A Happy Ending

I don’t go in for sad movies or sad books.  Tragedies are not my favorite genre.  When someone says I should really see something or read something, I have one question.  Does it end happily?  If they hesitate, I don’t read or go.  I know that life is not like that.  We have lots of seemingly sad endings.  Some are truly sad endings, but that is not the ending I have in mind.  Jesus Christ has made promises.  These are not promises of vain hope.  They are the sure promises of God.  He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  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.”  That is a happy ending.

In the Book of Revelation it says, “Blessed (happy) is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”  God tells us to read this book with a happy ending.  That is a very “happy” command.  It doesn’t matter what a person’s particular view of Revelation may be.  There are many views and we argue too much over them.  What matters in this case is that all the views have one thing in common.  God wins!  Satan loses!  Righteousness prevails!  Jesus reigns!  Whether the manifold sufferings found in the book refer to past, present or future is not the point.  The point is the end.  In the end sin is over.  Christ is revealed as King.  We live forever with Him in the place of His new creation.  There is no more suffering or sorrow or shame.  That kind of ending will make all but the wicked happy. If they read the book and are converted by the sureness of God’s victory, then they can be happy, too.

As we conclude our five week look at promises for happiness in the Bible we come to the one that wraps things up for all mankind.  God didn’t give us the Book of Revelation to make the church unhappy with argument.  He gave it to give us the assurance that He will prevail even when it seems that He is not.  God wins!  How much happier can you get?

John W. Mc­Gar­vey, Jr. wrote “The Bright, Happy Home”.  “There’s a bright, happy home over yonder, on the bright eternal shore; where the saints shall dwell with Jesus, all the glad for ever more. We’ll meet with our Savior in the morning, that Savior full of love; we’ll dwell with our king, and forevermore we’ll sing in that happy home above.”  There is a happy ending we can count on! 

 

 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work.