Before it's too late

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

Rev 18:21-24

21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. 22 The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. 23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. 24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth."

NIV

We have seen the stock market in various countries including ours go up and down. Financial experts report the percentage of fall at times with great alarm, then a recovery and they are all excited to report that. People who worship the dollar are completely in tune at all times with this fluctuation, depending on it maintaining a consistent growth for their future and peace of mind. But as we have been seeing this has been the great collapse and now we are told it will happen with much violence. The people of the earth will not see a recovery as they had in past times of a decline. It is a total complete collapse. No music, no closing bell to the market. No business will be conducted ever again. The store shelves are now bare, food is at an all-time premium, but even the farming industry has felt the pain of this calamity, and no grains are being ground. It might be their crops were already either destroyed or plundered by the many people in need of sustaining their lives. What once was a glorious glow of prosperity will never be again, mankind has been plunged into the darkness. It is even possible because of this great economic collapse and the end of many, of not all businesses, unemployment has become the new normal, and without the government able to pay them enough, they cannot pay their bills including to the power companies and the light has been extinguished. We are seeing a total collapse and mankind without power has no recourse, no communication, no ability to resolve their problems.  No more dancing in the streets, no more joy of wedding feasts, and the time of rejoicing over wealth is gone, and mankind is at its lowest. Everyone who was entranced by the lust for more, the dream of wealth, having been led astray by that very thing, are now without anything. The world has been emptied of all that man dreamed of, they are without anything except the one who can save them. Will they now see the foolishness of their ways? Will they now repent and come asking Jesus to save them? Or will they simply continue with their baseness of greed and self-reliance? Will they continue to W it all and therefore they have the power to restore it all once again? When will they see that God has judged their wicked ways? What will it take for people to see that Jesus is the light, the truth and the way? We cannot and will not ever be deceived into believing mankind has the answer, or the ability to save themselves. God is the ultimate authority and he will judge the nations. Our works will be judged and by them we will either be saved or condemned. But it is our works that do that. God does not decide who is in and who is out, we do. If a person does the work of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior they are in. James tells us that faith without works is dead. That is exactly right. If we say we have faith in God, but do not do the works of repentance and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our faith is dead. If we say we have faith in God, but are not born again, that faith is dead, because we cannot enter the kingdom of God unless we are doing the works of being born again in the spirit. Those who do the works of refusing God, refusing Jesus will be paid accordingly. What we have been seeing is their payment, the total collapse of all they have ever put their trust in. Now is the time for salvation, before it is too late.