EVERYBODY in Westdale seemed to know Old Jim. He was the school crossing guard. He had been a soldier, but now he was too old for the army. To the children, old Jim was very important, because he always got them across the street safely. What was more, he always knew the time.
When Jim walked to the middle of the road and raised his hands and stopped the traffic and blew his whistle, they knew it was safe to cross. And as they walked past him, they would inquire:
"How many, Jim?" — meaning, How many minutes before the school bell rings?
Sometimes the answer was "Four!" — sometimes, "Three!" sometimes "Two!" When there was but one minute to go, he would shout: "One minute to go — run for your lives!" And run they would.
All through life we shall find that we are the losers when we are late. If late for school, we break a rule; if late for dinner, we may have to go hungry; if late for the bus, we are left behind. And so it goes as everyone knows.
But there is One who is never late; the Eternal God is always on time. "In the fulness of time God sent forth His Son" (Gal. 4:4). "In due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6). In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye He will come again for His own (1 Cor. 15:52). And God has appointed a day in which He will judge this world for its wickedness (Acts 17:31).
Old Jim knew the time because he believed his watch. We know God's time to be saved, because we believe the Bible.
"Behold", He says, "now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6:2).
When the bell was about to ring, Old Jim warned the children to "Run for your lives!" And long ago a man named Lot was told to do the same thing. But then it was God who said: "Escape for thy life." (Gen. 19:17).
That was a life-or-death warning, for shortly afterwards brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven rained down upon the city where Lot lived till everything and everybody was destroyed. Why? Because of its wickedness. Oh that everyone would obey God's warning today and "flee from the wrath to come"; for He will come "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ." (2 Thess. 1:8). If you repent and believe the gospel you will be able to sing:
Should sevenfold storms of thunder roll, And shake this globe from pole to pole, No thunderbolt shall daunt my face, For Jesus is my Hiding Place.
Messages of the Love of God 6/1/1975