Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
DO YOU NOT SEE . . . ?
The sight of circling vultures is not a pleasant sight to behold, for it depicts a dead carcass. Yet this vivid picture of corruption is needed, if we are to know ourselves and the condition from which we have been delivered.
This world is like a foul, rotting carcass. Just as the circling flight of the vultures identifies a rotting carcass, so the judgment of God hovers over this foul, corrupt, stinking world. By nature we enter this world smelling worse than a foul, rotting carcass. Our sin causes that stench. God often sends the vultures of judgment already in this life in order to arouse the wicked and bring them to repentance before that last and terrible day when the entire world will become food for the vultures of His final judgment.
In the days of Noah the circling judgment of the Lord came in the form of a flood. The same judgment hovered over Sodom whose inhabitants thought no change would come in their selfish sensual life. But the deluge came and the fire and brimstone descended. So will it be with the advent of Christ on the last day; it will come as a sudden unexpected judgment on many. Men fancy that they are safe and nothing will interfere with their security, but the Savior makes His advent suddenly and they are overwhelmed.
Would we give our life for a decaying corpse? Jesus, God's Son, did. He took upon Himself all our sins and paid for them on Calvary's cross. That marvelous redeeming work brought us pardon, peace, and forgiveness before the holy, almighty God. Trusting in that Savior, we now stand sparkling, pure, and clean before God. Jesus' righteousness covers all our sins. The vultures of judgment fly away for there is no food for them. Now there hovers over us the dove of God's Holy Spirit, for we who once were dead are now alive and have become new creatures in Christ.
