The Endgame.
We see people go about their christian lives and attempt projects, or witness to people and then they move along and never seem to give the moment a second thought. We get involved together in christian music, groups and choirs, or prayer groups, or bible study groups and then when they have ran their course, or faded out, we move along and just seem to forget about them.
It can become disheartening after a time when we don’t seem to see any fruit for our labours. But God doesn’t forget these things. God has His own Endgame.
Remember when the Children of Israel cross the Red Sea into the Sinai Desert? What a miracle! What an event! But we forget that this was not the only time that God parted the waters. It happened again. Moses did it first and it is recorded in the Book of Exodus…
Exodus 14v22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
But after Moses died and authority was handed over to Joshua God did the same miracle again. We read in the Book of Joshua…
Joshua 3v17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
That’s twice that God caused this miracle to happen. Well, twice so far, that is. However, consider that event with Elijah in 2nd Kings…
2nd Kings 2v8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them (Elijah and Elisha) crossed over on dry ground.
But not content with leaving it at that, God did it again. After Elijah was taken up into Heaven Elisha saw him go and lamented at Elijah’s passing. He tore his cloak in two and mourned Elijah being taken away. However, God had a sign that His Endgame was not over yet. Read what happens to Elisha in the very next verses…
2nd Kings 2v13 Elisha then picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. v14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. "Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
God is not in the habit of making “one minute wonders”. Everything that God has done is destined to have a purpose and contribute to something bigger and more lasting. And when we think of a lot of the miracles that Jesus did we don’t seem to realise that some of them have actually been done before at other times and by other people.
When Jesus multiplied the food at the Sermon on the Mount and fed the 5000 men besides women and children? – Elisha did something similar when he caused bread to multiply. We read of the account in 2nd Kings….
2nd Kings ch4v42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha said. v43 "How can I set this before a hundred men?" his servant asked. But Elisha answered, "Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the LORD says: 'They will eat and have some left over.'" v44 Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.
Remember in Luke ch8 when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead?
Luke ch8v53 The people laughed at Him, knowing that she was dead. v54 But Jesus took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up!" v55 Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.
He actually did that miracle three different times in total.
He called Lazarus to come out of the tomb in John ch11…
John ch11v43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" v44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
And he raised the dead son of a widow from the village of Nain in Luke ch7v12.
And so many more miracles that Jesus and the Apostles did that had already been done by people in the Old Testament.
That’s an awful lot of bible verses that I have taken you through, and I’m sorry about that. But the thing that I’m trying to impress on you this week is this – God has an Endgame. And this Endgame was revealed when Jesus healed the blind man in John’s Gospel…
John ch9v2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" v3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him….”
There’s the Endgame right there. “…this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him….”
The whole Bible is about us learning to give God his due worship and acknowledging His Glory.
The very first verse in the Shorter Catechism of the Presbyterian Church is this -
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever.
That’s it in a nutshell. We were created to glorify God and enjoy His company for ever. Consider these verses…
Psalm ch115v1 “Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”
1st Chronicles ch29v11 “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.”
Do you think John Bunyan sat in a prison cell for 6 months and wrote his little stories just to keep his mind occupied? His wife took those stories home, copied them out into a neat order and they became the great work of Pilgrim’s Progress.
Do you think that John Wesley enjoyed coming home from The Americas as a failed missionary? He came home and founded the Methodist Church.
John Knox was a dissatisfied Anglican priest. He went to visit a Swiss reformer called Zwingli, came home and later formed what was later to become known as The Presbyterian Church.
Everything God does for us has a purpose and everything God does with us contributes to His plan. So, why don’t you start singing those songs for Jesus? Write those stories and articles. Paint those pictures. Let us use our creative gifts that God has given us and see where God’s journey takes us.
God has His Endgame. And His Endgame includes us too.
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.
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