Eternal, Almighty God has provided us with His Word and has told us that His Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  He tells us this and much, much more in a Book every Word of which is His, a book of seeming contradictions that – upon earnest study and comparison of scripture with scripture – melds into a harmonious whole, a book that reveals the Truth about God and our relationship with Him, a book that tells His Story.

Both Alpha and Omega, God knows the end from the beginning, unlike mere mortals.  He created mankind in His image and likeness knowing fully that they would become sinful.  Yet, He did so to reserve a people from among his Creation that would be His own.  And so, He provided Himself as the Perfect One, to make payment for His people.  As we read in the Bible, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23 – King James Version).  God’s eternal promise to His people presupposes an end to this world and universe, an end whose time has been known by God since before Creation yet hidden even from His people until the last days.  Yet, in his great mercy, God always warns His people of any imminent destruction.

In the Book of Genesis, God warned Noah, who had found Grace in His eyes, of the impending destruction of the world because of mankind’s wickedness.  Following God’s directives, Noah labored 120 years building the ark.  Upon its completion, God provided a final warning to the Preacher of Righteousness (namely, Noah), indicating that in seven days He would destroy the world.  And, on the seventeenth day of the second month of that year (May 21, 4990 B.C.), God commenced a worldwide flood that killed all the inhabitants of the earth save those upon the ark.

Later in Genesis, we read the story surrounding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Informed by God of His plans, Abraham pleaded on behalf of his nephew Lot, a resident in that land.  He asked the Lord God to spare the land if there were but fifty righteous people living there.  When God assented, he begged him to relent if there were but 40 righteous people.  Abraham continued reducing the number progressively until he reached ten, and the Lord agreed to spare the land and its people if it were inhabited by just ten righteous people.  Ultimately, however, there were only three:  Lot and his two daughters escaped the fire and brimstone that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

In the Book of Jonah, the Lord charges Jonah, perhaps better known in secular circles for his exploits in the belly of a large fish, with warning the inhabitants of Nineveh of their impending doom.  Entering the great city, Jonah proclaimed to all that in forty days Nineveh would be overthrown.  Unlike others who received warnings, however, the King and inhabitants of Nineveh proclaimed a fast, donned sackcloth, and sat in ashes in hopes that God would change His mind.  Contrite, the Ninevites were spared God’s wrath.

As seekers of the Truth know well, God’s Word is the verification of His Story.  In His Story, God reveals intricate details to His children that remain concealed from non-believers.  God’s Word is just that:  not the words of a prophet or scribe but precisely the Words chosen by God.

In 2 Peter 3:8, God states “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  On the seventeenth day of the second month of the 5771^st year of the Hebrew calendar, God will return to earth.  All previously deceased believers will rise first, and all that believe and are alive on that day will rise to be forever with the Lord.

Those remaining will face the Wrath of God during the next one hundred and fifty-three calendar days better known Biblically as Judgment Day.  This is God’s final warning.  Most, including many religious leaders worldwide, will scoff at this warning, and that too is a part of His Story.  Unlike the Ninevites to whom God revealed the gravity of Jonah’s admonition, those left behind to face Judgment are incapable of displaying the broken and contrite heart that is a necessity for those who will spend eternity with God.

On the seventeenth day of the second month in the 5771st year of the Hebrew calendar, all will know the Truth.  When will that occur?  In our Gregorian calendar, that will be…

May 21, 2011

…exactly 7,000 years to the day since the Great Flood.  The warning to Noah of seven days to destruction also serves as an alert of 7,000 years to final destruction. 

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