Fire Next Time

 Happy Sunday!

"Look for the rainbow, and remember My promise. With it I sign the covenant I have made between Me and all the living creatures residing on the earth."(Genesis 9:17 Voice).

In 1990, Coach Bill McCartney founded "Promise Keepers".  The group focuses on helping men live with integrity.  I first heard about them when my uncle, Lee A. Green Sr. attended one of the gatherings.  In our humanness we often need help staying on the straight and narrow.  But aren't you glad God never has a problem keeping His promises?  Numbers 23:19 says, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"(KJV).  In Isaiah 55:11, God says, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."(KJV). 

Maybe a little back story would be helpful.  The inhabitants of the earth had become so evil.  Genesis 6:5-7 says, "God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I’m sorry I made them."(Message).  "BUT there was one person whom the Lord could not let go of—Noah—because this man pleased Him."(Genesis 6:8 Voice).  Another translation of verse 8 says, "But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah."(Message).

So Noah spent many, many years building an ark to God's specifications.
The rains came, the people and all living creatures that were not in the ark were destroyed.  After the floods receded, God made a promise to Noah, and all the living creatures on earth.  He used the rainbow as a reminder to Himself and also to us.  He vowed that the entire earth would not be destroyed again with water.  Don't miss this!  It won't be destroyed with water, but it can and will be destroyed.  The Apostle Peter wrote, "They conveniently forget that long ago all the galaxies and this very planet were brought into existence out of watery chaos by God’s word. Then God’s word brought the chaos back in a flood that destroyed the world. The current galaxies and earth are fuel for the Final FIRE. God is poised, ready to speak his word again, ready to give the signal for the judgment and destruction of the desecrating skeptics."(2 Peter 3:5-7 Message). OUCH!

The Apostle Peter called it the "final fire".  Have there been other fires?  I'm so glad you asked.  Long after Noah, God became friends with Abraham.  God decided to share some information with His friend.   Genesis 18:20-21 says, "So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are utterly evil, and that everything they do is wicked.  I am going down to see whether these reports are true or not. Then I will know.”(Living Bible).  Abraham had heard the reports as well, and he had family living there.  So he began to bargain with God.  He asked, “Lord, when you destroy the evil people, are you also going to destroy those who are good? Wouldn’t you spare the city if there are only fifty good people in it?"(Genesis 18:23-24 CEV).  He went back and forth with God until he got down to 10.  "Finally, Abraham said, “Please don’t get angry, Lord, if I speak just once more. Suppose you find only ten good people there.” “For the sake of ten good people,” the Lord told him, “I still won’t destroy the city.”(Genesis 18:32 CEV).

Well, the cities were destroyed.  So God couldn't even find 10 good people to justify saving them.  Each book of the Bible has a representation, or type and shadow of Jesus.  Jesus is our "Ark" of safety.  When we accept Him we are protected from the coming calamity.  The Apostle Paul said, "For in Him we live and move and have our being;"(Acts 17:28 Amplified).  Sounds like a safe place to be.

Love and prayers, Cynthia