Several years ago the country of England suffered severe storms that uprooted old, old trees and caused much ruin and unhappiness. But none of them compared with “the great storm of 1703.” Day after day, raging winds and rain forced families to stay indoors and kept all boats and ships in harbors.
Finally, after two weeks, November 25th was the first clear day with calm seas. Seamen were eager to sail again. People sighed with relief that now the winds had calmed down and they could get some sleep.
A man named Mr. Winstanley was anxious to get out to some rocks in the English Channel. Four years earlier he had built a great lighthouse on the Eddystone Rocks. He and a few men were going across to make some small repairs. He was proud of his lighthouse and felt in his own mind that nothing could destroy it. He even said he wished he could be inside it during “the worst storm that ever was.” He and his men landed on the rocks on November 26th, and began their work.
However, unknown to everyone, a hurricane coming across the Atlantic Ocean was growing stronger and stronger. By midnight the roar of the wind that had reached 100 miles an hour was terrifying. The hurricane hit and raged for three hours. Tidal waves drove a wall of water over the countryside. Thousands of trees were uprooted, and houses were reduced to rubble. Roofs rolled up like paper and were blown into the distance. Inside was no safer than outside, and while many were killed on land, thousands died at sea.
Do you want to know what happened to Mr. Winstanley and the men who were in the great lighthouse? The big yellow light was beaming brightly just before the hurricane hit, but the next morning only the rocks were left. This famous lighthouse and all who felt safe in it disappeared without a trace.
How sad it is to put faith in something that will fail when the testing time comes. God warns us that a day is coming when the anger of God will be poured out on a world that rejected His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Thessalonians 1:89 we are warned that those who do not believe or obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,” and those who do believe and obey will escape all of it. They are safe in Christ, the Rock, and can say with confidence, “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that . . . we should live together with Him” (1 Thessalonians 5:910). That is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever. One is safe from the storm, and the other is destroyed by the storm. It is not too late to trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation right now. “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Psalm 18:22The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (Psalm 18:2)).
Are you safe from the storm?
ML-03/31/1996