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Life is difficult, and our culture– at war with God– fights us until our dying breath. We get discipline to live along the way, if we’ll follow after God during our life, but we also get weaker physically and our resolve lessens. Finishing well is something that we live our whole lives preparing for:
Ultimately we can know that the patriarchs were close to the Lord because they were used by Him greatly as they were dying. It was obvious in reading the Genesis account of these men’s death, just how important their blessing and curses were. Esau was so incredibly distraught that Jacob had stolen his blessing. He begged and begged his father to give him a blessing. Joseph tried to correct his father as he blessed his children and inverted his arms to give the older child the lesser blessing and the younger one the greater. Though Jacob knew exactly what he was doing.
It is just so evident that God used them greatly in life but perhaps even more greatly in their death.
It is truly a remarkable thing to die in the faith. The perseverance of the saints is an absolute miracle that we should be so appreciative of when we see God use sinful people and bring their faith to completion.
May we be encouraged, despite the sad examples around us of those who make shipwreck of their faith, that the Lord is gracious to bring to completion the work he started in us and help us bear increasing fruit until we go to glory.
The faith to die in the faith
It may be that this generation or the next will actually have to die for their faith, but if not, living faithful until the end should be the goal of every believer.
