From Beginning to Forever: A Study of the Grand Narrative of ScriptureExemplo

Hope. This is what Revelation ultimately provides the seven churches and us.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed at times by the hardships of life. If you add in the turmoil taking place in our nation and our world, our feelings of being overwhelmed can quickly turn into hopelessness. This leaves us wondering—Has God forgotten us? Has He abandoned His kingdom mission? Is He really coming to restore the kingdom so that we can live with Him forever?

The book of Revelation reminds us that God has not abandoned His mission and that one day the victory claimed by Jesus’s death and resurrection will be felt permanently and holistically. Shalom will return in full, and we will reign with our Lord Jesus Christ forever! Hope wins!

But before we can have a full dance party to celebrate our forthcoming eternity with Jesus, we have to cover a few more events in God’s kingdom plan.

When it comes to discussions about the end times, there tends to be a lot of debate about what will actually happen. But despite the difference in eschatological views, there are three key events that all Christians agree on—(1) Jesus Christ returns in a physical body; (2) the dead are resurrected; (3) believers and non-believers are judged.

Let’s jump into the first event.

Read Revelation 19:11-16.

The return of Jesus will not only be physical (John 14:3; Acts 1:11), but it will be sudden (Matt. 24:36-44) and glorious (Titus 2:11-13)! His return won’t be a glorious experience for everyone, though. Before Jesus restores the kingdom, He will vanquish the enemies of God once and for all!

Read Revelation 20:7-15.

With God’s judgment of creation complete, God’s plan of salvation will be complete. Sin, evil, death, and Satan’s schemes will be no more. The intruder is gone, and his control over humanity has been broken! The kingdom, God’s divine plan by which He would dwell in perfect harmony with creation and humanity, can finally and fully be restored!

Read Revelation 21:1-4,22-27.

Remember how I said the way the story begins matters? The Bible does not start with sin but with our triune God creating an earthly paradise so that He might dwell with His creation. And as we close this final page of the story, where do we end? In a paradise recreated by our triune God so that He might dwell with His creation forever.

Friend, this story is not a myth or a fable. It is the true story of the world. It gives us purpose, meaning, and value, answering all of our core life questions of identity, purpose, and belonging.

But for now, sin has not been permanently vanquished. We still live in a broken world. This means that the true story of the Bible is not the only story that you will be given the opportunity to believe and order your life by. Amid the noise of all those competing stories, I hope and pray you choose the only story that goes from beginning to forever.

For more on this study, visit lifeway.com/forever.