The Best is Yet to Come

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:3 NKJV)

This thing called LIFE!

All of us have asked the questions, “Why am I here?”  and “What is my purpose in life?  We did not volunteer to be born the first time but we were born anyway and why?  Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes seems to have asked those questions.  According to chapter 2 of the book, he experienced everything that life has to offer and yet he ends up the book by saying, “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “All is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 12:8 NKJV)

That word vanity is interesting.  We usually associate vanity with pride.  But here in Ecclesiastes the word seems to imply emptiness.  The word is not an encouraging word.  The vanity of life represents the pointless nature of life.  But of course we need to remember that Ecclesiastes has to do with life “under the sun.”  That is, the life that the Preacher is describing is the life of one who is living for self and for what this world (both in the sense of the society and in the sense of the ages) has to offer.   

When we are young, we are idealistic.  We have our five year plans and our goals for our lives.  But the point of Ecclesiastes is that nothing really matters other than enjoying each day as it comes.  But from the standpoint of our long term accomplishments, nothing really matters because in the end it is all going to be left behind.  We come into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing.  Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21 NKJV).  In between physical birth and physical death, we may get richer than most others, we may have more followers than others, we may rule over others, but in the end what does it matter?  Solomon, who had God speak to him directly on at least two occasions,  came to a point in life where with all of his wisdom and riches and honor (and wives), he still got terribly discouraged with life.  He seems to get it right at the end of the book when he says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all (or some translations say this is the whole duty of man).  For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NKJV)

We All Need Something that will Encourage Us!

The pointlessness of life becomes more and more evident the older one gets.  We begin to realize that all of our accomplishments don’t amount to much.  We may build pillars like Absalom did so that we will not be forgotten and we may end up in the history books because we walked on the moon or because we were the generals that won wars.  But, “So What?”

To me the reason we were put here on this earth was so that God could find out whether we were going to serve ourselves or whether we were going to serve Him.  Are we going to assume that we are smart enough to make “our own decisions” or are we smart enough to read the manual that God has given us so that we can be a people that pleases God by trusting Him and by helping others.  I am afraid that most of us are doing life in such a way that it really is pointless.  Only as we begin “loving God” by trusting Christ for eternal salvation, and as we begin showing that we love Him by loving those He has created, will life have meaning.  Then and then only will we truly appreciate the promise that we have in our verse above.  The Lord says, “I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  This is the coming of comfort.  This is what gets those of us who are saved through the day when life becomes pointless as it did for Solomon.

Two Comings?  Not Really!

The  Gospels tend to confuse me because while the Lord talks of His coming again, we don’t really understand that at the end of this dispensation He is going to come first for those who are alive and have been faithful to Him.  But at the end of a seven year period of terrible trials, the Lord will come on a white horse (yes there must be animals in heaven); and when He does He will judge the world in righteousness.  This will not be a coming of comfort.  But really this is all a part of His one second coming.  His second coming consists of the rapture or the coming of comfort (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).  But at then end of the seven years of trials, He will  come to set things right and to set up His righteous kingdom.  That coming is not a coming of comfort.  That coming is one where there will be mourning or wailing.   The apostle John says, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn (or some translations say wail) because of Him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7 NKJV)

God always wants the saved to be holy (or a separated people).  He knows that when we try to do things the way the world or society does them, that the world will change us.  We will not change the world.  While the church today is completely immersed in the idea that we can make unbelievers act like believers, God knows that our strength lies in separating from the world and not in joining it.  Those who have separated from the world are waiting patiently for the first part of His second coming.  The rest of the world is going to find out that the Lord who died for them is going to come back in strength and not in weakness.  He is going to judge nations, and sin, and sinners.  

I am looking forward to the coming of comfort.  My purpose in life is to warn people that there is a day coming when God is going to judge the world in righteousness.  It is not going to be pretty! 

For the unbeliever, eternity is going to be a time of regret.  But for the believer who may be discouraged with life, the best is yet to come.

Bruce Collins

Meditation for the weeks of September 8 and 15, 2024

MY TWO CENTS WORTH