“…and the great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give her the cup of the fierceness of His wrath.” (Rev.16:19b)
Does this verse leave you quaking in your boots too?
Imagine if we received the penalty for our sins … the wrath we’ve earned?
Yet, Ephesians 5 reminds us that because of God’s rich mercy and great love, even when we were dead in our sins, He made us alive with Christ. He saved us by His grace!
Ephesians paints a picture you and I need to see daily.
Stand with me in the shadowy wing of a vast gallery displaying portraits of familiar faces—yours and mine! Do you see the sunken eyes? The mottled, emaciated skin? The thick chains that have ravaged our flesh and opened sores, left scars? Shrieks of pain overtake the once proud and self-confident visages, and in their place lay the crippled, broken, still forms death has claimed. Too horrible to look upon, their torment bleeds through the canvas. Icy fingers grope in the darkness, in one last menacing attempt to kill, steal, and destroy us…
Hurry, now. Don’t delay! Run with me through a narrow passageway that brightens with each step. Our heart rate slows as we enter a smaller space, the floor laden with gold. Awe fills us as we scan the walls, each portrait bathed in a radiant glow. We recognize the smiling faces— some familiar, some new, some we’ve longed to meet.
The Tour Guide approaches. Dressed in white linen, crowned with many crowns, He holds out His arms, His nail-pierced hands, in greeting. In His embrace, we escape the anguish we’d felt from the previous portraits—sin’s punishment He’d paid…
When we choose to kneel before the Lord, relinquish our sins and accept His pardon for our wrongdoing, and ask Him to be the Lord of our lives, our portrait changes. We no longer face the fierceness of His wrath. We’re wrapped in His love – now and in the life to come.
That verse in Revelation speaks of a time to come during the tribulation. As you think of loved ones, friends, and neighbors who haven’t accepted Christ as their Savior, imagine in which gallery you’ll view their portraits.
What are you willing to do to change their picture? To bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?
By Amre Cortadino
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Amen! No doubt as to what we’ve been commissioned to do!! Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
Great blog Amre. Gives us a pause to be reminded to “be about our Fathers business”. The great commission!!
Amen! Pray – sometimes it’s the best we can do, and leave the rest to the Holy Spirit! 🙂
Powerful post, Amre! Yes, sadly, I believe we all have friends and loved ones who do not know the saving love of Jesus. I pray fervently for their salvation.
Thanks for sharing!
Amen!!! 🙂
Amen – so thankful for our salvation and continued prayers for those who aren’t! 🙂
Wow! What a post! This paints such an awesome portrait of our present and future. So glad I’m found in Him. Stirs me to pray for my loved ones. Thanks for sharing.
It is definitely NOT a pretty picture for those who don’t know Christ! May we share the Lord with those we love and know!
Amen!! Pray and be a laborer! 🙂
What to do? Pray, pray, pray! Luke 10:2 comes to mind:
“Therefore, said he unto them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.”
Thanks for stopping by, Kathy! 🙂
Excellent reminder.
True! I don’t want my joy to be mitigated – I want to experience it with everyone!!!! 🙂
Beautiful picture of what awaits us through God’s grace and love and a strong encouragement to reach the lost before it’s too late.
I hear you!! This glimpse of how it will be to see loved ones and friends really shook me to the core! Praying God will equip us as He sends us. Blessings and hugs! 🙂
Thank you, Amre, for this encouragement to think about the lost. I know I need to, but I don’t know that I look at the lost with the intensity that I need to. Blessings to you always.
The best!! 🙂
Some tour guide!