It’s different when you see the Red Sea part, when you are taken up to the third heaven to hear things that are not lawful for a man to utter, when you hear the Father’s voice say audibly, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17) “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” (2nd Cor. 5:7)
Those to whom God decided to reveal Himself were, in our eyes, blessed greater than we who have not seen Him, who were not there to witness the great and terrible army of the Lord go before them into battle, who have not witnessed the wheels within wheels. But we have something that no one in the Old Testament ever had, the Holy Spirit of the Living God Himself dwelling within us.
I believe everyone of them would have traded those moments of visible and audible revelations for what we have been blessed with, but it seems, especially in these days, that many who have been born again would do the same, trade that indwelling of the Holy Spirit for a moment of God’s visual representation. “And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” (Luke 21:11)
The next sign, the next news report that seems to fall in line with a Scripture verse concerning these days of the end of the age of grace, something, anything that will offer them the proof that they so desperately seem to need to validate their desire to escape, but not the words that teach us how to stand in these evil days.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
This peace seems to be missing from many who profess trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, of the promises found in the Scriptures, they live in fear, not in the assurance of Deuteronomy 31:8, “And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” They no longer turn to the Word of God for comfort, but to their television and cell phone screens to search out the next portent of doom, they do not seek for the words of reassurance, but for a way to escape that which they are to stand in and against.
They seek for heaven, but not for the lost, they pray for the Lord to come and take them away, not to lead them to those who do not yet know Him as Savior.
Are they the chaff or simply fearful? “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” (Prov. 24:10)
Whether their faith is weak or strong, all who have called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls will spend eternity in the Kingdom of God, but these we speak of will not hear, “Well done thou good and faithful servant,” but instead “Why did you fear?”
Again, I ask you to consider this if you see yourself in this short, poorly written letter, and consider it well. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Rev. 12:11) You are the example those left behind will remember, your actions and words in these days of great evil will be what those who will be left behind will recall in their moments of trials, tribulations and persecutions.
Will they will cower in their homes and churches begging for the Lord to come and save them, or stand against the evil that will be here in their time that we cannot even begin to imagine?
You are to be the example today, you are to exhibit a strength that is not of you, but in you.
Can you do that today?