The Last Day

“A special award will be made . . . Everyone is invited.”²⁰ 

It’s the last day of the fair, and the judges are making their final decisions. Wilbur is about to receive a special medal, and the Zuckermans will receive more fame—and twenty-five dollars to boot. Wilbur is so excited he faints. 

In the grand scheme of God’s dealings with humanity, there will be a last day for life on earth, when the righteous Judge will give just rewards based on each person’s belief concerning the atonement of Christ. Jesus is that Judge (see John 5:22–23). He promises, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). 

Peter, caught off guard on the night of crisis, learned a hard lesson from his betrayal. His stern warning to readers of his day reaches through time to us today: Be prepared, for the day of the Lord that “will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10 NIV). He exhorts the church to live with the perspective of that day approaching: “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:11–12). 

Luke likewise writes of the coming judgment: “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30–31 NIV). 

On that day, “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done” (1 Cor. 3:13). 

“It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”  (Heb. 9:27).

Prayer: God, help me to live with that day in mind.