Smyrna - Ending Well like Jacob & Joseph

There is a problem each of us face – we can't get to Heaven in the form we are in right now. Remember flesh and blood can't enter the Kingdom (1st Corinthians 15.50). So for each of us there must be the putting off of our earthly tent as Paul calls it in 2nd Corinthians 5. This is death for most – and the Rapture for some. So almost every one of us sitting hear tonight are facing almost certain death by the time we reach the collective average age of 77.6 years old.

We aren't ready to live until we are prepared to die. And we live best when we know what counts when we die. Along that line I have enjoyed the systematic repetitive reading of God's Word for many years. In fact for the past twenty-eight years I have read the Bible through at a rate of twice through the Old Testament and three times through the New Testament each year. In these repetitive readings I have always looked for something. One of the areas that has fascinated me over the years as I have read and reread God's Word is the way the Lord records the end of the earthly lives of His beloved saints. I searched each page of God's Word for the closing scene and the recorded words of God's saints. What a study.

In the context of Smyrna we need to learn about Ending Well: How to suffer and die Triumphantly.

Tonight will you think deeply with me about how you want to finish life on planet earth. Since none of us know WHEN that will be, God has allowed us to choose HOW that will be. Have you started making preparations? To start our look at Living at the End of Days we need to return to Revelation 2. We are stopped at the ancient ruins, the Stones of God's Remembrance at Smyrna. There we have found our way to t