AG STUDY GUIDE FINAL - The Forerunner

epentance, and salvation. Others may leave with seed planted for another day of
watering and eventual harvest. And there may be some who only experience God’s
anger, who leave with hearts all the more hardened with the truth pushed and locked
back down into their heart boxes waiting for the day when God will bring it forth and
judge the secrets of men’s hearts through Jesus Christ.
“…in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ…” ~ Romans 2:16
All three of these potential scenarios bring glory to God and are the righteous fruits of a
successful ambassadorship. It’s been well said that the chief end of man is to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever.
“Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God and to fully enjoy Him forever.”~ The
Westminster Confession: The Larger Catechism, Question and Answer #1, p. 129
Glorifying and enjoying God is not just some greeting card piety, however. It carries
with it a host of things we must both believe and do – chief among them is to
understand who He is and who we are in relation to Him. It’s here where the truly
amazing grace we’ve looked at in the previous two sections is so vitally important. A
close second, however, is to share the same passions and desires of our Heavenly Father.
And chief among them as regards the world of man is the salvation of His elect and the
restoration of this world into its intended purpose.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” ~ John 3:16
The Great Shepherd, Jesus, humbled Himself to redeem the lost sheep of His pasture.
Can we be satisfied with anything less?
We close with this last thought:
For better or worse, one characteristic of today’s church, or at least the one in America, is
the great interest in Biblical prophecy and the events that will accompany the end of the
age and the return of Christ. What’s interesting about this is that scholars disagree as to
which events are yet in the future and which ones have been fulfilled. From the “Great
Tribulation” to the Gospel being preached in all the world, it is by no means certain that
these events weren’t accomplished before the end of the first century. There is one
thing, however, that everyone agrees has yet to be fulfilled. Perhaps the clearest and
most universally accepted scriptural tipping point for the consummation of our present
age, the apostle Peter spoke very clearly about the eschaton, the end of the world when
the present cosmos will be transformed.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will
pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the
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