The way of Escape from its Impending Judgment.
DEAR reader, we are in the last moments of the history of Christendom, which is about to be cut off for not continuing in God’s goodness; and the blindness now settled on Israel as a nation, because of the veil on their hearts, shall, on turning to the Lord, in mercy be removed; for Jesus, their once rejected and crucified Messiah, shall shortly appear as their Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
The more you read your Bible, the more you will be convinced, if you are subject to the Holy Spirit’s teaching, that we are on the threshold of this most startling event, ―not a bit less serious and awful than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them.
Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, and that judgment must begin at the house of God (for Christendom is the house of God, undoubtedly, not Judaism or Heathenism), let me freely speak to you of a present and eternal salvation from this wrath to come, through faith in the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, and now seated for nearly nineteen hundred years in brightest majesty on His throne; for Jesus is not yet seated on His own throne, but His Father’s.
Dear friend, let me persuade you of this divine fact, that He is there still as the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God, in that bright glory which He had, along with His Father, before the world via God gives eternal life, remission of sins, and the knowledge of salvation to everyone who shall confess with the mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in their heart that God has raised Him from the dead. Do not, therefore, despise this glorious gospel of God’s grace, because it is presented for your acceptance on the principle of faith.
The second chapter of Ephesians, with many other scriptures, declares unmistakably that it is not by works, lest any man should boast; and may God, who is rich in mercy, open your eyes to see, your ears to hear, and your heart to receive, in the simplicity of a little child, this great salvation; for it is, in deed and in truth, a Great Salvation!
Believing it, you shall know and have the joy of it as a fountain of water in you springing up into everlasting life. Oh! rest confidingly in the Word as written in Romans 10, that it is “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” For the scripture saith, no one believing on Him shall be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek (in other words, religious or irreligious people); “for, the same Lord over all is rich towards all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Give heed, then, dear reader, and hearken, for your soul’s present and eternal blessing, to the precious truth of God’s Word, concerning His dear Son, and what He has done. Heed not the traditions of men, telling you of what you have to do, for you can do nothing but perish in your sins. Remember that faith alone in the precious blood of Christ cleanseth from all sins; and, that it is on the principle of faith that the believing sinner appropriates what God in His goodness has provided, viz., salvation from the wrath to come.
The Apostle John says: “Herein has love been perfected with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world.”
The Apostle Paul also, in writing to Timothy (for the gospel in his day was beginning to be corrupted by Judaistic teaching and other things which perverse men had in their religiousness mixed with God’s precious grace), says: “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the affliction of the gospel, according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world begin, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath annulled death, and brought to light [out of the types and shadows of Old Testament Scriptures] life and incorruptibility by the gospel.”
Let me also cite, dear reader, the testimony of one, in this century, who fought the good fight of faith in the midst of much opposition of those who sought to uphold the traditions of men, and who has fulfilled his course, with thousands of others, though dead, yet speaking: ―
“Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay,
While Jesus’ blood, through earth and skies,
Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries!”
May you too, dear unconverted, reader, be now led to believe this glorious gospel of the Blessed God. May you be counted worthy to be among that blessed number who, before the day of God’s coming wrath, and manifested glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall confess Him in life, your living, loving Saviour and Lord; and then, in holy boldness and divine courage, may you go forth to Him without the camp of professing Christendom (about to be spued out of Christ’s mouth, and judged like Babylon of old). Oh, believe that Jesus suffered without the gate, the Just, for you the unjust, that He might bring you to God.
The blessed Spirit of love, in His rich converting grace, make you willing, ere it be too late, in this day of God’s present favor to all the world. It is still the accepted time and day of salvation. Be a simple receiver at the pierced hands of Jesus. Once nailed to that shameful tree of Calvary, He is now in brightest glory waiting for, and bidding you to take as a gift from Himself eternal life, ―a life, indeed, with new desires, new hopes and expectations, with a new destiny of glory with Himself in the heavens, yea, the Paradise of God, and every blessing for time and eternity!
Remember, friend and brother, that presently the door of His mercy will be closed. In Matthew 25 it is said concerning the foolish virgins, that while they went to buy the needed oil, ―for their lamps had gone out, ―that the Bridegroom came; and the wise virgins (simple, yet true believers―wisdom’s children) went in with Him to the, marriage, and the door was shut.
Blessed, I need not say, for the one; but oh! how solemn for the other! May it not be your lot, reader, to be one of those to be shut out, and to whom the Lord will say, “I know you not!”
Soon―the Lord knows how soon! ―the door of His mercy will be closed on rejected Christendom for not continuing in God’s goodness (Rev. 3:1616So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:16)); yea, upon all neglecters, despisers, and refusers of this great salvation. Then, in the agony of remorse and despair, when too late, they shall call on Him, but He will not answer. They shall seek Him early, but shall not find Him; but, given over to believe what is false, they shall be judged, yea, eternally judged, because the love of the truth was not received by them that they might be saved, and because they believed it not.
God grant that the reading of this paper may prove to you, dear reader, a life-word, and not a death-word. In Revelation 21 The blessed promise of the living glorified Saviour is, to soul-thirsty ones, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”
“Haste, traveler, haste! the night comes on,
And many a shining hour is gone;
The storm is gathering in the west,
And thou art far from home and rest.
Haste, traveler, haste!”
H. P.