Endings
We all experience endings in our lives, whether it be school, jobs or vacations. We even experience tragic endings that end in sadness. Then there is the talk about the ultimate ending of the world, where we often emphasize tribulation and trouble. Dwelling on the end of the world and the details of the enemy fixates us on fear.
To be honest, my thoughts on the end times haven’t changed much over the years. I gave up fear as a motivation a long time ago. I don’t focus on the bad news to reinforce my belief that the end is near, because I already know everything has an ending. I tend to look at events in our world as signposts for more important principles playing out on a much larger scale. I find that life presents itself with enough problems, so I try to focus on giving God every moment of crisis so that when the final end comes, I will be more prepared.
I find two principles stated in the book of Exodus to be important. It says that those who choose to hate and remain unrepentant will see negative repercussions for their actions for three and four generations, but those who repent and follow God’s ways of love will see immeasurable favor for a thousand generations (Exodus 20:5–6; 34:6–7). Hate and evil have endings, but love and mercy outlive hatred and evil to a thousand generations.
I don’t see this verse describing a cruel punishment, for we see God demonstrating love to the extreme. God is pictured as visiting or taking charge of the results of evil in some way, which is a much better way of looking at these verses. God’s judgment is rather His hatred for the pain we suffer and having to deal with our sinful actions under divine restraint. God will not prevent us from suffering the pain of bad choices, but iniquity has limits and is worked out until four generations while mercy and love extend for a thousand.
What is striking to me is the difference in the extent of dealing with iniquity to the third and fourth generations. There is a major difference in the extent of God revealing loving-kindness or judgment—the thousandth on one side and to the fourth in the second. The unevenness in the numbers indicates to me God’s heavy favoring of mercy over judgment, and not by a small amount, either. Judgment is worked out as minimally as possible, while mercy extends in orders of magnitude. The largeness of God’s love and mercy is so amazing to me. So, if the point is that His loving-kindness is so much greater than evil, what should our focus be?
If I really believe that God is more powerful than evil, then I should focus on God’s love rather than on the tactics of the evil one. If I emphasize the terrors of the final days over the merciful Savior, then it will have a devastating effect on my witness to the world.
Instead of maximizing the power of the enemy and fixating on fear, I want to maximize the power of God. Focusing on God’s love and mercy, rather than the tactics of the evil one, should be our emphasis as Christians. We should choose to focus on the Seal of God rather than obsessing about the Mark of the beast. We should be preparing the world for the glorious appearance of a loving and gracious God, rather than obsessing about the end of the world and seeking to hide and escape from it.
When we care more about our comfort than we do about proclaiming a marvelous and wonderful God, that can become a problem, for in our fear, we will want to run to save our hide. Instead, if we focus on the love of God, we will want to look for places to be seen and reclaim difficult moments for the glory of God.
The earth itself is not really going to end—it has a new beginning that continues on after the thousand years (Revelation 20). The story doesn’t end with judgment or destruction, but with renewal. All the frightening things—the fears and pain, the tears and the evils that harm us and our world—will come to an end. Happiness, love and joy—these things will continue for ceaseless ages to come.
God’s plan for His creation will end in ultimate goodness. Someday, God will shout, “It is done!” The reign of evil will be permanently ended, and a new beginning filled with eternal love without end will reign.
Will the end of the world then be so terribly bad?
Craig Ashton Jr.
Theological InTents 
One Response to “Endings”
The end of our world as we know it will thankfully come to an end with Gods voice declaring it so! What a day that will be!!
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