Ten – Nine – Eight – Seven – Six – Five…  We have all heard it before—the countdown.  It could have been at a rocket launch, a New Year’s Eve party or the last seconds before any number of other major, memorable events.

  Sometime, perhaps in the near future, there will be an inaudible countdown to the end of this age, when God will once again supernaturally intervene in the affairs of mankind.  According to the Bible, this abrupt change marking a new era will come upon the earth unexpectedly, like “a thief in the night.”  There will be seven years of catastrophic events that unfold on earth precisely as described in Revelation 4-16.  In spite of the misguided hopes of humanists, these events will be the outpourings of divine wrath and judgment, more intense than any since Noah’s flood (~2348 BC).  The Bible calls it the Tribulation Period—the beginning of The Day Of The Lord.

  Just before the Tribulation, God promises to take those who have embraced His Son, into His presence.  Jesus, the Son of God, came and died to pay the penalty for the sins of the world.  He rose from the dead and ascended back to Heaven from whence He came.  His sacrifice was to make a way for you and me to be reconciled to God by faith, and enter into that eternal relationship that was intended for us before the foundation of the world.

  Perhaps you have listened to the lies of Satan that are propagated by men and women who have denied the existence of God and put themselves in His place to determine for themselves, and for you, what is right and wrong, and what the future holds.  …but they are mere men; they know nothing of the future, and have no authority to pronounce a thing right or wrong.  Right and wrong was determined by God, the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, before the world began.  He is the Creator and Sustainer of all that is.

  “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all…” (1Chronicles 29:11-12)”

  In John 2:1-5, Jesus’ mother, Mary, was invited to a wedding in Cana and, as fate would have it, Jesus and His disciples were invited as well.  All was going well at the marriage feast, that is, until they ran out of wine (wine – a word describing everything from grape juice to fermented beverage).  Mary could not bear the thought of her friends being embarrassed by their cultural unpreparedness, so she took it upon herself to help them.  She turned to Jesus.

  She found Him and spoke simply, “They have no wine.”  Nothing more needed to be said; she knew that He understood her thoughts and motive.  No matter how insignificant her need, she believed that He could meet it, that He could do the incomprehensible—the impossible.

  Up to this point in time, Jesus had done no miracles because it had not been time for Him to make His divine mission known to the world, but Mary had experienced her own miracle in relation to Jesus: as a virgin, she had borne Him into the world.  She had loved Him and taught Him all things human as He grew up, from a baby to a man, at their home in Nazareth.  She knew who Jesus was better than anyone on earth, after all He was her son.  She understood that He was God in the flesh, the God who is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20)”

  There were servants standing by and, though they were not her own, she instructed them, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, Do It! (John 2:5).”  She knew that to perform any task required only that He speak the word, and it would be done.  The power to perform what He commanded was inherent in the Words He spoke.  He told them to fill the water pots with water, and then commanded that they pour some into a cup and take it to the Governor of the feast (the Master of Ceremonies)… it had become wine!

  Jesus’ Words still bear the power to perform what He has commanded, and we have a book filled with His Words—the Bible.  This is why James instructs us, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22)”  To discover this life changing power of His word, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, Do It!”

  My wife and I met in Bible college where we were both part of a musical group that traveled in the summer ministering in churches.  The following year our relationship grew closer and soon it was obvious to me that we would someday marry.   As we started seeing more of each other, it was not long before I felt compelled to look her in the eye and tell her, “I love you.”  Not many days hence, I was driving the car and the time seemed right.  I looked over to her and said softly, “I love you.” She rather sheepishly replied, “Thank you,” and stared out the window.  It was too soon, …I felt like a dork.

  Today I think of that not-so-tender moment and wonder how many of us have answered our loving Lord in the same way.  He has expressed His amazing love toward us with the sacrifice of His Son for our souls, and we respond with a dispassionate, “thanks.”  Perhaps we should give more thought to what He has actually done for us.  The songwriter suggests:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

  Even now God waits for your response to His love!

  By the way, my sweetheart did soon determine that she loved me too, and we have been happily married for forty-four years.  It was worth the wait.

  In our lifetimes, we have known many who have become disheartened by the rigorous demands of their religion.  After years of toil and nothing to show for it, they have even abandoned the notion that there is a god or an unseen spiritual realm that dwarfs all that can be known by the five senses.  To talk of god now, seems only foolishness to them.

  The problem has been, to a great extent, religion.  The world’s religions have generally involved the fascinating story of a now dead “prophet of god” who received “divine revelation,” and a commission to inform the world of what their supposed god wants of them.  Their followers have become bewildered with the task of pleasing the make believe god their religion has espoused, and promoting the words of its now dead prophet.  To talk of religion has become abhorrent to them.

  To borrow an old cliché, many have “Thrown the baby out with the bathwater.”  Because of their experience with the gods of this world, they reject the God of the Bible.  But not believing in God does not made Him go away; He believes in you.  Nor has our unbelief diminished His authority over His creation and love for His creatures.  So why are the disheartened abandoning the God of creation?  It is because, if they have approached Him at all, it was through a “man made” religion, but the God of the Bible, the only true God, insists on a relationship rather than a religion.  “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)”  Do you KNOW God?  If so, it is only because you have come to Him by faith in His Son, Jesus, who gave Himself as payment for your sin.  Jesus, who is God in the flesh, rose from the grave and lives forever to intercede for those who come to Him in faith.  You don’t have to believe the words of a dead prophet, you can have a relationship with the living, Almighty God!

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)” 

  In Isaiah 5, God instructs the prophet to declares six “woes” (judgments) upon the nation of Israel for their continued rebellion against His precepts: 

  “Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! (5:8)”  This describes wealthy, greedy, materialistic individuals who hoard all of the best to themselves. 

  “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! …but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands. (5:11-12)”  This describes those who live with their minds altered by drugs, and who have a total disregard for God, His Word, and His work. 

  “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! (5:18-19)”  This describes those who are bound to sin by their vanity.  They defile the nation, and defy God to judge them.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (5:20)”  This describes those who live in defiance of God’s moral law, calling good evil, and evil good.  They believe every man is entitled to his own truth.

  “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! (5:21)”  This describes conceited men and women who cannot be corrected because they see themselves as all wise.

  “Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! (5:22-23)”  This describes those who, under the influence of alcohol, take bribes to justify the wicked and deny justice to the innocent.

  God has not changed!  America, like Israel of old, has been blessed of God immensely, and yet rebelled.  America, like Israel of old, will be judged.