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Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. Deuteronomy 9:6 |
Fellow Believers,Have you ever wondered why Satan "must be loosed a little season" (Rev. 20:3) just before Christ returns? Once the last of the elect has become saved, why doesn't God just come and gather all the believers to heaven and then pour out His wrath upon the world?
God's plans and thoughts, of course, are infinitely higher than ours. Here on earth, we'll never be able to understand everything He does. For that matter, we don't even know why He has chosen us in particular to become saved.
But one intent of God's whole salvation plan, the Bible does reveal is "that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 3:10). There is something God wants to impress upon the rulers and authorities in the spiritual world.
We also know that God wants the world to be at its sinful worst when He comes to judge it. The Lord alluded to this when He promised Abraham to bring his offspring back from Egypt into the land of Canaan, saying: "In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure" (Gen. 15:16).
Israel's entry into the Promised Land, of course, is a picture of our entry into heaven. By showing His wrath right at the time when the sin of the world has reached its fullest extent, the unsaved will have no excuse on Judgment Day but to glorify God for His holiness and justice.
For the child of God, to see sin multiplying all over is no doubt agonizing. That's why the final tribulation is so distressful. But we must always remember that, but for the grace of God, we ourselves would be actively engaging in those sinful activities.
Instead of piously denouncing the world, therefore, we need to have compassion for the unsaved and pray for them. With the exception of the few who find salvation during these final days, the people of the world will soon begin to spend eternity in hell.
Meanwhile, let us be ever so humble and thankful that in His mercy God has chosen us to become saved; we don't really deserve it. And let us show our love for our neighbors by redoubling our efforts to bring them the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Second Quarter, 1993