Finish Line, New Book from Robert Wolgemuth

When You and I know with absolute certainty that our end is near, God Himself will be our refuge. Our strength. The Lord Almighty will be with us.

How is that true? The answer is that because the only righteousness with which I’m justified is Jesus Christ’s righteousness. More than a century and a half ago, the hymn writer Edward Mote said it beautifully: “Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”

Because of Jesus, there’s no reason to dread this judgment. There’s every reason to anticipate it. How good is this?

You may remember my telling you about how my mother, Grace, read from The Pilgrim’s Progress to my siblings and me when we were little. The book is an allegory of a man named Christian’s life journey from his birth to his death—to the vaunted Celestial City.

Even though I admit to not remembering the portion of the book that mother read about death, I have gone back and pulled out a few sentences that describe this in a way that ought to take our collective breath away.

Before arriving in this magnificent city, there was a raging river to cross. This intimidated Christian and his friend, Hopeful, but they forged ahead across the water anyway. Listen to this:

Then they addressed themselves to the water; and entering, Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend, Hopeful, he said, “I sink in deep waters; the billows go over my head; all his waves go over me!” . . .

Then said the other, “Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good.”

For me, the equivalent of “feeling the bottom” is riding on an airplane as we approach a landing in dense clouds. White seamless- ness out the window . . . and then, a break in the whiteness and land is spotted below. I love that sight. And that feeling.

Christian felt the sandy bottom of the river with his feet, and it made him feel safe. He saw land through the clouds, and it made him happy.

That can be you and me, headed for glory. Safely.

Excerpt taken from Finish Line (Zondervan, 2023); used by permission.