The day of the fury of the Lord has not yet come, but it is fast approaching. The burning up of this earth and the passing away of the heavens, so clearly predicted in the Bible, are continually drawing nearer.
God has been warning mankind for centuries that the whole of universal nature will be turned into a heap of ruins. A mighty cosmic conflagration will cause the framework of creation to explode into fragments.
According to the Bible, a meltdown is inevitable; it is only a matter of time. Specifically it predicts, "... 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 shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10).
Mankind has been warned in precise terms to prepare for the horrors of a dissolving nature, amid wild wars and the frenzy of reeling elements. God predicts mankind will not stop its pell-mell rush to nuclearize the earth and He assures it will end in a global melt down. Every anti-nuclear voice in this nation is inadvertently preaching the very warnings of Almighty God. In Revelation 18, it is predicted that a "burning judgement" will fall on the earth in less than one hour. It is God alone who is holding back the destructive forces to make time for every hungry heart to respond to His last call.
God is not venting His fury at this present time because He is too busy executing a mission of mercy. There is no anger in God when He is in the process of inviting mankind to be reconciled to Himself. God, at this very moment, is prodding true believers to invite all to accept His free offer of salvation. God has a longing desire to save mankind from the power and effects of sin. He speaks now only in tones of tenderness and sympathy. His messengers are now circulating this message of peace with God to every habitation of man. There is an all-consuming wish in the heart of God to save mankind from the wrath that is coming.
God's beseeching call is to now one of affection. He so loves mankind, He is not willing that one soul perish in sin. To reach that goal, God is not sparing any effort - His overtures can now be heard throughout the land, on radio, television, from pulpits, on street corners. Everywhere, twenty-four hours a day, the joyful invitation is non-stop. There is not an intelligent person in the land who has not heard the message that God is love; that He longs to save mankind in an instant. We would all perish before God like a moth in the flame. But God has no pleasure in the death and destruction of the wicked. He gets no kicks out of destroying such a paltry foe. He would rather all men accepted His offer of regenerating power. A God who has all power to destroy men in hell lovingly asks, "Why will you die?"
The dignity of God will not permit Him to prove His majesty and power by destroying weak and insignificant enemies. You've been reading God wrong if you think He is out to get you. He sent His own Son to die on a cross, demonstrating to mankind that He wants to condemn no one, but rather to save and heal.
God is willing to save and help you, but are you willing to be helped? Of one thing you can be sure: one day, your lifeless corpse will be stretched out before the eyes of weeping friends and relatives. That coffin will not be the end of the line. Like everyone else on earth, you are going to look death in the face and get one last look at life. Cast the thought out of mind, but that won't change the facts. The fact remains, the day is coming when loose dirt will be shoveled into your narrow house where you are laid, and the grounds keeper will plant green sod over your empty form. You will be forced to make room for a new generation. All sight, senses- all love and laughter - all tears and temptation will end at your grave. And what will it all have meant if in this life Christ's offer of love was flung back in His face? Can anything in this life be worth facing an eternity without hope?
Consider the man who dies in his sin. The ruined soul is resurrected to face Christ, the Judge. Will death automatically purge that soul? Will the worm eat away the rot of sin? Will he suddenly appear, in a transformed, eternal body, free from all the old chains? Will he somehow rise, holy and pure, leaving his past in the dust? Never! There is no magic change in death for the sinner. He will rise the same way he died – a slave. The sinner dies, keeping all his sins to himself. The secrets he carries to his grave are the secrets exposed at the Judgment. The soul never dies - and neither does sin. Sin dies only at Calvary.
Why do sinners look at death with such complacency, as if they will rise fresh and new in eternity?
The Bible says - it is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the Judgment. What if that is not a lie but really true? How do you face a Savior in death, whom you have so stubbornly rejected in life?
In His Word, God clearly describes what is waiting for those who deny and reject His call to repentance. He describes the day of reckoning in horrific terms, then lovingly begs mankind to flee from its wrath. The scenario is simple, yet terrifying. The Son of God will appear in the heavens, surrounded by a mighty army of angels, He will collect all His children around Him and carry them to an eternity of fulfillment and joy. The sinners, first from the graves, then those who are alive at His coming will be taken to the Great White Throne Judgment Seat of Christ. The books will be opened and the solemn passing of sentence will proceed against those who flaunted their iniquity, rather than accept His offer of salvation.
