eBible Fellowship

Hello and welcome. Today I would like to ask you a question. Have you heard the warning about May 21, 2011 as being the date of the Rapture? If you have, then the question that I would like to ask you is whether or not you have taken action. Have you taken action as yet?

“What do you mean?,” someone might ask. “What action do I have to take? I am hearing it. I am listening to it. Maybe I am even in agreement with this information. So what action do I have to take?”

Well this is good. It is good that you are hearing this. It is good that you are open-minded. It is good that you are continuing to listen. However, this information requires action. God requires a response from you and from each person who hears this.

One type of response can be seen as we think about Jonah. Jonah was a prophet who lived in the Old Testament days whom the Lord sent to the city of Nineveh. The Lord gave Jonah information to share with the Ninevites that was pretty short. It was just one sentence. He said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown [overturned].”

This is all that we read that Jonah said as he entered into the city of Nineveh, which was a message that contained two elements: “time and judgment”; time (forty days) and judgment (because after forty days, they would be overturned).

Likewise, we have been given a message from God. No, not as Jonah was given, because God gave Jonah direct revelation. Jonah received Divine revelation that was given in a supernatural way where the Lord communicated directly with him. However, we were not spoken to from Heaven. God did not give us a dream or a vision. It is nothing like that, but He has spoken to us. It is Divine revelation, because it comes to us from His Word, the Bible. What we read in the Bible is as true as what God spoke directly to individuals, because it is the same Word. It is His Word.

So God spoke to Jonah and Jonah shared that word with the Ninevites. The Ninevites correctly recognized that this was not something coming from Jonah, but from God. We know this because Jonah 3:5 tells us, “So the people of Nineveh believed God.”

Likewise, today, we are hearing from the Bible, which is Divine revelation. It is from the mouth of God that May 21, 2011 will be the time of Christ’s return for His people. This will be the day of the Rapture when His people will be taken up out of this world. This is also the “day of judgment” for the rest of the world, which will be the vast majority of mankind who will be left behind.

Therefore, when we are hearing about May 21, 2011, we are hearing a very similar message that the Ninevites heard: “time and judgment.” That is, there is only so much time left between now and then, and then on that day will be the judgment.

What was the reaction of the Ninevites? Well, it was a wonderful reaction as God moved in that city greatly. From the king on down, they sat in sackcloth and ashes and fasted and cried “mightily unto God.” Because they knew that He was a merciful God, they said, “Who can tell if God will turn…from his fierce anger?” And, actually, God did turn and He did not destroy that city.

Now, there is absolutely no possibility that God will turn from the judgment of May 21^st. This is going to happen, and yet God gives us the example of the Ninevites who heard the warning. They heard the warning and took action.

Now, their action did not save them. No, there is no action that any man can take that will save them, but there is a correct way and an incorrect way of responding to information from God when He warns about an approaching judgment.

Another place in the Bible that shows us a correct and obedient response is in Hebrews 11, which is the chapter of faith. In one verse, God sums up the days of Noah before the flood, as He had come to Noah and had given him Divine revelation that He was going to destroy the world, the whole earth, by the flood, a great deluge of water. It says in Hebrew 11:7:

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house…

You see, here again, prior to the judgment, God gave warning to Noah. Did Noah just agree with it? Did he say, “Okay. Okay, Lord. I hear what You are saying. I understand that You are going to destroy the world,” and then go about his daily life just like before, in taking care of his responsibilities, in doing his work, in being a good husband and father and neighbor? Was that Noah’s response? No. No. He was “moved with fear” to the preparing of an ark.

This ark was a great testimony to the world of his day. It was a witness. It was, in a very real way, bringing the Gospel to all those people to where they could be warned. You see, this was Noah’s response as God moved in him “to will and to do of his good pleasure,” and Noah took action.

Now, the question for you and for me, as we are hearing this repeatedly—and I do not think that we can hear this enough, but we are hearing more and more that May 21, 2011 is the Rapture—is have you taken action? We have some space, not very much, but some time. It is very little, but there is still some time left between now until then. Have you taken action? Have you responded to the Word of God?

If so, have you been “moved with fear” to obey God, to pray to Him, “O Lord, O Lord! I have wasted much of my days. When I look at my life, I have wasted years and years of time, and now time is so short and precious. May You please use me? May You please allow me the great privilege of following You, of doing Your will, of giving up my life to serve You in whatever way I might, in whatever way I can? In whatever little way that I can, please, O Lord, permit me to be ‘moved with fear’ to do Your will.”