John 14;29 ‘And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass ye might believe’
DAILY READING – Acts 2:14-47; Deuteronomy 15-16; Job 11
Recently in the news there has been reports that Russia is building massive nuclear bunkers. These are meant to provide shelters to people in Moscow in the event of a devastating nuclear war. This confirms News carried a decade earlier on April 16 1996, by the New York times. According to the report Russia is building huge underground nuclear bunkers and weapons production facilities inside a region of mountains in Russia called the Ural Mountains. This is the largest nuclear-secure project in the world. It has been built to resist a half dozen direct nuclear hits. It is believed this will be the hiding place of the rich and prominent in Russia in the case of a nuclear warfare. Not only Russia, other western countries are also are preparing against nuclear war by building underground bunkers.
Now it is interesting to note what the bible says in Revelation 6:15-17, ‘ And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;’
So even before these projects commenced the Word of God had predicted it.
However from what we read in the book of revelations, none of this manmade structures can save man in the end.
Man’s salvation is not in building structures but in building a lasting relationship with Jesus Christ. So while they make plans to hide in the mountains, let’s us decide to hide deeper in the rock of ages, the ark of safety, called Christ. He is the only hiding place from trouble.
Just as Noah built an ark of deliverance from the flood, Jesus is the ark that will deliver men from the wrath of the last days.
In Mathew 24: 7, Jesus was speaking to His disciples telling them what would take place in the world to indicate that the end is near.
He said ‘for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places.’
These signs are coming to pass as conflicts heat up across the globe. Jesus said the last days will be like the days of Noah when the earth was filled with violence..
Mathew 24:6. Says ‘And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass’
Wars and rumors of wars are rife today, hyped greatly by media outlets.
And for us, this is the time to go deeper in our relationship with Christ. During the time of Noah things seemed normal, people were still eating and drinking until the last moment. So it is now. Things may appear normal, usual, but there is a groundswell in the realm of the spirit. Things are gradually coming to a climax. God is calling us as He called people in the days of Noah to run into the ark now.
It is no longer Christianity as usual. There must be an urgency now to our pace. People may wonder while you are serving God so seriously. They may even mock you or call you a fanatic, as they did to Noah. But don’t be deterred. Truth is that things are really on the fast track now, gradually racing towards the end of the age.
It is time therefore for us to sit up and begin to run the race before us, knowing that one day we will be asked to give account. And more than ever before let us seek to know God personally for ourselves. Intimate knowledge of God is what will grant access to eternal life. Jesus said in John 17 ‘For this is eternal life, that they might know Thee The Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’
In Mathew 7;23 Jesus says ‘then I would profess to them, I never knew you, depart from Me, ye that work iniquity’.
Lack of personal knowledge of God, lack of intimacy with Him, is what will cause many to be turned away on the last day. Let us therefore begin now to invest time to know Him more and more. In revelations 2:4, Jesus acknowledged the church of Ephesus for laboring for the kingdom, but rebuked them for leaving their first love, which is intimacy with Him. Our love relationship with Him must precede our service. Our love for Him is what matters most. Knowing Him is our guarantee of eternal life, it is our passport to Heaven. So while men build where to hide, Let us build what will last; an intimate love relationship with Christ. .
PRAYER: Lord, help me to keep focused on knowing you more and more, even as we draw to the end of this age. Help me to hide deeper in You, to do all that is required of me at this time, so to gain access to Your Kingdom at last, in Jesus Name.
quote
Nothing liberates like truth, the truth you know and act upon will set you free.
WORDBITE 222.
[ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK TRIUMPH OF LIGHT OVER DARKNESS]