A Closer Look at Endings and Beginnings
Introduction
Something unique but not simply proprietary to me happened this morning. It was something that everyone, everywhere faces. It was something that for many, it wakes them in the middle of the night. For others it stops them cold in their tracks of daily life. And even for others, it marks the beginning of great and unforeseen experiences.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about Last Days. I’m talking about points in human history, and each of us lives our own history. I’m talking about fulcrums in life that are strategically placed so as to tip a life one way or another; yet often overlooked as significant.
When change comes in this life, often it comes at the cessation of one thing and the creation of another. Granted there are times when change results not because something was removed, but simply added. Whether the altered states of our lives come from inductive process or deductive process or even a combination of the two, change happens to all of us.
The real question is: am I experiencing The Last Day?
Chapter One – Why Last Days are Significant
So why are last days significant? Well for one, they can mean the end of a life on this planet. Everyone, everywhere on this planet, should the return of Christ be postponed, will physically die. The Bible states clearly that “it is appointed unto men once to die” (Hebrews 9:27). Simply put, since the fall of humanity, physical death doggedly pursues everyone ever born; with very few exceptions.
Now granted Jesus taught that if we believe in and upon Him, we shall not die spiritually or eternally, but no place does Scripture indicate we who believe shall be exempt from physical death. It’s just something that’s with us until all things are made new.
Last Days are significant because for each of us, our mothers conceived, gestated, labored and gave birth. At which time pregnancy ended and new life came forth. Every mother experiences the Last Day of her pregnancy and we in turn experience the Last Day in the womb.
Last Days are significant because for some it marks the ending of one job and the beginning of another. Which many people view as a good thing. As long as the change is for the better, we all would agree.
For some folks, their Last Day is about starting a diet. For others it’s about quitting a destructive habit. For still others it’s about breaking up a relationship in hopes for a better one. Regardless of what our Last Days are comprised of, we all have them.
The Bible tells us that ultimately, there will be a Last Day or a moment of change that is irreversible and transcendent. The Day of the Lord could be that Last Day. This is the day when Christ actually physically returns to this earth to establish His Kingdom once and for all. Several New Testament authors write about the Last Days, meaning the days leading up to God’s cataclysmic and final actions upon this planet and her people. Their language is very poignant and telling.
Acts 2:17 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.”
2 Timothy 3:1 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”
James 5:3 “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.”
2 Peter 3:3 “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,”
Whether Luke, Paul, James, or Peter; they all indicate a very perilous time leading up to The Last Day, even under the watchful eye of the Spirit poured out upon all flesh. It appears that if we are alive and on the planet during this lead up, our mettle will be tested. For regardless of what Last Day you and I face, the pattern seems the same. Pressure to fail, bail, or stall out in disbelief just before that Last Day is upon us.
Please consider this principle and pattern. Regardless of which Last Day one refers to, everyone faces the temptations and trials that have the potential for derailing that Last Day. For instance, sickness and affliction may come to the expecting mother, so as to derail that Last Day before life comes forth. Or how about the temptation to not follow through on the Last Day before starting a diet? Or the moment of hesitation before one confronts addictive behavior that has so long held that person in chains; self or otherwise. Because for anyone bound, there will be a Last Day of bondage before their day of freedom. Except if they ignore the power of a Last Day.
Worse yet, the fear and apprehension, that bombards a heart convicted of sin and distance from God, just days, hours, minutes and even seconds, before their Last Day of being eternally lost. Those moments when the enemy of our souls wages his last ditch efforts at keeping us from the Kingdom and Life in Christ. Not to mention our flesh and its tacit refusal to die without our will and God’s grace to extinguish it.
Last Days are Significant. And for each of us, Last Days may come and go without much sense of repercussion or remorse, but ultimately everyone faces Last Days of great significance. May we not sleep or ignore the very fact that Last Days happen. And for many a Last Day, they are permanent.
To Be Continued
Chapter Two – Biblical Examples of Last Days
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