Ready of Not, Here I come
O.T. prophet Ezekiel lived about 600 years before Christ. He had the privilege (?) of passing along God’s message of condemnation to the people of Israel. As I read this morning in chapters 6-7 of Ezekiel’s prophecy, I couldn’t help feeling that this message could have just as easily been for today. Listen to some of his warnings: (God speaking) “I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from me…I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster on them…thus I will spend My wrath on them. Then you will know that I am the Lord when their slain are among their idols.”
God’s patience was at an end with his “chosen” people, Israel. They continually whined to Him when things weren’t going well. As soon as He delivered them, they were right back to their adulterous ways. (Not a sexual reference, but idolatry.) They had plenty of warnings. Six times in two chapters, God describes the wrath and anger He is about to pour out on them and then says, “then they will know that I am the Lord.” They ignored them all. Oops.
As a rule,
we don’t worship gold, silver, and wooden idols today. No, our idols are more subtle. It’s more likely our idols are money (which could include gold and silver), power, position, fancy houses, and even ourselves. Literally anything that takes God’s place on the throne is an idol.
Hindsight is always 20/20. And we can look back over 2,500 years and see the destruction of Jerusalem and ask why Israel didn’t heed the warnings. But aren’t we in the exact same position? We lie and don’t think anything of it. We murder babies in the womb by the millions. And now even after they’ve left the womb, they’re not safe. Our streets are not safe from violent gangs. As we saw last summer, certain politicians have no will or desire to stand up against their burning, looting, and destruction of lives and property.
But you know,
we’ve had our warnings from God too. And, like the Israelites, we don’t pay any attention. This example in Ezekiel is not the only case of God’s patience running out. There are more. The point I’m making is this, God’s ways are clear. First, He warns and warns and warns. Then He acts, and people are surprised when He does exactly what He said He would do.
Listen to some of the descriptions and see if it doesn’t play like today’s newspaper. “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” (2 Tim. 3:1-5)
We have had over 2,000 years of warnings
about Christ’s return to earth for His church—those who believe He died on the cross in their place then rose from the dead. He is now in heaven until “the time” runs out. We are running out of time. We’ll also run out of excuses. God’s Word is crystal clear as to what will happen, just not exactly when it will happen. Someday, soon I hope, millions of Christians all over the world will suddenly disappear. It’s because Jesus has returned and taken us to heaven. You may have heard of it. It’s called the Rapture. Only those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ are included.
For me and all who know Jesus as their Savior, this is an exciting time thinking Jesus may return in our lifetime. For those who have rejected Jesus, the plagues predicted in Revelation 6-19 ( all 21 of them) should scare the pants off you. Know this: God’s Word is always 100% accurate. Just like He told the Israelites 2,500 years ago what He was planning, and then He did it, He has told us specifically what He is planning. It will happen. If you’re one who continues to deny and disregard the warnings, you’re in for the worst seven years you can possibly imagine starting immediately after the Rapture. Then you die and will know firsthand what hell is like. If you’re reading this, it’s not too late to choose Jesus.
If anything in this post strikes a chord,
you can visit our Steps to Salvation page on this site. Or you can get in touch via email also on this site. My prayer is that everyone who reads this either already knows Jesus or gets introduced soon. Tomorrow isn’t promised to anybody.