In my last post, I used a story about a problem when flying with my dad to illustrate a point about trusting our Heavenly Father. Now, I would like to use this same story to illustrate another point. Here is that story again.
My dad is a private pilot. One day, we were flying in his Piper Arrow. We got ready to land. We were on approach and he said “we have a problem”. I asked what it was. He said “We have only two green”. He was referring to the green indicator lights which indicated that the landing gear were down and locked. There was one for each of the three landing gear. Saying that there were “three green” indicated that all gear were down and locked, in preparation for landing. Having only “two green” was definitely a problem.
The main gear under the wing on my side of the plane had no green light, indicating that it was not down or, if it was down, it was not locked in place. If we had landed in that situation, the plane could have cartwheeled. My dad performed an emergency gear extension. On this particular airplane, that involved a procedure to release the hydraulic pressure which normally held the landing gear in the up position and then doing a little aerobatic maneuvering to get them to come down and lock. When he had finished all this, he announced “We now have three green”. He assured me that everything was now fine. Guess what? I believed him. Guess what else? He was right. We were fine. We had a normal and uneventful landing, after which the plane went to the maintenance hanger to get checked out.
This could have gone very differently. When my dad moved the gear extension handle, he did not just assume that the gear had extended and locked. He looked at the gear indicator lights and, when he saw that only two of the three lights were lit, he took appropriate action. What if he had not ben paying attention and just assumed that the gear had extended properly. What if he had felt stressed by seeing only two of the three lights lit and so decided to ignore what the third dark light clearly indicated. What if I had told him that the thought of the aerobatic maneuvering, which was part of the emergency gear extension procedure, made me uncomfortable and I asked him not to do it and he agreed? All of that may have made us feel better for the moment but the long term impact would have been, well, an impact, probably several. The gear indicator lights were placed there for a reason. Ignoring what they indicated about the plane’s condition and what needed to be done as a result, clearly, would have been foolish.
Let’s think about this as it relates to the world right now. Just like my dad looking at only two green indicator lights, we have clear indicators that things are not well with our world and, just like him, we cannot afford to ignore what we see, although responding to it may make us uncomfortable. I am not a scholar of eschatology (the study of biblical end times prophecy) but I have studied it enough, I believe, to have a pretty good handle on where we are right now. I am 44 years old and, if I live to be a normal age, I truly believe that Christ’s church will be raptured in my lifetime.
When I refer to the rapture of Christ’s church, I do not simply mean people who attend or claim affiliation with a Christian church. I mean people who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Master and truly submitted to His lordship. These people, unfortunately, are very much in the minority.
Those who are left behind after the rapture will be left to face a reality that is more horrific than anything in history. It will be the worst seven years of tribulation the world has ever known, during which three quarters of the world’s population will die and many of those will initially welcome death when it comes as an escape. However, as these people will have been left behind because of the hardness of their hearts toward God, they will find no escape in death, unless they have had a change of heart.
My dad could see those indicator lights but I am blind and so could not see them. He had to tell me about them. We, as Christians, can see the signs of the times, if we are looking, and we have a clear obligation to those who cannot see them. Those who are spiritually blind walk in darkness. They cannot see the signs of what is coming nor the path they should take to avoid it and so we must show them.
To avoid what is coming, there is only one path, only one way. In John 14:6, Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” and In John 8:12, He said “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life”. We are to let His light shine through us, to be the light of the world, to show the way to Him. How many of us are really doing that. Are you?
Many of us look at what is going on in the world today and we think of Luke 21:28, in which Jesus said “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near”. Yes, our redemption draws near and we should rest in that, as in take comfort, but we shouldn’t rest, as in stop working. We still have much work to do. In this Scripture, Jesus was speaking of us anticipating and waiting for His arrival and this reminds me of another Scripture which talks about waiting on the Lord.
Read Psalm 130. I encourage you to read the whole thing but let’s look, in particular, at verse 6, which says “My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning”. The idea here is of a guard, as in a military setting, keeping watch at night. Night time is much more dangerous because of the darkness and so this watchman, naturally, eagerly waits for the light of dawn. However, his job isn’t just to wait for that light. His job is to keep watch and warn those who are under his charge and cannot see what is coming in the darkness. That is our job as well. We should await the Lord taking us away from the darkness of this world and bringing us into His light but, in the mean time, we are to tell those God has put in our charge about what is coming in the darkness. Psalm 130 is all about finding redemption in the Lord. Are you helping people to find that redemption and then helping them to help others?
Matthew 28
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
