1. The Last State

The state of a person, a place, or a thing changes over the range of time. There is a saying out there that goes something like this: “Time will tell,” or “Time will tell what will happen.”

Briefly, time will tell the matter. With time the fruit will come and will show itself, whether it be good or bad.

Something else: not everything that begins well … will end well.

We see this truth played out for us in the book of Matthew, chapter twelve, verse forty-five: “Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” [Matthew 12:45]

We learn from this passage of the Scripture that “the last state” of a man is more important than that man’s first state. Further than that, we can learn this: how a man begins is not as important as how a man ends up.

Conclusion: the ending is more important than the beginning. If the “last state” of a man is to be eternally in HELL [a horrible destination], what good then were all those good intentions while he was in his first state?

This man’s last state is worse than his first state.

2. The Process of Time

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” [Genesis 1:1]

Time began. You might say, the timer is now timing; tick, tock, tick, tock, and time times on … relentlessly.

Now, time is a process. A process involves a progression [always moving forward]. Time as a process is grouped in the Bible with the associative words: “in process of time.”

There are four times this exact phrase is used in the King James Bible. Now, here are the four instances:

[Genesis 4:3]: “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.”
[Genesis 38:12]: “And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.”

[Exodus 2:23]: “And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.”

[2 Chronicles 21:19]: “And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.”

3. Time of Purpose

In the “process of time” we will find “a time to every purpose,” which “purpose” forms the reason for our being “under the heaven.” Listen to the “words of the Preacher”:

[Ecclesiastes 3:1-8] “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

There is a musical measure here, which is regulated in the time of purpose. One person, or place, or thing, picks up in the process of time, while another person, or place, or thing, fades away in the process of time.

I repeat, there is a musical tone in the timing with a progression that needs to be noted here.

Can you hear the cadence? Listen to it. Are you ready? “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” [Isaiah 64:6]

“For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.” [James 1:11]

See what the Spirit of God is telling us in the Scripture. God is talking to us [to man]!

We are born, we grow, we flower, and then we fade away, and, lastly, we die in “the process of time” … in “the purpose of time.”

In “the process of time” and in “the purpose of time” we live for a short time for a unique personal purpose. In the shortness of life [the brevity of life] there is a sudden burst to grow, to flower and to bear fruit before we die.

We are with purpose concisely placed by God within a measured unit of time on this earth. Find this thing out, my friend! Get wisdom, find out, “That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?” [Job 20:5]

Life is very short …brief … like a vapor. “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” [James 4:14]

When we see what happens to a person, to a place, or to a thing, in the process of time, in the purpose of time, we will be wise to take note [or to learn] [or to take heed] to all the examples placed before us.

The admonition in the book of Hebrews, chapter two, verse one, gives us this much: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” [Hebrews 2:1]

 Learn from the examples!

[1 Corinthians 10:11]:
“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

Now notice, there is something we can learn here … in the last part of this verse of Scripture [1 Corinthians 10:11]: “upon whom the ends of the world are come.” In fulfillment of Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 9:1. “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” [Genesis 9:1]

There is a people on this earth upon whom the ends of the world are come. We are the people! For the last two thousand years, a head of steam has been building [the replenishment of the earth] and it is about ready to explode, so to speak. The replenishment of the earth is complete!

We need now to consider the conclusion of the matter.

4. The Conclusion

In the book of Genesis … the book of beginnings, we have this prophecy: “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.” [Genesis 49:1] Jacob tells his sons what will happen [to their descendants], before it happens “in the last days”.

Conclusion: God tells the end of the whole matter from the beginning!

We see also, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” [Ecclesiastes 1:1-3]

Here is God’s answer to this “whole” problem of vanity. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” [Ecclesiastes 12:13]

The key to understanding the purpose of life is to fear God.

To fear God will enable you to believe the words of God.

The words of God will then teach you the purpose of life.

God’s word shows what will happen “in the last days.”

We are now ready to consider timing.

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