Couldn't sleep night before last. I layed there asking, "is this you Lord? Are you wanting my attention or I just can't sleep?" I was so wide awake, I got up and went into the family room. In my head, I heard 2 Kings 20. Ok.
I was reading, and knew the story...Hezekiah is dying, and Isaiah tells him so. "Get your house in order, your going to die."
Hezekiah begs the Lord to remember all that he's done for Him, and cries bitterly.
Isaiah doesn't even get beyond the outer court of the palace, and God sends him back in to tell Hezekiah He is going to add 15 years to His life. This is where it gets interesting...Hezekiah gets a letter and gift from a distant king, who heard he was sick. Hezekiah, then invites him into his kingdom and shows him everything he owns. Everything! Isaiah drops by and says, "who's this guy and where is he from?" Hezekiah tells him he is a king from Babylon. Isaiah says, "what did you show him?" and Hezekiah tells him he showed him everything he owned. He ends up getting a prophecy from Isaiah that everything he owns, including sons that are not yet born, will be carried off into Babylon. And Hezekiah prays for mercy and tells his sons......
Actually no...he says, "ok..that's a good word. I at least will have peace while I live." In total apathy...he does nothing. For his own life, he interceded in tears, but for the generations after him, he did nothing. He should have been teaching his sons about the King of Babylon, warning them, spending his remaining 15 years teaching them to pray, rely on God alone, plan some strategy's about how to deal with Babylon. The end of the chapter tells about all the things King Hezekiah did are written in the chronicles of the Kings. He did some amazing things, including creating a conduit to bring water into Jerusalem. But in the end, everything he owned including his grandchildren were carried off to Babylon.
I see the church this way today. We have programs...we have missions. We teach all kinds of things, except for the fact that Jesus is really coming back, and by looking at Jesus words of warning, we know that it's soon. 5 years or 50 who knows, but soon. And even if it's a 150, are we saying, "that's a good word...at least I will have peace in my lifetime... ?" Or worse yet, the teaching that the church will be raptured before the tribulation, so, again, who cares. If the church really believed what the bible said, we would all be teaching Revelation, the "rest" of the story. We would be teaching the future generations how to stand in the day of trouble. How to discern what the apostate church will look like, and the deception it is. We are each given differing gifts, but we are all responsible to search out truth and to understand the hour in which we live. We can't know the day or time, but we absolutely can know the season. Jesus said we could.
We will truly live differently, if we really believe He's coming. And the deception that comes to the church before He returns is so compelling, that even those who already know Him, could be deceived. It's nothing to be afraid of, if we study and spend time with Jesus, developing intimacy with Him. But if my grandchildren will possibly see Jesus..then the time is NOW, to get them ready...and if He tarries, they will teach their children, and generations will be ready when the time comes. Do we care? I do. People get ready...Jesus is coming.
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