A YOUNG christian friend of the writer, who was an earnest evangelist, was in the country preaching concerning the solemn events which are at hand, namely, the coming o£ the Lord Jesus Christ for His people, when the dead in Christ shall first arise, and then we (believers) which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Cor. 15:51-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; John 14:1-3), and go with Him into the Father’s house, so that we shall be ever with the Lord; after which God will pour out the cup of His wrath upon the ungodly. Immediately he had spoken the above words, there came out of an adjacent public-house a man with a glass of beer in his hand, and who called out, “I am going to drink the cup of God’s wrath.” God’s judgment was swift and sure, for directly he had uttered the words he fell dead at the feet of the speaker, ushered into the presence of that God whom he had mocked.
Truly, my dear reader, you will admit that this was very solemn teaching for those around. It plainly shows that God is not to be mocked; remember that all men are responsible to God. Nothing can take away man’s responsibility. Have you thought upon the subject, and that all must give an account of the deeds done in the body, whether good or bad? If a believer, you will have to be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ (in your glorified body), so that your own works—your service—may be tested (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:12-15), whether they are gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble, for the fire must try every man’s work.
The believer cannot be judged, for God’s word m so emphatic on that point. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,.... shall not come into judgment, but m passed from death unto life.” But if you die unconverted in your sins, you have willfully refused the Object of God’s love, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself a ransom for all: and what is your doom? Hear what God says: And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead (now raised up), small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works..... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15), prepared, not for you, but for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41.)
Now will you, with that awful future before you, refuse God’s offer of salvation? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Take God at His word, do not delay, do it now, for “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.”
And you, dear fellow believer, my brother in Christ, are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling? are you walking worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called? are your loins girded and lamps burning—waiting and watching for the Lord Jesus, who says, “Behold I come quickly” (Rev. 22:7, 12, 20.) May our response be, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Amen. J. B.