The Final Victory

Background Scripture: Revelation 21-22
Lesson Scripture: Revelation 21:1-8, 23; 22:1-5

Introduction

What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see,

And I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace;

When He takes me by the hand, and leads me through the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day, that will be. 1

Key Verse

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).

Lesson Scripture

Studying the Lesson

This lesson deals with the glorious and final victory of the church of God when the Lord returns to claim His bride. What a day that will be when the former things are passed away and all things are made new!

We depend on light, and we cannot imagine a world without it. Though we cannot fully explain light, we are accustomed to light coming from a definable source. When we get to heaven there will be no external source of light because “the glory of God [will] lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:23).

None of us can imagine what the final day on earth will be like. We have heard from some who have dreamed of the second coming and how they believe it will be. We read in the Word of God what will take place, but none of us have witnessed the final day, so we can only imagine. “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). When the day actually arrives, there will be no words to describe our feelings. Because the human mind is finite, we do not clearly understand, nor can we really imagine how it will be. We are also limited by the inadequacy of any human language to describe the things that are of God.

Because of our human frailty, we cannot comprehend the bliss of the final victory. However, God is good and has given us a window to look into heaven through the book of Revelation. The verses of our lesson scripture afford one such glimpse. The Bible teaches that Jesus’s return is imminent and all humanity will witness it—none will escape. Because His return is unpredictable and will be so abrupt, we are strongly encouraged to choose the way of salvation today.

After we are in heaven, there will be no questions. There will be no misunderstandings, and we will know everyone just as they know us. There will be only peace among us forever! Everything will be new, beautiful, and serene. There will be nothing of our former life to worry us.

Practical Truths for Today

We need to keep the prospect of the final victory ever present in our minds. Occasionally, to keep our perspective, it may be good to reflect on what it would be to not be victorious; however, we cannot fully imagine the horror of being lost. According to Scripture, the earth will “melt with fervent heat” (2 Pet. 3:12). Is there anything on earth, any worldly pleasure, any sin, that we would consider worth keeping if we lost the victory at the end? We would readily say no; nothing earthly is worth keeping and, thereby, losing salvation. Because we are human, our vision can become clouded.

Young people may think that to live in readiness for the final day will detract from happiness and fulfillment in life. However, living for God enhances our lives and causes no regrets. The greatest blessing we can enjoy is to know that God is pleased with us. The freedom that comes with the comfort of the Holy Ghost is without equal. Anticipating the Lord’s return should not be considered a limiting factor in our happiness and fulfillment; rather, we will find it as the only way to be truly happy.

While it is imperative that we keep the last and final day in view, we should not let this consideration control our lives to the point that we are preoccupied with eternity. On the other hand, we should not put the end so far from us that we take liberties and do things that are not good, believing there will be time to correct them later. Jesus spoke of such a one as this when He said, “If that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers” (Luke 12:45-46). God has promised mankind that Jesus will return and gather His followers together to take them home.

Time is short, and life is brief. We must not let the cares and responsibilities of life corrupt our conviction of the brevity of life. We must always be ready for the Lord’s return or for our passing, because we really do not know which will come first.

The lesson scripture promises us that in heaven there will be no sin. It is difficult to envision a place of no sorrow or temptation, dwelling in God’s presence forever with so many blessings—we cannot describe it. What more could God do than what He has done in preparing a place for us, making a way to get there and inviting us to come? To know that we are at peace with our Lord gives us confidence to deny our flesh and work faithfully in His kingdom all the days of our life.

We are assured of victory on the judgment day only because of Jesus’s sacrificial death, not because of our worthiness. The deepening of our sense of unworthiness causes us to love Him more and more. When we realize more fully the deplorable condition from which Jesus rescued us, we will more clearly comprehend the glory of victory we anticipate on the final day. All of the old adversities—sin, tears, sorrow, pain, dying—will be gone forever for those who are victorious. We will live in the joy and bliss of final victory forever! “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). When we accept Christ and know that we are at peace with Him, our victory is secure.

Questions

1. What are ways to keep the vision of final victory alive in the midst of life’s many responsibilities?
2. Young people, does God require you who are strong and vibrant to appreciate the brevity of life?
3. How does a clear understanding of the final victory enrich our lives?
4. Discuss: A keener understanding of victory would compel us to do more to attain it. Read Hebrews 12:1.
5. 1 Jim Hill (b. 1930), “What a Day That Will Be”
6. Unsubscribe

Source: COGICM Daily Bible Readings (Daily Bible Readings, PO Box 124, Glenn, CA 95943).