Corona Crisis by Mark Hitchcock

Author:Mark Hitchcock
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2020-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

IT’S NOT THE END

In His great end-times sermon, Jesus fortified His followers with farsighted courage. He adjusted their perspective. He listed the calamities of life but then pointed His disciples to the end. He encouraged and energized them with the truth of His coming. The birth pains are coming for sure. Make no mistake. But when those birth pains are over, the delivery will come as Jesus returns and brings heaven to earth. “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:27–28).

There’s something about knowing things will all work out in the end that strengthens us to stand strong and endure even in the midst of trying, turbulent times. Knowing and trusting in final triumph creates firm tenacity. In his book Fearless, Max Lucado wrote about Admiral James Stockdale, who was held as a prisoner of war for eight years during the Vietnam War. After his release, Admiral Stockdale was asked how in the world he survived eight years in a prisoner-of-war camp.

He replied, “I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

When asked who did not make it out, Admiral Stockdale replied, “Oh, that’s easy. The optimists. . . . they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

Lucado concluded this story by saying, “Real courage embraces the twin realities of current difficulty and ultimate triumph. Yes, life stinks. But it won’t forever. As one of my friends likes to say, ‘Everything will work out in the end. If it’s not working out, it’s not the end.’”14

I’m sure we would all agree that many things are not working out as we’d like, especially in recent days, which tells us it’s not the end. That’s the hope with which we need to live. Jesus is coming. Everything will work out in the end.

The world is shaking, and Jesus wants us to know that things are not going to get better in the short term. But for believers in Jesus Christ, the best is yet to come. We have a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28). You can read about that kingdom and the end of your story in Revelation 21–22. Here’s a brief sample.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I

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