Rev.18:21 – Then a strong angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will never be found again.”
Modern day Christians tend to only look at the mercy side of God, the problem with this is that tends to take our eyes off eternity and the consequences involved when we live as if this life now is all that matters. I know, most will say that they believe in eternity but there are far too few that live as if eternity is near and our life matters from an eternal perspective. The book of Revelations can shock us back into an eternal perspective, so can the words of Jonathan Edwards. Here are some comments from Owen Strachan on Edwards and his eternal perspective.
“IT ISN’T POPULAR NOWADAYS to talk about hell. Churches that claim to be Christian advertise their distance from the old testimonies and the previous generations. Hell, it seems, is a downer of a doctrine. It doesn’t please the ear or tickle the fancy. Better to leave it to the past and effectively pretend it doesn’t exist.….He (Jonathan Edwards) believed that drifting Christians should think once more about the justice of God and God’s wrath. We will not take God lightly if we take damnation seriously. We think of the effects of an earthly fire. There is little frivolity near a burned-out house, still smoldering with glowing embers. Remembrance of hell won’t paralyze true Christians. Edwards believed it would “stir them up to seek heaven”, a glorious result. The love of God that the sinning heart ignored would now return to view. The soul would drink of God and be full. How we need these words today. There is never a time to take God lightly; it is always right to remember the wages of sin, and to praise God for the payment Christ made to deliver us from death.”
The book of Revelations describes in detail the consequences of living just for this age, suddenly all of that will come crashing down. The spirit of antichrist has polluted the governments of this world and has made major inroads into the church itself. The end of this age is rapidly approaching, I think its time to take a long hard look at eternity. After all eternity is in our hearts and we can only be totally satisfied when our hearts are turned toward heaven.
Let’s hope the birth pains awaken the sleepers and those who have chosen poorly and find themselves on a road going the wrong way. Sadly in the current world, when the terrible comes we only then acknowledge the warnings we ignored. “Let the good times roll” has an “O” to many. Let’s change that in our region.