difficulties. But we also have our part:

Being thankful to God in all circumstances
(1 Thess. 5:18). 

Daniel gave thanks and prayed to God despite the written decree of praying to no one else except to King Darius (Dan. 6:10). He prayed to God despite knowing that the price is to be thrown to the lions’ den.

Paul and Silas had been severely flogged and they were thrown into prison but this did not stop them from singing praise and hymns to God (Acts 16:25). By choosing to rejoice and be thankful even under difficult circumstances we are kept from backsliding. Lack of gratitude leads a person to move far away from God.

To fear God and keep His commandments until the finish line
(Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). 

The fear of the Lord and obeying all of God’s commandments will enable us to finish well the race that God has prepared for us.


Works Cited

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952; Harper Collins 2001) p 124 – accessed http://merecslewis.blogspot.sg/2011/11/pride-means-enmity-to-god.html 4/6/17