“And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.” (Exo. 3:7)
The children of Israel were in bondage to the Egyptians for 400 years, from the time the Book of Malachi was written until the days of Christ, 400 years. They walked in the wilderness 40 years, nearly every account in the Book of Judges spans a period of 40 years. The Lord created the heaven and the earth and rested on the seventh day, the Tribulation period, seven years. The Lord likes numbers, and they repeat themselves quite often, He placed the stars in heaven for signs and seasons, (Gen. 1:14) but not for our “guesswork,” if you will.
The age of grace is coming to a close, and many there are that are attempting to mathematically figure out the day that will be, many spend countless hours searching for those signs, claiming them as portents of doom or heralding the Lord’s return for His church. They are searching for clues, but not for Christ.
We are to be found working when the Lord returns, searching for the lost, studying to show ourselves approved, finding in everything we do a way to glorify God, yet the days seem to be calling many to sit in the stands, as it were, instead of being out there on the field participating.
I understand full well that we are to be watchmen on the wall, but that watchman does not only sound the warning when danger is approaching but shows those who have heard the warning the way of escape. And here is where I believe we find not only those who are indeed saved, but many of those that profess Him only with their lips, they are willing to attempt to calculate by whatever means “that day,” those signs, and are more than willing to pass along all the doom and gloom events that are occurring, but they will not take the next and most necessary step with those they are “warning,” they will not look at that person and say, “Who do you say Jesus Christ is?”
They want to leave, to escape what is approaching, they are willing to pass along all the “bad” news of the day, but not speak in public of the only One who is the means of our escape, and the salvation of our souls.
It does no good for the one on the wall to report the coming danger and then run off to safety. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matt. 7:22) In fact, to do so would seem rather self-serving. I liken those who are unwilling to speak the name of the Lord in this manner to the one who did not want to be bothered when the man came to the door. “And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.” (Luke 11:7) In other words, “I’ve got mine; you get yours.”
To the one that can see the danger ahead, but because of a lack of love for those that are behind him, will not stop and warn them of the danger on the path up ahead, and how to navigate around it. But above all, I see those who are more than willing to show all of the irrefutable signs of those evil, wicked last days and do no more than offer them without mentioning the grace of God offered through Jesus Christ as not only self-centered, but unloving, and in a manner akin to Job 2:4, “And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.”
We are in a battle, we always have been since the day you got up from your knees at the cross of Christ and became His servant, we are in a battle. It does no good to have a light and place it somewhere it cannot be seen, and it is a sin, I believe, to hold it up for others to see, and then run away from them. It is easy to sound the warnings, it is required of us to show the way of escape. If you are not speaking to them of the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to get off the wall.