So what if you no longer accept the Bible as truth? How can you categorically deny a book that is believed by some of the most intelligent minds on earth? It is believed by numerous scientists, world leaders, philosophers - as well as millions of this world's inhabitants. What if? What if these words of the Bible are actually the truth?
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I say the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:11, 12, 15).
You can escape the fury of the coming storms. God has provided a method by which the children of wrath can become the children of peace. God would much rather be glorified by the salvation of saints than in the destruction of sinners. He wants to turn all His enemies into friends. That is why the Heavenly Father loves homosexuals, addicts, alcoholics, gamblers, prostitutes, agnostics - and every conceivable kind of sinner. He loves them all so much, He is trying to adopt every one of them. He is trying desperately to justify them, take away their guilt, chase away their darkness, and remove all their chains.
But God is running out of ways to reach this generation. Man continues to obstinately erect barriers of unbelief. Instead of responding to God's signals of love, sinners, instead, muster up rebellion and almost become indignant against His efforts to save them. God knows that terror and fear will not subdue a sinner, and that is why He does not threaten anyone into obedience. You must respond to His love with Love. But God has already tried to reach sinners, both with wrath and love, and neither seems to work.
Jesus said, "To what shall I liken this generation? They are like children sitting in the market place playing tunes to each other saying, We mourned to you and you wouldn't mourn. We piped dancing music to you, and you wouldn't dance" (Luke 7:31, 32).
Christ here reveals the two methods God had used to reach mankind. The mourners and the dancers. John the Baptist was the mourner. He thundered the wrath of God against sinners he called vipers. He came down on adulterers, fornicators, hypocrites - unmercifully calling for a change in life-styles.
Jesus came on the scene with a different message. His was a message of love. He called sinners friend. He was gentle, loving, sympathetic, and He associated with hurting people. No legalism, no harshness - it was all love and joy.
But the masses would not respond to mourning or to dancing. Jesus is saying, "You said you were repulsed by hard, doomsday preaching. You wanted to hear of love and sympathy rather than judgment and condemnation. Yet, I came to meet you on these loving, gentle terms - and you still won't respond. What is left? What more can God do?"
The average sinner in this nation has heard enough Gospel to save all of China! God help the sinner who goes to the Judgment Day from America! Better to live in Gospel-deprived Africa or Russia, than to live in a society saturated with the Gospel and die as a Christ-rejecter.
Will God soon decide to "wipe the dust of this unbelieving generation off His feet"? That is what He told his disciples to do when their cities and peoples rejected the message of Christ's love. God help every self-willed unbeliever the moment His love gives way to His wrath. The terror defies description.
How can any intelligent human being reject the offer of love and salvation from the very Creator of the universe and not expect a day of reckoning? Is the intellect so warped it can expect to pay the penalty for breaking the law of man and not pay the penalty for breaking God's law of love?
God has one last method to reach the sinner. It is a singularized outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He has promised in these last days to pour out of His Holy Spirit upon all flesh. Not just as a religious experience. Not even always spiritual. The Holy Spirit has come upon all mankind, revealing the emptiness, loneliness, and nothingness of life without Christ.
What is behind the total despair of this globe? What or who is causing this wave of emptiness and feelings of hopelessness? It is the Holy Spirit - trying to desperately to show every sinner how useless and worthless life is without a Savior. He is revealing to men how low and powerless they are! How useless the wisdom of men. How futile all human effort is!
"And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment..." (John 16:8).
It is at the point of man's worst misery, when he is faced with the truth of his hopeless condition, that the Holy Spirit presents the claims of Christ. To every heart convicted by the Holy Spirit, there will follow a message of hope and truth about Christ.
God is searching the earth, seeking for those who will give Him the faith that He wants. It's a faith so little known, so little understood, so little used. It's not a faith to procure the better things of life, because a mans life consists not in the things he possesses.
It's a faith in Christ's total sufficiency! A faith in His ability to become all in all. A faith in His desire and willingness to take charge of a life surrendered to Him fully and make it to know abundant and full life!
A faith that Christ will fill the empty void - that He will take a very personal interest in all that pertains to my life. Not just keeping the universe and nature on course, but become totally involved in my life, its details, its problems, its needs and desires.
Also, that Christ can make me know pleasures that are real, lasting - without hangovers, regrets, or shame.