END OF LIFE KNOWLEDGE

In the last month I have been considering some of the well known biblical personalities and it strikes me that I need to take more consideration of what they were saying at the end of their life.

When you look at a number of these lives these are children of God that have been through being broken, through sanctification and then glorifying God.

We have been given the wisdom of their lives to meditate on and we would be foolish to ignore the things they are telling us at the end because this is the accumulation of having lived through God’s design for them and their lives and the plan He had for them on earth.

What did these children of God say at the end of their life?

Peter

2Peter 1:5

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,

6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,

7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.

 

Peter knows his life is coming to an end and this is what he shares with us. First walk in these traits.  I look at myself whenever I read this verse and say am I walking like this and what do I need to grow in as I have now been cleansed.  Am I self-controlled, am I in godliness?

Am I walking in my call in what God made me for?

Peter as he finishes his life says he will not be negligent in reminding us.  Why?  Because he knows these are the things he has learnt in his walk with Jesus in his process of coming to godliness and love. Peter wants to see us in the Lords blessing and abundance and he has learnt there is a way to walk that will enable this to happen.

I can’t ignore what he is showing me.

Solomon

I have always been an A type work personality, working hard and being about getting things completed and done. Due to this I never really understood what Solomon was saying in Ecclesiastes in relation to works.

The Lord has used this last couple of months to break me more and more on this works position being done by me attitude.  A good friend of mine before my latest experience had a vision for me that showed me my life was going to change.  He saw a bicycle that had its wheel turning as I biked hard to keep it moving forward, he then saw that God was riding the bike and doing the work. I had similar words from two others at the same time.  Now God has taken my health and other factors and said I will do the work son and you will see me do the work and your life will be different now.  God through this process had to take me off the bike as I would never had done it. I no longer do the work because I think I need to do it to complete what has to be done as He is God and He knows what has to be done.

Now this doesn’t mean I stop doing work (as He won’t reward that) but it means I understand where the work fits in relation to Him and His plan.

As I read what Solomon was saying after all his years of walking in wisdom (more than any of us had) about works being like oil in our hand I now have a deeper understanding of what is important in relation to works.  Solomon understood that works in our strength and for our goals are like oil and can’t be taken home and they will count for nothing in the end (like oil in the hand).  Our works need to be done in our calling and election for God’s glory and purpose and then we have something that is eternal.

Solomon knew this at the end of his life and he wanted us to understand the importance of this.  What is work, material rewards, money, prestige all these things of the world?  In the end nothing unless it is for Gods glory.

 

Joshua

Joshua 21:45

Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD has spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

In his life Joshua walked with Moses, he had been a slave, been through the red sea, been in the wilderness and come into the promised land.  All in one lifetime this had been done.

At the end of his life he could say not a word failed.  This is what he was sharing with us after his walk.

Joshua had heard Gods words, His promises and seen His signs and wonders.  During his walk I am sure he questioned, he wondered how it could happen, that there wasn’t enough time YET he still got to the end of his life and said not a word failed.

This is something to hold onto for us Gods word doesn’t fail.

Now replace in the verse above your house name and say that not a word will fail over your life.  No matter the circumstances, the impossibilities, the timelines, His word will prevail over your life.

When a man like Joshua after his complete life says this why wouldn’t I believe?

Joseph

Genesis 50:25

Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”

 

So at the end of Joseph’s life we get another example of how reliable Gods word is.  Joseph knew that Israel would go back to the promised land as God has said this.  Joseph knew Gods words would not fail so he wanted his bones to be taken back.

Joseph though his life (which was just as dramatic as Joshua’s) said God is real, His word will not fail and I need you take action on this in the time to come.  He was showing us that Gods word would hold though generations to come and his bones would go back.

Remember there are words for our descendants’ time that we can hold onto.  They will be delivered.

 

Now there are many more examples of lives in the bible and what they show us at the end. Take note of these.  Don’t lock this wisdom up in an old folk’s home but use it.
We should listen to what these men say and what they learnt through their lives as they had been through a walk that brought them to a place at the end of their life which was in God and they could hold onto God.

 

Jesus

John 17:4

“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”

 

Jesus says this at his end.  Let us glorify Him and let us finish His works. Let us learn.

 

Hebrews 6:11-12

11: And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,

12: that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Keep going to the end and learn from these lives that did.