Evacuation Alert

Good News – July/August 2011 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Evacuation Alert:
Will You Heed The Warning?

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” Hebrews 2:3

On an Internet blog about natural disasters, a writer asked this question about people in danger: “Why do people still refuse to heed hurricane warnings only to suffer in the end?”

The writer mentioned the threat of fires that were burning in Houston, Texas, and the calls that went out for the people to evacuate. They were calls that some people ignored. The writer noted his frustration about the reaction to this threat, and also one about the hurricane.

“I don’t get it,” he wrote. “I really don’t. Houston and Galveston residents were repeatedly told about the dangers of Hurricane Ike (Sept. ’08), and still some chose to stay.”

Sadly enough, the same question can be asked about people who refuse to obey God and respond to His warnings about future judgment. The warning is clear: God hates sin, and His judgment – eternal punishment – is awaiting those who die in their sins without Christ.

The Bible says that God “has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man (Jesus) whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31 NKJV).

Judgment for sin will be far worse than any natural disaster. Christ will deal out retribution to the people who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the Gospel. “These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Th. 1:8-9).

Even though the warning is severe, people choose to ignore it – just like they ignore the warnings about hurricanes, wildfires and floods. Unfortunately, they do this to their peril.

Despite the awful outcome of living and dying in sin, there is a way of escape. God has an evacuation plan, and it is found in Jesus Christ, His Son. We must put our trust in Him alone to save us. He said, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (Jn. 8:24).

God doesn’t want anyone to die without Christ and suffer (2 Pet. 3:9). That’s why “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18).

God’s evacuation plan to save us from judgment is activated by simple faith. Here is what Christ promised: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (Jn. 5:24).

God offers us eternal life as a free gift that can only be received by faith. But if we reject it, we endanger ourselves. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb. 2:3).

What will you do? Will you ignore the warning? Will you procrastinate and risk your future? Or will you follow God’s evacuation plan, and trust in Christ to be saved? We can tell you more.

By Roscoe Barnes III