Just What Does....Our Not Knowing The Day Nor The Hour....Mean?

                So there is yet another hurricane coming into the Big Bend area of Florida....and evacuation orders have been issued....and the Weather Channel is on top of this with predictions of a storm surge possibly as high as twenty feet. The days of the 'hurricane parties' may be over. We do as a people seem to be taking these storms more seriously. Economics is playing a part in our increased attention to the hurricanes as insurance costs are becoming unbearable especially for the growing numbers of retirees who have second homes in Florida.
                Man in general though....as it pertains to God's warnings to us....still does not take those warnings seriously. It was the norm in the Old Testament for the people to ignore....and even kill God's prophets who gave those warnings. Nineveh was an exception but by the time that Jonah made his was up to the city....the story of the mariners throwing him overboard....along with Jonah's narrative of why God brought the storm upon the ship....and the sudden calming of the sea when he was thrown overboard....all of this was fresh in the ears of the Ninevites. So when Jonah walked through those gates....probably bleached out from the fish's belly....telling them that they had but forty days to repent....the king and the people....'evacuated immediately'....so to speak.
                God has always given ample warnings of judgment. Think about it....would we rather it any other way? Jeremiah warned the people of Jerusalem...and the king and the princes....for over forty years....and even when the judgment came....and the temple was gone....and the city and its walls destroyed....they would still not believe Jeremiah's continued directions!
                Even evangelicals who seem so excited about the sensationalized claims from 'prophecy experts' like Jonathan Cahn....don't really seem to grasp the situation. They consider this more of a warning to win back the Congress and the White House....as if that was the heart of our problem....instead of seeing our heart as the problem!
                 Prophecy....end-times prophecy....has an essential part in the Christian's life....but it does not convert the heart....and if used improperly....it dulls the Christian's heart. The preached gospel is God's primary means for converting the lost...and for the sanctification of the believer....but preaching unfortunately is the weakness in the church today!
                 We are to be a set-apart people....not set apart as conservatives....but set apart in that this is not our home. We are traveling through. There is a path....and it is narrow....and it is at times very dangerous. How many times does the New Testament tell us to be vigilant and sober-minded and to stay awake? Jesus would tell his disciples....'see....I have told you in advance'.....or 'I have told you these things so that you do not fall away.'
                 No....it is in our spiritual DNA....the extreme danger is that we will be like Lot's wife. We just cannot tear ourselves away from this world. We do not want to be considered fools....but the real foolish one is he who claims that he believes the Bible to be the Word of God....and knows that God's judgments always come about....and cannot avoid all that is written about the end-times....and what it will be like....and then sees that description all around him....yet still clings to the hope that storm will not come as forecast....or that if he just travel a little ways and stay at a Hampton for a few days....that he can return and things will be as they once were.
                Prophecy to so many of us has become nothing more than an IMAX dystopian movie....great fun....and then its back to the real world. Prophesy becomes real when as with Paul....we can say that we ran the race....past tense....as it should be run....or as with Peter....who knew there was little time left....and was going to use that time reminding the believers to be diligent in making sure that they were in the faith.
                Do you have oil in your lamps! Probably....even the foolish virgins had oil in their lamps....but when the night went on....(the last forty years for us evangelicals for example)....and the cry came at midnight...."Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him"....the wise virgins had extra oil to put in their lamps and go out to meet the bridegroom....while the others used up their oil....and had to sit and figure out what to do....and when they figured it all out they asked to be let into the marriage feast....but were denied entry.
                What more could you want as a warning than this....after Jesus told this parable He said...."Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." What would we say in response...."Gee....I thought that not knowing the day nor the hour meant something else!"