Flee the Wrath to Come

There’s a lot of good folks in Christ who are busy tending to and prioritizing a lot of things in this life, and no doubt think that those who don’t connect to that are just a little bit extreme. But there’s coming a time my friend when those who have fooled around are going to be looking to the prepared faith of those who have sought the Lord diligently, to pull them through. The parable of the “ten virgins” in Matthew 25 depicts this truth graphically, and the end result was not a good one for the “foolish virgins” who were not prepared. Jesus spoke of those in the end time who will not put due priority on “[seeking] first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” in this manner also: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mat. 24:37-39). It’s sometimes kind of disheartening to get around fine folks in the Lord, and see just how many are so caught up in the trivial things of this life, as though our calling is to live for the same things that “the nations of the world seek after” (Lk. 12:30). But the Bible I read describes true believers and lovers of God as people whose lives “[confess] that they [are] strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” and as people whose priorities “declare plainly that they seek [another] country” (Heb. 11:13,14). These are they who behave as though they know and believe the reality that “here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb. 13:14). Jesus gave another sobering warning along these lines when he plainly said, “Remember Lot’s wife,” who couldn’t help but look back at Sodom as it burned, after being instructed by the Lord’s messenger to not look back. And like the foolish virgins of Matthew 25, the end result was not good for her (Lk. 17:32; Gen. 19:17,26). And why did she look back? Because part of her heart was still with Sodom, having invested too much of herself into the place where they temporarily dwelt. And I think that is a good conclusion here my friend: “Remember Lot’s wife.” Amen.