As a memorial, the Lord’s Supper roots our faith firmly in the proven reality: the “finished” Gospel event (John 19:30). Yet it also looks forward “until He comes.” It spurs our hearts on to the final climax.
Have you ever read a story so interesting that you had to learn how it ended? You tried to be patient. But the plot proved too intriguing. Soon, you found yourself flipping pages to the conclusion. The Bible is like that. It deals with the ultimate, eternal realities. Its history is exciting and compelling. It creates unbearable anticipation. But, unlike other books, the Bible urges you to see how things turn out finally. Look at a few of these endings:11
What will happen to the Great Commission? After His resurrection, Jesus gathered His tiny band of disciples. He gave them a mission that seemed impossible to fulfill: “Make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:16-20). Now view the final outcome – the grandest celebration of all! – as revealed to John, one of that original band:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.… “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. … God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:9,14,17). M
What will happen at Christ’s return? 12
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). M
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,13 what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! (2 Peter 3:11-12).
… since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance14 on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed… (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
What a sense of celebration the final triumph stirs in us even now!
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:57-58). M
11. Other “endings” could include these: What will happen to the things of this earth that people pursued so passionately? “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:10-12). What will happen to the dead bodies of those who “die in the Lord” Revelation 14:13? “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.… Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:42-43,49). “[He] will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). What will happen to all the dead? See John 5:25-29 cf. John 6:39; 11:24; Daniel 12:2,13. What will happen to people who follow false forms of ‘Christianity’? Matthew 7:21-23 cf. Galatians 1:8-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. What will happen to the devil and his allies? “[The enemies] marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:9-15). See Note 14.
12. Research Subject – Christ’s return: Matthew 16:27; 24:3,36-51; 25:10,19,31-33; 26:64; Mark 13:26-27,35; 14:62; Luke 9:26; 12:37,40; 17:30; 18:8; 19:12,15; 21:27,36; John 14:3,28; 21:22; Acts 1:11; 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 1:7-8; 4:5; 11:26; 15:23; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:15-17; 5:2-4,23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2:1-8; 1 Timothy 6:14-15; 2 Timothy 4:1,8; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 9:28; James 5:7-9; 1 Peter 1:7,13; 4:13; 5:4; 2 Peter 3:3-12; 1 John 2:28; 3:2; Jude 1:14; Revelation 1:7; 2:25; 3:11; 16:15; 22:12,20
13. Research Subject – Destruction of all physical things: Matthew 24:35; 5:18; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33; 2 Corinthians 4:18; 2 Peter 3:7,10-12; Revelation 21:1; Hebrews 1:11-12; 12:26-27 with Haggai 2:6 and Isaiah 13:9-13; 51:6; Psalm 102:26. See Note 11.
14. Research Subject – Enemies defeated and punished: 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12; Revelation 7:12-17; 11:18; 12:5; 14:9-11; 18:4-8; 19:15-21 cf. Psalm 2:9,12; Isaiah 13:9-13; 34:1-6; 66:15-24; 1 Corinthians 15:25; note that Christ’s followers share in judging and destroying Christ’s enemies, Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 6:3; Revelation 2:26-27; 3:9 ,18:20; 19:1-5.