How do you think non-believers would respond if God announced when Jesus was returning? This devotion looks at several options to that scenario.
Nuggets
- Non-believers will be judged for their unbelief.
- We all have to decide for ourselves whether we are going to submit to God or not.
- We know sincere deathbed confessions are accepted by God.
Devotions in the What I Believe series
Devotions in the End Times category
Second Coming Focus
What Would Non-Believes Do If They Knew Jesus Were Coming Tomorrow?
We had church in the parking lot again this week. It is the first time I’ve been up front on the Praise Team since we started this. (Yes, Pastor Chad and Pastor Chris are still doing the Facebook and website broadcasts and will continue to do so.)
Pastor Chad has been preaching in the Book of Daniel. Today’s sermon was in Chapter 8.
One of Pastor Chad’s points was disciples have to be about God’s work. I had a thought flit through my head while he was preaching. Luckily, it stayed in the back of my mind until now so I could chew on it a while.
Let’s look at a what-if scenario.
Let's Put It into Context
What if at 12:00 pm tomorrow, all over the universe we hear the voice of God. “This is Sovereign God, the Creator of the universe. Everything I said in the Bible is true.
“Tomorrow, My Son Jesus is coming to rapture the church. I am sending Him to bring home all of my children who have admitted their sins, believed in Him as Savior and Redeemer, confessed Me as Sovereign Lord, and demonstrated that commitment by showing they loving me through how they live their lives.”
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
“No, not all of my creation who have been made in My image are My children. I am calling home My believers.”
How do you think non-believers would respond to the voice?
I Still Won’t Believe
“Jesus asked, ‘Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?’” (Jn. 4: 48 NLT)
Yep, God speaking with us would be miraculous — but I bet there would still be some people who won’t believe. Because they wouldn’t understand the voice and couldn’t explain it, they would refuse to believe it was God.
God wants everyone to be saved. “… God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2: 3-4 ESV).
But that isn’t going to happen. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7: 13-14 ESV).
Non-believers will be judged for their unbelief. They are going to be the goats on the left.
Judgment isn’t going to be fun. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done” (Rev. 20: 12 ESV). “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20: 15 ESV).
The only thing people will be judged on is whether they have submitted their lives to God. It won’t be on what social issues they championed. It won’t be on how we treated other people.
It will be if we “… love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul and with all [our] mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Mt. 22: 37-38 ESV). Is our names written in the Book of Life?
Didn’t You Love Me?
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment’” (Lk. 16: 27-28 NIV)
I think another reaction from non-believers would be kind of like the Rich Guy. He woke up in hell and regretted his choice. He wanted Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his brothers (Lk. 16: 27-28). It was bad enough that he did not want his loved ones joining him.
There was a big problem, though. Rich Guy never admitted he had been told the plan of salvation — he had. He didn’t admit that he had it wrong.
Instead, we could look at it one of two ways. Rich a guy may have been trying to run the show. Or maybe he was just whining.
How could we see that playing out today? Worldview people want to be left alone to believe whatever they want. They sometimes accuse disciples of trying to force our beliefs on them. We are supposed to love them enough to leave them alone.
I wonder if it would be our fault that they hadn’t believed once it is in their face that they were wrong. Are they going to tell us we should have made more of an effort to get them to believe?
It won’t be our fault. Each person has to decide for themselves whether they are going to submit to God or not. No one else is to blame.
Be My Father
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2: 8-9 ESV)
There would be some who would make a immediate profession of faith. Maybe they had already been searching. Maybe it would be the “train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22: 6 ESV).
We know sincere deathbed confessions are accepted by God. Jesus acknowledged repentant dude’s confession on the cross. Repentant dude was going with Jesus to Paradise that day.
The miraculous voice may just be what they need to become believers.
Making the Connections
But that leads us to a really big problem. The miraculous voice is not going to happen.
“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Mt. 24: 38-44 ESV).
Other than the end-time signs, there will be no warning that Jesus is grabbing His cloud and sickle. Non-believers have to accept because of faith. Faith is the belief that the doctrines stated in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
We’ve got to be ready. Jesus may come before I finish writing this devotion. We won’t know when Jesus is coming.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
We’ve been asking these questions all along so we can prepare for when we are asked to defend our beliefs. Here is the worksheet again. How would explain to non-believers that they have gotten all the notice about Jesus’ return that they are going to get?
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
How Do We Apply This?
“And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it” (Dan. 8: 27 ESV)
Daniel has been having these visions. They were prophesy, some about the end times.
The visions upset Daniel so much that he was physically sick. That means what he saw is going to be horrific.
Daniel didn’t scream that he had to understand. He didn’t rail because God was holding out on him even though he was a prophet.
No, Daniel went about the King’s business.
So what are we supposed to do? We’ve got a job to do. We are to proclaim the gospel and make disciples.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Talk to worldview people and tell them God is real and is coming again to judge us. We need to tell them about the end-time signs. We have to let them know that the day is coming soon.
We have to love them enough to witness to them. We have to love them enough to withstand the rejection.
The most important thing we can do is share the love of God with a non-believer. We need to do that before time runs out.
Father God. You have given us in Your Scriptures everything we need to know. If it isn’t in there, we don’t need to know it. You don’t need a relationship with us. We need a relationship with You — and amazingly, You want relationships with us. Help us to tell others about Your love. Give us courage and the words to say so that we can point them to You. We wait and watch for the day that Jesus returns. Amen.
What do you think?
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