On the west coast of England there is a steep rock that is known as “The Lady’s Rock.” At low tide it is on a sandy beach; at high tide the waters surround it.
Once there was a woman who sat down at low tide to read a book. She did not notice the tide was coming in until she heard the shout of a coast guard on the cliff. Then she saw that the waves with their white foam were between her and the shore. There was no boat, and the watchers who quickly gathered on the beach could not reach her.
The coast guard shouted, “Climb the rock!” It was the only way to keep out of the water, but the rock was steep. Even the boys who climbed its face to get sea bird eggs had trouble getting up to the nests. How could she climb it? As she hesitated, an incoming wave splashed spray at her feet. She could see that the tide was coming closer, and she began to climb, little by little, until she reached a ledge. She looked down at the sea; it was rising higher and higher, and she was getting wet with its spray.
“Climb higher!” shouted the people on the shore. Again she inched her way upward, hanging on with bleeding fingers and finding footholds in crevices, until at last she was able to grasp a tuft of grass at the top and to pull herself up. She collapsed on top of the rock while the people shouted, “She’s saved! Thank God, she’s saved!”
There was no one who could save her from the rising sea, but there is someone who can save you from the wrath of God before it comes in like a rising flood upon this world. Like the lady on the rock, you may be so interested in the things of the world around you that you do not realize that you may be lost in that sea.
You cannot save yourself, but if you call on the Lord Jesus Christ, He will save you — He will deliver you “from the wrath to come.” The lady of the rock saved herself by climbing up the rock, but there is no way to climb from earth to heaven. There must be a deliverer, and that deliverer is the Lord Jesus Christ.