One Foot in the Grave, and the Other on a Banana Peel

There is a lot of talk these days about "apocalypse" (as in "zombie apocalypse" just to name one), and "the end of the world". It is at least on the mind of many, through the vehicle of popular fiction, that this world that we are living in may not go on forever. It seems as well that many are fantasizing that we may be near such a time.

Webster defines the term apocalypse: "a writing prophesying a cataclysm in which evil forces are destroyed." And this is the meaning that we have traditionally attached to it. The biblical meaning however, is simply a revelation  (hence the name of the biblical book) or an unveiling.   The bottom line is that the world has on its mind that there are factors at work which could be the undoing of humanity. In many cases they seem to feel that it is the destruction or perhaps the self-destruction of human society that is incumbent on us.

The Bible also has a different take than does the world at large on the term; end of the world. Jesus on several occasions used the phrase   "the end of the age". As I encountered this term recently while reading the Gospel of Matthew, it occurred to me that there is good reason for the world to use a different term here than that which is used by the redeemed sector of humanity.

Indeed, for the world at large; for those who do not know Jesus Christ, the coming of our Lord is indeed going to be the end of the world. "Game Over!" and indeed their future from that point on is described as quite bleak. For those of us who know our Lord, however, it is not only the end of the age but the beginning of a new age. Jesus said:

.Behold, I am making all things new." (Revelation 21:5 ESV)

And without getting too involved with the chronology of final events, I just want to point out that the end of the age is the beginning of a new age; a better age, and a glorious one at that. Indeed, we have much more to look forward to than does the world.

I have pointed out previously, my belief that the difficult times that we are facing at the present are unrelated, or at least only indirectly related to the prophesied biblical Last Days. Dr. Robert Jeffress pointed out in his book Twilight's Last Gleaming that even though the end of the world may not be imminent for humanity, it will eventually end at some point for each individual. My Mom and her sister, my aunt Irene used to say of someone who was gravely ill that they had "one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel" . Indeed,  so it is with humanity. The end of their world is imminent for all who are not in Christ, and they have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

In either case, the end of the age is the end of the world for those who do not have their hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, but for those who do, as the apostle Paul said:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.