I have a friend who posted a meme on his Facebook page in response to Israel and Hamas, the text of which went like this: “Am I the only one that feels like the world is about to get closer to Christ? We are living in biblical times. There is no denying that he is King.” Now, my friend may or may not be Christian. I’ve never see him post anything about Jesus before, nor have I seen any expression of faith from him at all. But I still had to ask him: Are you ready?
In a world of 8 billion people, there are as many as 8 billion ways to think and believe, but in truth there’s only one thing that matters: that how they respond to Jesus is the pivot on which their future rests. The thing is, it’s not because of anything that’s happening in the world right now. It’s because he is God. An excellent but often overlooked passage in the Bible (Acts 17:30 – 31) puts it simply for us: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” This contains pretty much all we need to know about these or any other times when it comes to where Jesus fits in.
Let’s look at it more closely then, starting in the middle: “he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.” Jesus himself says we don’t know when that day will be, but we are assured here that it is coming. It’s been fixed by God from all eternity. More than that, when that day comes he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed — Jesus himself. But I don’t see that as the focus of the rest of the verse – the assumption is already there that “Jesus” is the one raised from the dead. The focus is this: That you can bank on it. It’s going to happen. “[O]f this he has given assurance to all” because he’s done something unmistakable to back it up – he raised Jesus from the dead; and that too, as the demonstration of God’s power and authority over all things, means the judgment of which he speaks is a sure thing.
Still, we don’t know when. And so my question is all the more important: Are you ready?
Now we can look at the first part of the passage: The times of ignorance are over. No more excuses. You’ve heard the news. All you can do now to avoid the coming judgement is repent. Still, you might be like the crowds in Jesus’s day (in Luke 13). You want to stall. “What about those crushed by that tower?” “What about those whom Pilate sacrificed on our altar?” It doesn’t matter. The answer then is the answer now: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” In fact, Jesus opens his entire earthly ministry with this message: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15)”
This works across the board today, whether Gaza is going up in flames or not. Whether our embassies are being overrun or not. Whether we’re being sucked into World War III or not. Repent and believe the Gospel, and you will be saved from the coming judgement, whenever it happens. And the Gospel is wrapped up in this: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).” Yes – Jesus Christ (the righteous judge himself) came to live a sinless life, but then took upon himself the punishment we deserved for our sinful lives, so that we could stand before God righteous. I don’t know how many other ways we can say this, but we should get at least this much clear: We gain that righteousness by rejecting our sinfulness and turning to Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life.
Paul wraps it up simply for us in his letter to the Roman church (6:23): “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The world may be coming down around our ears for all it matters. The only thing we need to know is this: Are you ready to accept the free gift or not? Once you’re there, it doesn’t matter what the world is doing to you. Until you’re there, it matters a great deal.