Final Words

Take to heart the final words of Paul.

Several years ago a young lady tried to cross a water covered road in her automobile and was swept away. As the force of the water carried her car further and further down stream, she reached for her cell phone and called her husband to express her love for him and the children one last time. Shortly thereafter she was dead. When I heard that story my heart ached. How sad, and yet, how wonderful! Her final words were of love and devotion for those dearest to her.

It is generally believed that Paul’s second letter to Timothy was the last from his pen, his final words, and probably written sometime in A.D. 66-67 from a prison cell in Rome. From the language it is clear that Paul believed death was near. Though we cannot be certain, it appears that Paul was released from his first Roman imprisonment (Acts 28), made his way to Spain (Romans 15:24, 28), returned to Rome, where he was arrested a second time, and ultimately executed.

His final words are words of warning and of hope. Here is what he wrote. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to be, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:1-8 NASB).

Paul gave Timothy a solemn charge to live with a view to judgment and to faithfully preach the word. With his final words he offered a sober warning about the dangers of false teachers and urged Timothy to stand fast. And, he wrote of a secure future in the face of death, not only for himself, but for all God’s children. We would all do well to take to heart his final words.