Will We Share the Good News?

“Lift up your eyes to the sky,

Then look to the earth beneath;

For the sky will vanish like smoke,

And the earth will wear out like a garment

And its inhabitants will die in like manner;

But My salvation will be forever,

And My righteousness will not wane."

Isaiah 51:6

Isaiah prophesied of the events that will occur in the Second Coming of Jesus (Matthew 24:4-9, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 6:12-17), when the Lord's justice will be displayed to Israel and all the nations of the earth. Thousands of years have passed since Isaiah's prophecy, the warnings of Jesus, the words of Peter and John's revelation. Why is God waiting so long? Peter tells us why: "But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." It is God's mercy that stays His hand of judgment. He's holding back so that more and more people can enter His kingdom before it's too late. And we who know Him have the responsibility to share the good news of God's salvation with those who don't know and don't understand so that they may know His mercy and live. God has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. What He has said He will do, He will do. What He says will happen, will happen. If our neighbors lived in the path of a raging fire, wouldn't we warn them and show them the way to safety? Why, then, are we so afraid to warn them of the judgment that is coming and show them the way to mercy? (Friends, I ask this very question of myself as I write it.) May God give me -- and you -- the courage to share His salvation with everyone He places in our path.