Keep Your Fork!
Keep your fork??? Stay tuned. The end of the story is the whole point of the story. It is fascinating how Hollywood is obsessed with sequels, but in God’s four-act story of the universe, there are no sequels and everything leads to the finale.
Act 1: The creation of everything by God
Act 2: The corruption of everything. Adam and Eve sinned against God, so we all experience the fall.
Act 3: The cross of Christ resolves the sin problem and provides deliverance for all who believe in Him.
Act 4: The culmination of everything in Christ’s return, the new heavens and new earth and His eternal kingdom.
There are two major categories of end-times events forecast for the end of the story:
#1: God’s universal eschatology (In the study of last things, God addresses nations, the physical universe, the nation of Israel; the tribulation/Day of the Lord; Antichrist; rapture of the church; second coming of Christ; various resurrections; judgments; thousand-year earthly reign of Christ; the eternal state in the new heavens and new earth.)
#2: Our personal eschatology (This deals with our individual end-time experiences.)
Your personal eschatology includes the following four things:
Your death is unavoidable (unless Christ comes first) and it is our last enemy. Death is not a dead-end or drift into nirvana or cyclic rebirths or non-existence. It is a separation of the soul from the body to pass from one state of existence to another, from this life to the next. Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” You either die “in Adam” (1 Cor 15:22) OR you die “in Christ” which ultimately determines your eternal destiny.
Your judgment is assured. Everyone “must give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). Believers will stand before God to receive rewards for their deeds & labors (1 Cor. 3:12–15; 2 Cor 5:10). Unbelievers will stand before God at the great white throne to be judged by the opened books that prove they are damned for their unbelief and unworthy deeds (Rev. 20:11–15)
Your intermediate state is enacted (unless Christ returns first). At death, believers are “absent from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8), or as Paul shares, his “desire to depart and be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). It appears God gives believers an intermediate body until the resurrection when they get their new eternal body (Matt. 17:1–8, Moses and Elijah appear; Rev. 6:9–11, the fifth seal has the martyrs talking and wearing white robes). At death, unbelievers are separated from their bodies and find themselves in conscious torment, residing in Hades as the story of the rich man and Lazarus detail (Luke 16:19–31).
Your eternal destiny is set. You will reside in heaven or hell and those destinations are determined by your response in this life as one who repented of sin and trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (there are no post-death second chances). If you reject Christ, you will face an eternity in conscious punishment in hell. Jesus said to fear God “who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). Proverbs 11:7 says “When the wicked dies, his hope will perish.” If you receive Christ, you will enjoy eternal “rest from your labors” (Rev. 14:13) in God’s heavenly “Paradise” (Luke 23:43; Heb. 12:23) and be forever with the Lord.
For believers, the best is yet to come! A story is told about a woman who was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given three months to live. She asked her pastor to come to her home to discuss her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted to be sung at her memorial, what scriptures to be read, and which outfit she wanted to be buried in. Then she said, “One more thing… I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.” The pastor was puzzled. The woman explained, “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the main course dishes were being cleared, someone would inevitably say to everyone, ‘Keep your fork.’ It was my favorite time of the dinner, because I knew something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie – something wonderful. So, I want people to see me in that casket with a fork in my hand and wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’ Then, I want you to tell them, ‘Keep your fork, because the best is yet to come.’”
Amen. The best is yet to come. Death is not the end, nor will sickness, sorrow, and sadness win.
Pastor Jeff