This post's video:
Hello my beautiful family and thank you so much for joining us today. As this new 2022 year begins to unfold, as our duties return to their normal standard levels, and as we continue to push towards meeting our end-of-year resolutions, I feel is important for us all to remember what a great opportunity God still gives us each day.
Starting a new year is an exciting event in anyone's life. As we've talked about before in our post "The secret to achieve the change you need in this new year!", starting a new year in almost everyone's mind means to start fresh... and that's great. New year might mean new jobs, clothes, house, cars, experiences, travel, and it might also mean that this is the year where we commit and complete our New Year resolutions 😁, right? Along with all these things, and this is really the crucial point, every year that begins, every second of our life that passes, mean that we're getting close to Jesus' return. The questions, then, become: are you ready for His return? Are you ready to meet Him?
In the Bible we find Jesus being very specific and adamant in stating that no one, not even the angels, know when He would return to earth to redeem it. Let's quickly read what Jesus had to say on the topic:
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." - Matthew 24:36-44
I think Jesus is being very clear, right? His return will occur at a time when many will be taken by surprise. People would be going about their normal business when suddenly the heavens open and Jesus is there with His angelical host. What a glorious and nerve-racking experience that moment will be. I find it very interesting that Jesus states the the whole experience will be "as in the days of Noah"; meaning, if you want to understand what's to happen, then you need to understand what happened in Noah's day.
Understanding what happened...
You can definitely read the story of Noah in the book of Genesis but, summarizing, Noah was living in a world filled with violence and degraded society morals (does this ring a bell?). Not one, or 100, or 1000 people were corrupt, but the ENTIRE world at the time was; Noah was the only man God in which God saw redeemable traits. God had decided to destroy the world and give it a "restart", but because He NEVER punishes the right and just with the wicked, He gave Noah the warning. God told Him the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood and told Him to build an ark to save him, his family, wildlife, and anyone else who would hear the warning and enter the ark. Other than building the ark, Noah was charged with preaching the warning message to everyone and extend the invitation to salvation to anyone that would accept God's message.
Noah's message was not well-received. People mocked him, made fun of the fact he was building an ark and ultimately rejected the call to get inside the ark. At some point in time God shut the door of the ark and sealed everyone's fate... forever. Here is the most interesting part of this story as it translates to our times, from the moment the ark door was shut until the moment the flood actually came, seven days passed (see Genesis 7:10). Why is this relevant? Because for 7 days both the people outside the ark and the people inside it saw no judgement, they were not aware that their fate had already been decided. The same story will repeat itself now during 'modern' times. There will be no more ark or flood (God promised not to destroy the earth by a flood again), but there will be a sealing of fates and world destruction with eternal consequences. God will seal everyone's fate at a certain point in time and no one will know it ever happened until Jesus' return in heaven.
The implications of this are fairly obvious, no? It is important (extremely important actually) for us all to turn to Jesus and accept His message of love, salvation, and yes, even warnings... today, now. We should not delay in accepting the call, else, the consequences can be eternal. We do not know when our fates will be sealed but there's evidence all around us that we still have the opportunity (the 'door of the ark' is open) to come to Jesus and build a relationship with Him, the only source or redemption and salvation. Our enemy has made sure to create enough distractions on this planet to keep us from ever thinking or having time for Jesus, for God, but taking that time for God is now more important than ever. Every day that goes by we see how society morals are in exponential decay and how violence, death, criminality, pain, natural destructions (...etc.), are increasingly more common... all signs that this world is coming to its end. We have been warned about all this in the Bible.
Over and over I have heard phrases like: "Jesus won't come for another 100+ years, I have time...", and, "for many years the church has been preaching that Jesus will come, He won't come anytime soon"... for all those believing statements like this, remember that Noah's preaching took close to 100 years (significant amount of time), and furthermore, I'd like you to ponder on this: the sealing of your fate is as close as your death. Scary and strong, but true. Depending on how old you are you can roughly estimate how many years you have ahead, provided Jesus doesn't return sooner than that, and that nothing happens to you when it comes to your health, that's how long you have until 'Jesus' return'. Now the date becomes tangible, no? Once we die, the Bible says that that's it, we reached the end of the line. The life that we lived up until the moment we die will seal our fate for good or worst. Once we die, it'll be like we went to sleep and next time we open our eyes up, Jesus will be returning on the clouds of heaven to give each one life or death according to their own decisions. Considering none of us know when we will die, and that we all know that dying can be sudden and that our lives are fragile... begs to make restoring and/or building a relationship with Jesus a priority.
Final Remark
Before closing, there's something I'd like to clarify. Friend, don't come to Jesus out of a scare that your fate might be sealed on the wrong side, but out of love for someone that gave up everything to save you. A read at the Bible will come to show that God doesn't want a service out of 'afraid-ness' but out of genuine love and desire to give our all to Him to gave His all. Yes, the warnings are clear, yes, this world will end and everyone's fate will be decided... yes. Still, behind all the warnings from God recorded in the Bible, there's a message of love. God WANTS to save us hence His warnings and messages as to what's coming. Come to Him not our of being afraid, but because you know God loves you infinitely and that there's no better place to be at than under His arms.
Never forget. Let me repeat: God loves YOU... infinitely.
For this week's video I thought about doing a short video that clearly poses the question "are you in?" Will you enter the 'ark' or will you stay outside living the routinely life and not knowing that your fate has been sealed?
I pray that you make the right decision and hope to hold hands in heaven with you singing and worshipping the Creator and life source, God.
Until next one friend,
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