Before It's Too Late

READ Ezekiel 7-8

I am reminded of the potentially sad implications of one of the most uplifting passages in all of Scripture. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11) In these verses we know that every knee will bow and every tongue confess in the last day. Even those who have not believed in Christ as Lord and Savior. For those who have believed it will be a confession of eternal salvation. For those who have not believed it will be a confession leading to eternal damnation.

In Ezekiel 7-8 God pronounces the utter evils of the disobedient Jews and the horrors of their desecration of the Temple with idols and sun worship and other cults. God emphatically states that he will send his wrath: “Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” (8:18) But notice, he will do this even if the people suddenly “cry…with a loud voice” to him. He “will not hear them.” In other words, it will be too late.

That’s what reminds me of Philippians 2:9-11. For those, in the last day, who have refused to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, even though they cry out with confession of the lordship of Christ, it will be too late. God will not hear them. Their doom will be sealed.

This is another of many reasons that should spur us into action to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. We should have pity on them and long to see them come to know the same love and forgiveness that we have experienced. The great missionary C. T. Studd said: “Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.” Will we join him?

Prayer: Father, there are so many, many people who do not know you. Forgive us for our complacency and lack of action. Help us to be witnesses of your grace and glory. Give us the courage and the will to go and tell.