The end or the beginning?

The last two chapters of the Bible describe the creation of a new heaven and a new earth which will be the home of all whose sins have been forgiven through their faith in Jesus Christ. There will be no more sin or temptation to sin. All that is evil will have been removed.

Some people think of this time as being like retirement. We have finished our work and now we are able to begin living a life of leisure. Nothing can be further from the truth. This is not the end of our service to God but its true beginning.

When God created Adam and Eve he had great plans for their future. We don’t know what those plans were because they ate the fruit that God had forbidden and so brought sin and death into the world. All that has happened since then is God’s efforts to remove these two invaders and restore the creation to what he intended it to be. Once that has been accomplished he will begin to carry out the real purpose for which he created us.

The Last Battle, the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia, ends with the destruction of Narnia and with the followers of Aslan being taken to a new and perfect Narnia.

And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can truly say that they lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page. Now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.

This is an accurate description of what awaits Christians at the end of this age.

If you have not had your sins forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ this is not your future. After death you will be judged for your sins and be sentenced to eternity in the lake of fire. But if you are willing to turn from your sins and believe in Christ you can share in this future.

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