An epilogue is the last words recorded of a person’s life. There are three that stand out in the Old Testament: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; each is different.

Regarding Abraham, we read:

“And Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.” (Gen 25:8)

While Abraham was not perfect, his life was exemplary. No better epilogue could be written about a person’s life. The blessings to Abraham continued for the next generation. These blessings were explained to Issac:

“. . . and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” (Gen 35:28-29)

Isaac followed in his father’s footsteps, sometimes the good steps and sometimes the bad. Comparing the details of both his father’s life and Isaacs’s, there is a pattern. Children do not mirror their parents’ mistakes, they magnify them.

“And Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.”

Notice that Isaac’s epilogue ends, mentioning two sons. The next chapter highlights interpersonal conflicts that continue to this day among nations.

Jacob provided his own sad epilogue:

“. . . ‘The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.’” (Gen 47:9-10)

These family conflicts were a magnification of his trickery and rebellion. Chapter 49 begins with Jacob predicting the course of history. There is little to commend this genealogy left by Jacob. Some of the predictions might be characterized as curses:

“Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what shall befall you in the days to come. Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your father. . . “When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.” (Gen 49:1-2, 33)

Three men, three lives lived. Each epilogue ends with, “… he was gathered to his people.” But the lives they lived and the results of their lives were vastly different. While Jacob’s life was the most defective, there is a hint of redemption and fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes,” (Gen 49:10)

Shiloh is mentioned thirty-three times in Scripture. The root meaning being peace, Shiloh refers to land, a kingdom, and the Prince of Peace. This is a challenge to those who are just starting a family; take care of how you live. To the older generations, there is forgiveness and blessings for us despite our failings. Until Shiloh Comes.

In 1999 Justin Zackham drew up his bucket list of things he wanted to do before he died. Later it was produced as a movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Hence it entered American culture. We often hear individuals jokingly or seriously speak about fulfilling their bucket list. What would you put in your bucket list?

As believers, we set goals. These goals keep us motivated, give us hope under the sun, fill our lives with purpose. Yet we must do this in the light of God’s Word:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (Jam 4:13-17)

Years before the age of bucket lists, a young couple in college started attending our church. Both came from solid Christian homes and were genuine believers but were holding back and not getting involved in church life. When I ask the young man why he was holding back, he responded that he was afraid if he did get involved, the Lord would call him into fulltime Christian service. I asked him what he wanted to do in life. He said he wanted to be a dentist. I shared Proverbs 37:4-7 with him:

Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; (Ps 37:4-7)

I encouraged him to follow his dream. The couple moved to another university where he entered the school of dentistry. I lost track of them for the next several years. One day we reconnected at a conference. He ran up to me excited that he was graduating but even more, that he and his wife were headed to the mission field. He was going to be a missionary dentist.

Our bucket list will be God’s bucket list when we put Him first. King David was known as “a man after (God’s) own heart.” (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22) Later we read, “. . .after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, (he) fell asleep.” (Acts 13:36)

Paul, a prisoner in Rome, wrote “. . . for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:21) The first item we should put in our bucket list is to live for Christ. The second, for God to accomplish His purpose for us in our lifetime.