THE END ISN'T THE END

We just ended our family Christmas. We read the Nativity story, sang, "Joy to the World," opened presents, laughed, told stories, said our "thank you's" and ate a wonderful Christmas dinner of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, dressing, green beans, corn and a lot more. Now, the dishes are washed and there are bags of torn boxes and wrapping paper on our back deck waiting to be taken to the trash. I have already taken the inedible remains of the turkey and ham and the scraps from our plates out to the woods for the wild animals to feast on. It is over. Our Christmas celebration is over, ended. Sure, the family lingers playing games, watching a game, just chatting--and I can hear the hollering and laughing of the grandkids playing. But, the melancholy keeps saying, it is all over. Christmas 2015 is over. It has ended. Strangely, this made me think of grammar, Greek grammar. I thought of the perfect tense. On the cross, when Jesus cried out with His last breath, "It is finished," He used a word that does not mean "finished" in the sense of it's over, it's come to the end, etc. He used a word that meant it is "finished" in the sense of it is completed, it is accomplished, it is performed, it is executed. Here is where the grammar comes in: Not only does the verb Jesus used mean completed, He used it in a tense that carries even more meaning. The perfect tense was used to describe an action that has been completed, concluded, but which has results that continue to go on. A rough illustration is a rock has been thrown into a pool of water and has sunk, but the resulting waves from its entrance point continue to spread in ever-increasing, concentric circles. Jesus had completed, finished His mission--reached the end, but the effects continued to go on and on and on--reaching even today. What appeared to be the end was only the beginning. When things appeared to be all over, things were just beginning. It is always that way with Jesus. It isn't over when it's over. A believer comes to the end of his life, but it isn't the end. It is just the beginning of eternal existence in heaven. There are many other examples to give, but it is a wonderful fact to contemplate. Those of melancholy temperament know exactly what I mean about that blue feeling that accompanies the completion of a big event. Thus, it is a joy to know that with Christ, when it is truly all over--life, history, this age, etc.--for us believers, it will just be starting. The Big Event of the End is yet to come, and once it does, it will never, ever end.

THE END ISN'T THE END

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