Though our winter here in Maine has been rather mild, I’m sure you remember the wind and rain storms that made us all batten down the hatches over the past several months. Power companies and internet providers were kind enough to let us know that there would likely be outages, and that we should get ready for the worst, and hope for the best. Several asked me, “Are you ready?” Sometimes I would answer, “As ready as I can be.”
Very similarly, our loving Creator God has issued a warning that storm clouds will gather as we approach the end of this present age. Not meteorological storms, but political and sociopolitical storms, combined with a spiritual degradation to mark the approaching end of life as we know it.
Some of these verses from the New Testament, about the last days, read almost like today’s headlines: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (1Timothy 4:1).” “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God… (2Timothy 3:1-5)
According to the Word of God, this age will end with a time of judgment in which God intervenes once again, supernaturally, in the affairs of man, but this time as Judge. The events of those days are described in Matthew, chapters 24 and 25, and Revelation, chapters: 6, 8, 9, 11, and 16. It will be worse than any period of human history—God calls it Great Tribulation! He must quell the rebellion and exact just payment for sin, which His holiness and justice demand.
Judgment is surely coming! So I ask, “Are You Ready?” Your readiness must involve Jesus to be sufficient. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:8-9)”