If It’s Not All Right, Then It’s Not the End
Introduction
There is a line in the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: ‘Everything will be all right in the end… If it’s not all right, then it is not the end.’ Way beyond its context in the film, these words convey a profound theological truth.
Psalm 119:105-112
נ Nun
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
that I will follow your righteous laws.
107 I have suffered much;
preserve my life, Lord, according to your word.
108 Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth,
and teach me your laws.
109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
I will not forget your law.
110 The wicked have set a snare for me,
but I have not strayed from your precepts.
111 Your statutes are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees
to the very end.
Commentary
Run the race to the end
Be determined, like the psalmist, to stay faithful to the Lord to the very end of your life. Say, ‘My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end’ (v.112).
In some ways, your life is like an obstacle race. There are snares along the path (v.110a). There is a temptation to stray (v.110b), and there is suffering (v.107).
How are you to avoid stumbling or making a mess of life? Wandering around in the dark is frightening and dangerous. The psalmist’s answer is that, in the darkness of the world around, the word of God provides:
Guidance
The word of God sheds light in the darkness: ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ (v.105). It enables you to see the obstacles in your path, and hopefully to avoid stumbling over them. Study God’s word regularly and he will guide you one step at a time: ‘By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path’ (v.105, MSG).
Sustenance
You need spiritual sustenance to keep going and God’s word is ‘sweeter than honey to my mouth’ (v.103).
Wisdom
You need wisdom when you face stressful situations and decisions, and God’s word provides ‘understanding’ (v.104).
Encouragement
It is not easy. He writes, ‘I constantly take my life in my hands’ (v.109). You need encouragement to keep going and God’s word is your 'heritage for ever’ and ‘the joy of your heart’ (v.111).
God is faithful and will help you. The psalmist writes, ‘Accept, O Lord, the willing praise of my mouth’ (v.108). He is determined with God’s help to keep going ‘to the very end’ (v.112b).
Prayer
Lord, there is so much to praise you for. Accept the willing praise of my mouth. Your words are the ‘joy of my heart’ (v.111). I set my heart on keeping them to the very end.
Titus 1:1-16
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness — 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour,
4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good
5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good
10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
Commentary
Pass on the baton to the next generation
In some ways, leadership is like being in a relay race. Succession is key. Pass on the baton to the next generation because your part in the race is not the end.
The apostle Paul’s life changed when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He realised in that moment that God had raised Jesus from the dead, and therefore death (the ending of this life) is not the end.
He sees himself as ‘Christ’s agent for promoting the faith’ (v.1a, MSG). Jesus has sent him out to proclaim the message ‘getting out the accurate word of God and how to respond rightly to it’ (v.1b, MSG).
One day, Jesus will return and that will be the end of the world as we know it. However, even that will not be the end. Paul’s aim is to ‘raise hopes by pointing the way to life without end’ (v.2, MSG). This amazing good news is the message that inspired and drove Paul’s ministry.
This is the foundation of your faith. This is the truth. You can be absolutely confident about your future because of this hope of eternal life. This is a hope that was promised by God from the beginning of time (v.2), and which you can be sure of because ‘God… doesn’t break promises!’ (v.2, MSG). This is the message that Paul has ‘been entrusted to proclaim… by order of our Savior’ (v.3, MSG).
In the end, you have the sure hope of eternal life. In the meantime, your task is ‘unfinished’ (v.5). Paul gives instructions to Titus whom, like Timothy, he seems to have led to Christ (v.4).
Paul is coming to the end of his part of the race. But the end of his part is not the end of the race. He is passing on the baton to Titus, ‘so you could complete what I left half-done’ (v.5, MSG). At the same time, he is urging Titus to pass on the baton to others by appointing ‘leaders in every town’ (v.5, MSG).
The key to succession is finding the right leaders. Paul gives a similar list of qualifications to the ones we have already looked at in Timothy (vv.5–9).
