Wednesday: The Final Kingdom
Among other things, the Bible is a book about history. But it is not just a history book. It tells about events in the past, historical events, and uses them (among other things) to give us spiritual lessons. It uses events in the past to teach us truths about how we are to live in the here and now. (See 1 Cor. 10:11.)
Image @ Review and Herald Publishing from Goodsalt.com
But the Bible doesn’t just talk about the past. It talks about the future, as well. It tells us not just about events that have happened but about events that will happen. It points us to the future, even to the end of time. The theological term for last-day events, about end times, is “eschatology,” from a Greek word that means “last.” Sometimes it is used to encompass belief about death, judgment, heaven, and hell, as well. It also deals with the promise of hope that we have of a new existence in a new world.
And the Bible does tell us many things about the end times. Yes, the book of Job ended with Job’s death, and if this were the only book one had to read, one could believe that Job’s story ended, as do all ours, with death-and that was it, period. There was nothing else to hope for, because, as far as we can tell and from all that we see, nothing comes after.
The Bible, though, teaches us something else. It teaches that at the end of time God’s eternal kingdom will be established, it will exist forever, and it will be the eternal home of the redeemed. Unlike the worldly kingdoms that have come and gone, this one is everlasting.
Read Daniel 2:44, Daniel 7:18. What hope do these verses point to about the end?
“The great plan of redemption results in fully bringing back the world into God’s favor. All that was lost by sin is restored. Not only man but the earth is redeemed, to be the eternal abode of the obedient. For six thousand years Satan has struggled to maintain possession of the earth. Now God’s original purpose in its creation is accomplished. ‘The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’ Daniel 7:18.” – Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 342.
Indeed, the book of Job ended with his death. The good news for us, and for Job, is that the end of the book of Job is not the end of Job’s story. And our death is not the end of ours, either.
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You see brethren,even after our own deaths, we live with the hope of resurrection. It is important to live according to God's will. Never should we curse Him even when things that we don't understand happen to us. One thing I told myself this day from a famous quote, 'I have learnt to trust the spiritual journey when when I don't exactly understand what is happening. Stay blessed
I am very proud to be a Seventh-day Adventist. Even if we die in the Lord, we have the opportunity to once again come back to life, in a world where there will be no more death, sorrow, pain for all the former things shall pass away and behold all things will be made new. This weeks lesson is very inspiring.Godbless!
I thank God that my story, nor Job story and all of us the redeemed in Jesus Christ, our story will not end when this life is over. We will reign with Christ Jesus forever in His kingdom. Thank God
From the Kingdom of Babylon to Rome, all those Kingdoms have been destroyed and will be destroyed. It's only ONE Kingdom that will never be destroyed. That's GOD'S EVERLASTING KINGDOM. It will be for those who have died in the Lord, who will die in the Lord or those who will be found living in the Lord. Troublous times are a head of us at the end of this world's history. We may be put to torture and death like job by the kings of these world under their king Satan. Those who seem to be winners will be losers and those who will be like losers will be the winners when God sets His Final Kingdom to restore everything. It's my prayer we make it there to see and share experience together with Job but above all to see God. May God bless u all.
This lesson is a very good idea for this period. Thank God I am an adventist.
These lessons, God in His providence saw fit to share with all humanity, and so the book of Jobless preserved as one of the spiritual heritages from a far-distant.
It's our privilege today to learn from the experience of Job lessons of "trust" and "confidence" in God.
It is while we are in these passing kingdoms we are to allow ourself be prepared for that eternal kingdom.Yes Our savior is using even troubles themselves to make us fit for that coming kingdom.
Not only man but the earth is redeemed, to be the eternal abode of the obedient…… So isn't Jesus preparing a place to come and get us when it is all ready? I go to prepare He said. What about the Holy city John saw coming down from Heaven etc in Revelation?
Peggy, I am not sure what the question is alluding to, however if time and sequences are what is in mind, Revelation with it's many symbols and metaphors often require in depth study to apply them to our understanding and everyday vocabularies. If the earth for instance is to be redeemed, we need to look at 2Peter3:10-13. Sometimes a word can refer to more than one intended thought. The focus on the fact that Jesus will prepare a place for the redeemed is unquestionable.
If we had ONLY the book of Job to read, we would NOT believe that Job had no eternal future, for Job speaks of it (Job 19:25-27).
"Read Daniel 2:44, 7:18. What hope do these verses point to about the end?"
These verses do not speak about “the end”, but they speak about an everlasting kingdom that has no end. This is what Job referred to in Job 19. With no “bible” in his day, Job knew about God and the resurrection, perhaps from the teachings of Enoch which were passed down by the faithful, even after the flood. God always shows His servants those things which will come to pass. The promise to Adam and Eve has not been lost sight of by the faithful.
This lesson has encouraged me during my time of bereavement; my sister just passed away 3 weeks ago. This lesson has reminded me, of what I already know, that she will be resurrected at Jesus' second coming. Death is not the end of her story; she will be among that "the dead in Christ shall rise first" and she will live for eternity with Jesus and with me. If we all stay on this ship called "Jesus", then whether we die before Jesus comes back or we are among the "alive and remain will be caught up" crowd, we all will "ever be with the Lord", quotes from 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. I personally can't wait to talk to Jesus, and God the Father, then I'll find David and Ruth and Esther and talk to them about all that they accomplished in their lifetime, as Job did. Of course, I'm going to greet all my loved ones, and ask my sister if she wants to go with me to find these bible patriarchs.
And for you skeptics that don't believe that there's anything after Death, there's a famous quote that say: "I'd rather die believing in Christ and Heaven, and find out there is none; then to die not believe in Christ and Heaven and find that there is (Christ and Heaven)". I know it's one of those crazy quotes, but it's true.
May we all continue to hold on to God's unchanging hands!!
Is the purpose of life only to have a hope for eternal life?
Are we then trying to work our way towards eternity?
What if there was no eternity were we still going to remain righteous and love God?
What about when we are now on the new earth with everlasting life, should we no longer have a purpose (as the goal would have been attained)?
These are questions that I always ask myself and how I should show my love to Jehovah. I always pray that I should not have the goal/objective of being paid for being righteous.
Enoch at some point was distressed as he thought the righteous and the sinners all are destined to the grave and never resurrect (somewhere in PP). Until this was revealed to him by God that there is eternal life for the righteous, he however hated sin and remain pure and holy.
If we take Enoch view on righteousness then our purpose of living our goal is to love God and serve him.
HI Gari,
While I agree that loving, worshiping and giving God our all is important, I don't believe He created us and gave His Son to redeem us only to have more beings worship Him. God has always wanted to be with us and He has always wanted us to know Him and be with Him. THAT, I believe, is why he gave us Jesus who is the One and only One by Whom we can have eternal life with God.
We are not paid for our righteousness with heaven (the "wages" of our "righteousness" is death). Salvation is an unearned gift from God provided by grace so that He can be with us and we can be with Him... forever.
All this come without faith in Christ,some years back being an high school student I was a Christian of which now my faith has come down.What made me to be unstable in faith is being offminded from some collegues and job status I,m up to date.But there is two spirits calling me,satan is very busy fighting me after warned me that's when the spirit of the lord comes to me and warns have done wrong.what I,m I suppost to do?WILL I LEAVE the job or I continue with it,remember JOB was very intelligent