Warnings!
(Proverbs 22:3 NKJV) A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, But the simple pass on and are punished.
(Proverbs 27:12 NKJV) A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; The simple pass on and are punished.
Ignoring the Warnings
Right now, we are under a tornado watch and earlier tonight we were under a thunderstorm warning. All around us, there have been reports of tornadic activity. Have we moved to our “safe” place? No! We live in a manufactured home and we are told we should make sure we have a safe place during storms. We have been here for over 20 years and, while we have had some bad storms with some wind and hail damage, we have been spared any serious damage so far. So do we listen to the storm warnings? Not really! Is that wise? Not really!
Warnings for Time and Warnings for Eternity
The Bible is full of warnings. When a warning is given twice as the one above is, it means that the Lord wants us to pay attention.
The warnings that always bothered me were warnings about what happened to those who were never born again or saved when they died. Those warnings deal with eternity. Many people disregard the warnings. Some do it because they don’t believe a God of love would cast people who reject His Son into a place of eternal torment. Others do it because they think science and the Bible do not mix (Good science always supports good Bible interpretation in my opinion, however.)
Others do it because the warnings were given long ago and so far only the dead have first hand knowledge of the consequences of unbelief. The living assume that no one can know if the warnings are true. Some of the warnings have to do with judgment that is coming on this earth when the Lord comes back to take His rightful place on the throne of the millennial kingdom. Peter described people who thought God’s patience meant He could not or would not judge sin. He said, “Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation (2nd Peter 3:3-4).”‘
What are the Warnings?
John 3:36 lays the warnings out fairly clearly, It says “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Believing here is not an intellectual acknowledgment of the truth, but rather it is a matter of trusting in that Truth. It is the kind of trust that you have in a bank when you deposit your money there. Think of it, the wrath of God is already abiding on an unbeliever.
The wrath of God is seen in Revelation 14:9-11 which says, “Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.’” This torment is forever and ever and is marked by days and nights. This is the end result of a life lived believing the lies of Satan rather than believing the truth of Scripture.
The wrath of God is seen in judgments that are poured out on the earth as well. Nations have rebelled against God because their leaders have rebelled against God and because everyone loved their sin. But there comes a point when we read in Revelation 6:15-17 NKJV, “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”
Put Simply
God is very angry with sinners who reject His Son. While God hates sin, He loves sinners (For God so loved the WORLD and the world is made up of sinners.) He has provided a way whereby His justice can be satisfied. He WANTS to be merciful. But if we are determined to reject the LOVE of God, He will certainly reject us. Nations will experience His wrath after the rapture during the tribulation period. Individuals will experience His wrath during that same period. But the real difficulty has to do with eternity. Judgments during the tribulation period will not last that long. But to be in a place of constant torment day and night forever and ever with bad company, now that is something I wanted to avoid. I believed that eternal conscious punishment was real.
Thank God it is still possible to repent and believe the Gospel. If you are reading this, I hope you have. If you are reading this and have not heeded the warnings, there is still time to get right with God. But time is running out.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of July 11, 2021