The Last Days and Righteousness

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit" (Eccl. 7:8). It's better to be 'patient in spirit than... proud in spirit,' because without patience one does not make it to 'the end of a thing,' or at least not in holiness. Speaking of the grueling trial of believers in the end time, Jesus said, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mat. 12:13). Luke recorded the exact same words of Jesus, in regard to 'enduring unto the end,' as follows: "In your patience possess ye your souls" (Lk. 21:19). Those who are 'patient in spirit' in the end time will continue to persevere in God's love and holiness, in spite of all opposition against them. That is what patience is all about. Those in the end time who prove to be 'proud in spirit' will eventually be overcome by the abounding iniquity, and will NOT be able to 'endure unto the end' in holiness and the love of God. One thing is certain in the end time scenario, and that is what our text verse says first: "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." I'll tell you straight up that it is not going to look good for the elect of God when the entire world is pitted against them, and many are being put to death for the name of Jesus whom they follow (Rev. 13:15; Rev. 20:4). That in fact is why the scripture says the following in regard to the time when the mark of the Beast is implemented, and believers are dying for not taking the mark: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them" (Rev. 14:13). In other words it will be easier to die during that time, than to continue living. Yes that is quite sobering, but it also quite true, as the verse states.

For those who prove to be 'patient in spirit,' the end of the whole thing will not only be better than the beginning, but it will in fact be the greatest victory every gained by mortal man. The scripture puts it like this: "Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Cor. 15:51-54). Now that is absolutely the greatest fulfillment of our text verse from Ecclesiastes, that has ever happened or ever will happen. Death itself will be overruled and overturned, and eternal life will prevail in everyone who has ever loved the righteousness of God. That is indeed as good as it gets. But the truth of the matter is that we as followers of Christ have all kinds of preliminary circumstances and trials that are short of end time magnitude, but they are still of great magnitude to us in the here and now. My point is that the faithful are going to be very accustomed to being in situations that look very bleak, feel very bleak, and are sometimes "despairing even of life;" before they hit the home stretch of the end time, which in fact is right on top of us now (II Cor. 1:8). We sometimes, and sometimes more than sometimes, find ourselves in dire circumstances that seem like and feel like they will never end. There is only one way to get through those times with peace and holiness, and that is to simply refuse to allow our hearts to be overcome by sin and the evil forces of this world. In other words we have to be 'the patient in spirit' if we expect to arrive in peace at 'the end of a [trial]' that we are immersed in.

If we do not get to the end of our trial in pureness of heart, it will be because we were overcome, and became 'the proud in spirit.' In that case the 'end of a thing' is NOT better than the beginning, but rather it's just a great fall. Jesus told this story in a parable: "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (Mat. 7:24-27). Two things here. One is that nobody enjoys being beaten down by the floods and winds that this life throws at us sometimes. The other is that when these things happen to believers in Christ, the result of it will be one of the two that Jesus spoke of. The man who built on the rock was a "doer of the work," and because of that he was the 'patient in spirit' (Jas. 1:25). The man who built on the rock understood that the main issue is simply to not allow sin to sin to overcome us in the midst of these grueling circumstances that may continue on for what sometimes feels like forever. The apostle Paul gave it to us straight: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (Rom. 6:12). That's what it comes down to, and that is why Jesus suffered a cruel death and rose from the dead, that we might have "power from on high" to accomplish that exact task (Lk. 24:49). The man who built his house on the rock gave into the temptation to take some wrong exit out of his situation, rather than to endure it patiently in holiness. That will be the difference between those who "endure unto the end," and those who fall short of the mark. So how we deal with our adverse circumstances now is preparing us for whether we will be saved or lost. There's just no other way to see it or say it. God bless.