“It was a Saturday, and the surf was huge, with fifteen/twenty foot waves! We would find ourselves sitting in these glassy conditions for a while on our surfboards, when someone would call, “BIG set coming!” Then with every ounce of energy, we would paddle towards the horizon because we saw these fine shadows of lines coming towards us, and we knew that at any moment there would be fifteen/twenty foot waves pounding in on us! We had a choice if we were caught inside. If a wave was going to break on us, we could either hold onto our surfboards, and risk getting caught up in those waves and killed (by being hit by our boards), or, we could get off our surfboards, thrust them far from us, and dive deep into that water and the safety of the depth…”
Now for years the prophets have warned: ‘BIG set coming!’ Like a great wave the justice of God is coming closer and closer to us. Those fine shadows are now much closer than they were thousands of years ago, and each of us are caught up inside. We have violated God’s Law, and the wave of God’s justice will fall upon us on the coming Day of Judgement.
So we are left with a clear choice. We can either wait and let God’s wrath fall upon us, we can stay with our darling sins that uphold and will be the death of us, or we can get off, and through repentance, thrust those sins far from us and dive deep into the love and mercy of God which is alone in Jesus Christ.
When the wave of God’s Judgment Day arrives many will rejoice to see justice done. Murderers, terrorists, rapists, all criminals, even those who have avoided punishment in this life, will finally be brought to justice. Not only will actions be judged, but even words and thoughts. Jesus said: “I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). He said: “For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret” (John 7:4). There really is no such thing as a secret with God.
The apostle John, writing in the book of Revelation, records a vision of Judgment Day: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works… And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:12-13, 15). Truly, it will be, “A fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).
Will the wave of God’s wrath fall upon you? The Bible says: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Jesus said: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
Jesus’ resurrection on the third day from the dead demonstrated the truth of His words when He said: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). He said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). It’s like this: we broke God’s Law, and so deserve God’s judgment in Hell, but in an act of great mercy, God punished His own Son in our place. Jesus was a substitute for our sin. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he cried out, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
You must understand that if you cling to your sin it will be the death of you. You must thrust your sin far from you and realise that, “He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). The Bible says: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). ‘Repent’ means to show that you are genuinely sorry for your sins against God by confessing them to Him and turning from them. Then realise that, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
Dive deep into the love and mercy of God by putting all of your hope and trust in Jesus’ substitution for your sins on the cross. Simply, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21) will shelter you from God’s justice on Judgment Day because, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
If you do this, no longer will God’s wrath be upon you, as God’s justice will have been satisfied in what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Really, a Christian is just a pardoned criminal trusting minute by minute in what Christ did for them on the cross. Jesus said: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). Do you believe on the Son? Your answer to this vital question will determine your eternal destiny. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12).
The Lord’s Work Trust 2010. ‘BIG Set Coming!’ analogy taken from ‘The Way Of The Master’ (episode 3). Permission kindly granted by Living Waters Publications. The Lord’s Work Trust does not necessarily endorse every aspect of Living Waters Ministries.