Good that Never Ends

While driving yesterday, I read a sign that faced a busy intersection that announced the sale of property was almost over.  It read, "All good things must come to an end."  That was not the first time I heard that quote, and it dawned on me from a worldly perspective it was true.  One could debate if that particular sale of property was a good thing, but the world and all the things in it and of it are passing away.  Where the statement falls down completely is in relation to God and what is of God, for He is good without beginning or end.  Jesus identified Himself as the first and the last, the beginning and the end--not to suggest He has an end, for no timeline can contain or restrict His eternal, immortal attributes.

What Jesus said in Luke 21:33 is repeated several times in the Gospels:  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."  The word of God is timeless, good and will never come to an end.  God's word, even when fulfilled, remains a relevant, true and powerful declaration of God who is, was and will ever be.  Those who trust in Jesus Christ and receive eternal life will never die, even when their earthly bodies breathe their last (John 11:25).  It is written in 1 John 2:17, "And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."  The good and abundant life Jesus gives us will never come to an end.

One thing I love about God's word is it is not a relic, fading words hidden away in dusty tomes.  Everything God said and says is in full force and powerful to instruct, convict, encourage and save.  Recently in Australia there was discussion around a possible "disinformation" or "misinformation" bill, that a government agency would be employed to determine what is true and false and to hold people accountable for intentionally misleading others.  Fraught with grave danger of overreach with opponents warning of potential Orwellian impacts and highly unpopular, the bill was scrapped.  But this desire to "control the narrative" extends beyond the government.  We who believe the word of God is true are on guard against theological heresies as well as humanistic distortions of the Gospel that fundamentally change it to no longer be the Gospel.

In Jeremiah 23, God spoke of dreamers and prophets who did not speak for Him but from their own hearts.  They passed off their own ideas as divinely inspired, yet God was not at all threatened by their folly.  God said in Jeremiah 23:28-29:  "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD. ²⁹ "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"  Though they grow together, the stalk of wheat is nothing like the grain that contains nutrition and potential for life.  Plant chaff or straw and it will not grow; plant grain and it will produce life.  God compared His word to fire that immediately consumes chaff, like a hammer that fulfills its designed purpose to break rocks in pieces.  God's word will always accomplish His will in giving it (Isaiah 55:11).  It will always, eternally accomplish what God pleases and will prosper for His purposes.

In this world all good things do come to an end, but we can know God, His word and His good purposes will endure forever without fail.  People come and go, they say this and that.  The best among men are only here for a short season, and the good they do will be forgotten, unappreciated or undone.  But God's word will by no means pass away, and he who does the will of God abides forever.  God is eternal, and His word is living and powerful to continue doing His work and perfect will.  Praise God He is good and will never come to an end!