When I was in college we would occasionally have fire drills. We always knew that there would be one… sometime, but we never knew for sure when they would happen. This is really the point of a drill. It’s just a practice run for the real thing, to make sure people have at least some idea of what they should do in case a real fire broke out. A drill comes when we don’t expect it, for the event that will come as well when we least expect it.
The same needs to be understood when it comes to G-d’s future plan for the final judgement of the world. The Scriptures are very clear in stating that G-d has only so much patience for this world and its sinfulness. Whereas we might want to minimize our own sin, we need to recognize the collective and accumulated depth of wickedness that exists even in our day and prepare for what will be G-d’s Heavenly retribution. It is G-d’s plan to renew his creation and for Messiah Yeshua to reign as the King of Israel out of a new Jerusalem. In order for that to happen, judgement will need to come. Are you prepared?
In Genesis G-d instructs Noah, the only righteous man in a world consumed by violence and corruption, to build a large wooden boat. G-d warns Noah that a great flood will eventually come and wipe out all life that breaths from the face of the earth; only those who go into the ark will survive. So, Noah obeys G-d and prepares this floating shelter for his family and the animals G-d brings to him, and hopefully, anyone else who recognizes G-d and chooses to join them. The day finally arrives suddenly and cataclysmically as G-d sends rain to fall for 40 days and nights and breaks up the earth’s crust to bring up even more water that is stored below the earth’s surface. G-d’s action, though predicted, comes suddenly and without warning to everyone on the earth except Noah, who has both been walking with G-d and listening to G-d’s words. Unfortunately, there is no indication in the text that anyone else was, so they all perished. G-d promised judgement on the earth for mankind’s wickedness, but no one took G-d seriously, so they were not prepared for G-d’s promised judgement when it happened.
Messiah Yeshua states in Matthew 24 that in the days just before his return, the people of the world will be just like the people in Noah’s days, preoccupied with the mundane matters of everyday life and unprepared for when G-d’s final judgment falls. This section follows earlier statements by Messiah Yeshua about warning signs to get the attention of those walking with G-d and listening to G-d. No one knows exactly when Messiah Yeshua will return, but we can be prepared, if we choose to be. How? By daily walking with G-d and listening to G-d – actively choosing to engage in relationship with G-d today, for tomorrow’s judgement will truly come when no one will expect it. The return of Messiah Yeshua and the judgement that will come with him will occur when no one is expecting.
As a new believer in Messiah Yeshua, I heard many messages and read several books predicting Messiah Yeshua’s return. I wasted my time engaging in these things. It is not our responsibility to predict when, but to be walking with; we should not be preoccupied with the coming judgement, but instead seeking to occupy and make a difference in our world today by living out our active relationship with G-d. Messiah Yeshua is returning. Will he find you prepared because you are actively living out your faith in him when he comes back?
Forward
for Messiah,
Rabbi Kirk
Gliebe
