If there's
one thing Satan "wants to destroy" above all others, it's
the urgency of the gospel. Whereas the word declares, "... I
have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of
salvation have I succoured thee: behold now is the accepted
time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2),
Satan has "a thousand ways" to say, "There's no hurry;
another time will do."
The scripture we
just quoted clearly conveys several critical truths. One is
that there's a "time accepted" and a "day of salvation." No
one can be saved at any other time. In the "day of
salvation," God says, "I succoured thee." That's an old word
meaning "helped." No one can be saved without God's active
"help," and that's only available at a certain time.
Connected to all of this is the key word "now." "Now" for
any individual is when God says, "Now." The only opportunity
any man has to be saved is when God, by the Spirit draws
near, pressing the claims of the gospel upon his heart as a
result of an anointed ministry of the word. That's the
accepted time. To say, "yes," at such a time---to
surrender---is, with God's help, to enter into everlasting
life. To say, "no," is to risk damnation. There's no
guarantee He will call again.
A sinner is like
a man drowning in the middle of a raging sea with no hope in
himself of surviving. The gospel, anointed, alive with God's
power, is His hand reaching out to the sinner. When the
sinner, blind to his true condition, thrusts away God's
mercy and the hand is withdrawn, what then?
When God ceases
to strive, whether with an individual or with humanity as a
whole, it's over. Prayer at that point is useless. Consider
Esau who despised his opportunity when he had it. Later he
sought a place of repentance, realizing only then the value
of what he had lost, but was rejected, "though he sought it
carefully with tears." Heb. 12:17.
There'll be
"a lot of praying" when Christ comes and the world realizes
its fate---as was, no doubt, the case in Noah's day---but it
will be too late. Just as God closed the door to the ark
prior to the flood, so will the door to His kingdom close
forever before His Son returns to gather home His own and
"rain fire" on this world.