He contrasts these high-calibre, godly leaders with those who ‘claim to know God but by their actions deny him’ (v.16). These people, under the guise of being ‘religious teachers’, ruin whole households. They do it for dishonest gain. They are not convicted by their sin. They do not understand that what they do is evil (vv.10–16).
The task of a good church leader is not only to ‘encourage by sound doctrine’, but also to ‘refute those who oppose it’ (v.9). This should not be an excuse for criticising and judging other Christians, or churches, who are slightly different from us. Rather, verses 10–16 show us the types of behaviour that church leaders are called to refute – for example, those ‘disrupting entire families with their teaching, and all for the sake of a fast buck’ (v.11, MSG).
The ultimate purpose of this strong leadership is to protect the people of God from being blown off course. Paul’s opening vision of eternal life should still be in our minds here as it shows us why it is so important to remain ‘sound in the faith’ (v.13). The hope of eternal life is our goal, our message and our motivation.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that this life is not the end because of all that Jesus has done for us on the cross and through the resurrection. Help me to lead well and pass on the baton to good leaders for the future.
Jeremiah 52:1-34
The Fall of Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3 It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.
Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. They encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 5 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 7 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, 8 but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 9 and he was captured.
He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. 10 There at Riblah the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah. 11 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.
12 On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 13 He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 14 The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. 16 But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
17 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 19 The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings —all that were made of pure gold or silver.
20 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. 21 Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow. 22 The bronze capital on top of one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.
24 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 25 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land, sixty of whom were found in the city. 26 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So Judah went into captivity, away from her land. 28 This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:
in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
29 in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year,
832 people from Jerusalem;
30 in his twenty-third year,
745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard.
There were 4,600 people in all.
Jehoiachin Released
31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 34 Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death.
Commentary
Never give up hope
Sometimes the circumstances of our lives can seem very bleak. Everything has gone wrong. Darkness has set in. And yet… God never leaves us without a ray of hope. If it is not all right, then it is not the end.
Jeremiah had the unenviable task of proclaiming judgment. His name has passed into the English language as meaning ‘a person given to lamentation or woeful complaining, a denouncer of the times, a dismal prophet.’ And yet… even the book of Jeremiah ends with a hint of hope.
Jeremiah’s words were fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem. This was one of the most terrible times for the people of God. Their king, Zedekiah, was captured, blinded and imprisoned (v.11). ‘The summary murder of his sons was the last thing Zedekiah saw, for they blinded him... The king of Babylon threw him in prison, where he stayed until the day he died’ (vv.10–11, MSG). The temple was destroyed by fire, as was the royal palace and every important building (vv.13–14). Many of the people went into exile.
Then, in 562 BC, in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, a new king arose in Babylon who released Jehoiachin and freed him from prison (v.31).
‘The king treated him most courteously and gave him preferential treatment beyond anything experienced by the political prisoners held in Babylon. Jehoiachin took off his prison garb and from then on ate his meals in company with the king. The king provided everything he needed to live comfortably for the rest of his life’ (vv.32–34, MSG).
This is the slight hint of hope with which the book of Jeremiah ends. It is not all over for the people of God. This restoration had actually been prophesied by Jeremiah (chapter 24), along with a prophecy that the exiles would one day return to the land. With this first sign of restoration, the book comes to an end on a note of hope. This is a foretaste of the return from exile, which was to take place in 537 BC.
This in itself was only a foreshadowing of the restoration and renewal that would come through the kingdom of God, with the coming of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Even in Jeremiah the end (the fall of Jerusalem and the exile) was not the end. The people of God survived and would return to the land, rebuild the temple and restore the city. But this is also a picture of something far greater. Jesus proclaimed the end of the exile. In him, we have a new temple and a new Jerusalem. God raised Jesus from the dead. You have a new hope beyond the grave.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the hope of the return of Jesus and for eternal life. Thank you for the hope of a new earth and a new heaven. Thank you that the end is not the end.
Pippa adds
Psalm 119:105 says:
‘By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.’ (The Message)
I need to read the Bible more; then I might know where I’m going!
@Pippa Gumbel
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References
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (20th Century Fox, 2012).
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.