Are You Ready?

And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ because the great day of Their^[u] wrath has come! And who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:16-17

When we observe God’s wrath in the Old Testament, it is a demonstration of the power of our Lord. For example, His mighty hand to sweep away Pharaoh’s army with his unrestrained hand against the sea in Exodus 14:26-28. Or perhaps what else comes to mind when we think of God’s wrath, we think of Joshua who took the promise land by force and slaughtered countless men, women and children all for the sake of the Lord’s wrath and the preservation of His people.

However you observe the Lord’s wrath and by whatever example you can think of, one thing is certain which is His anger in light of His holiness being ignored and disregarded. But I have been thinking lately of the final closing to it all, that is the Lord’s coming. And nowhere in scripture mentions a more right anger then the Lord coming! Every example of the Lord’s anger has been a command by God. It is He who raised a pillar of fire against Pharaoh; it is He who sends plagues, famine, disease and death!

All of these actions are a spoken command of God. But what makes His coming vastly more intensifying then all the examples of God’s wrath in the Old Testament is simply put…He is coming back! Christ will move into the world, no longer will there be a spoken command of God but that He Himself will shut the books and the entire wrath of God will be poured out like water! These things should humble us, this knowledge should cause us to think carefully about our walk as Christians. We should be a people who cling to the cross and not presume upon it! For the Lord Christ Himself has said Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whoever it falls, it will grind him to powder!” Matthew 21:44

Our Lord is loving, and it is loving to know these things! It is loving for Him to give us these warnings and it is loving for Him to give us commands to repent and turn to Him daily. Let us be a people who are careful with our ways, who are careful to build upon the Matthew 7 rock. Let us ask ourselves humbly “am I in the faith?” For we all know that no one knows the day or the hour of His return.  And so our command is to keep watch, and by keeping watch let us not make peace with the world but instead be ready. “Go and make disciples” Christ says in Matthew 28:16-20. Let us use our gifts for His glory and always keep Him in the forefront of our minds. Let us fear the Lord, not in a cowering way but in a way that we are drawn to Him knowing the greatness of His mercy and grace!