He Will Keep You Strong To The End

There remains much talk among Christians about the end of this age. For instance, millions around the world have purchased books from the Left Behind series. As I continue my meditation upon the Apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, I see that from the outset of the proclamation of the Gospel the apostles wanted believers to be concerned about this issue. He writes in chapter one:

"Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful (1:7-9).

Some of the questions that come to mind:

• What does it mean to wait for our Lord Jesus and to wait eagerly?
• How will He be revealed?
• When is the end? The end of what?
• What is the day of our Lord Jesus Christ?
• Is there to be more than one day?

In that connection I've been reading a few books and doing more surfing of the Net about the year 2012. Soon the movie will be out. My oh my but the trailers are scary. If you are vulnerable to this sort of thing--and the movie folks are counting on it--you will be spending sleepless nights pondering how you might escape the upcoming disaster.

Some tie this in with the global warming issue to point out that the planet is warming up rapidly. The polar ice caps will soon melt and release clear water into the salt oceans. This will disrupt the transporter currents around the world, causing cataclysmic storms and an instant rise in the temperature.

Add to this, the probability that sunspot storms will most likely occur in December, 2012. And what do you have? THE END, friend, THE END!

Let me respond to all of this scare stuff by going back to 1 Corinthians. In v.23 Paul teaches simply and profoundly, "We teach Christ crucified." That means that God loved the world, including you and me, so much that He was not willing that a single one of us should be lost to eternal death and separation from Him. In His mercy he has called us to faith in Jesus, granted us forgiveness and holiness in Christ and the absolute certainty that He will never leave us nor forsake us. We are, when all is said and done, His children. And He completely and fully intends that we will spend endless ages with Him in endless bliss, peace and contentment.

When the doomsayers come at you in books and the media, find your comfort in the wonder producing words of that most familiar psalm:

"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging." Psalm 46:1-3

And also take courage from the words quoted above: "He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."