Have you ever been in a building when a fire alarm goes off? I'm not talking about the tiny little smoke alarms found in houses, I'm talking about fire alarms. They're quite startling - and loud.

I think fire alarms work in much the same way that God plans to work at the end of this world. Everyone will be sitting at ease, completely unsuspecting, and in one terrible instant, everything will be changed. All hearts will be melted, and every mind will be shocked. No matter what anyone was doing before this moment, it will all be trivial compared to the present astonishment that will take hold on every person's life.

Anyhow, below is a message I wrote yesterday that follows along this line of thinking.

In Christ Jesus,

Eric Meier

The Grand Illusion 

Dear child, I will ask you one thing: if you have been born again by My Spirit, why don't you walk in the Spirit? Why do you seek only after your own welfare? Have I not said that you should redeem this short time on earth, and do My will diligently?¹

Beloved, I uncover for you a thing that is hidden to the world: this earth shall one day pass away, and all things in it. And know this also: all works and rewards shall also be tried in this fire, to see if they will last. Not everyone that will say to me, "Lord, Lord" shall be rewarded, but those that have done the will of God.²

You do not see the urgency of this final day because it is coming as a surprise. It is coming as an alarm - a panicked and frightening alarm. A sudden alarm. A fire alarm. And if the owner of a house is vigilant and sober, he will be prepared when the alarm sounds.³ But if he is asleep, or distracted, the alarm will catch him off guard, and he will suffer great loss.

Again I say to you, you do not see the urgency of this alarm, because you do not know when it is coming. But know this assuredly: it is coming. As surely as the sun rises, so too shall this world be judged in the last fire. And where will you be?

Do you not see this impending flame? You do not, because from the beginning of your life up until now you have dwelt at ease. You have not considered that every action will be weighed, every idle word judged. For the good, done according to my will, an eternal and everlasting reward; for the bad, done in your own desires and wantonness, a consuming fire.

"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." -1 Corinthians 3:13-15

Dear child, would you not be grieved and shaken up to see your entire house burned to the ground before your very eyes? And how much more frightening do you suppose it will be to see the very fabric of your life - your actions, your thoughts, and your words - being burned up and incinerated in preparation for an everlasting life in heaven?

You do not see the impending flame, because it is coming as a thief in the night.⁴ You dwell at ease, and do not consider the judgment that is to come. You consider not the weight of your actions, nor your ability to exercise your soul to do either good or evil; but also, you do not consider your own inclination to fritter away in vanity. If a mind is a terrible thing to waste, how much worse do you suppose it is to leave your life and soul eternally wasted?

How long must I bear with you? How long before you see that the only thing keeping Me from placing great grace and righteousness into your hands is the vanity and trivialities that your hands are already occupied and busy in carrying?

"So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." -Luke 14:33

You do not see the urgency of judgment because it is coming in an hour that you know not. Satan, the temporary lord of this world, has blinded your eyes, and caused you to dwell at ease.⁵ "Where is the promise of His coming?" he questions. And that evil one whispers further: "How could life ever be any different than what it has been since the day that you were born? For the sun rises, and sets, and this is all that there is of life. Nothing will ever be any different than this."⁶

And yet I say unto you, ask the dead what will become of this present life. Ask those whose souls are now in torments, if life could ever be anything more than just a sunrise, and a sunset. Or ask those that have gone to glory, and are now enjoying the beginnings of everlasting life, if their hope in the Savior was in vain?

And yet you are blinded, and faithless. You live as though the only things that matter are the things that you can see and touch.⁷ You do not consider the impending flame that is to try every man's works. You do not consider the immense wealth that could be stored up for you in everlasting glory, and instead pursue the things of this passing world.

For sin and carnality have blinded you, and prevented you from seeing the fire that is to come. For all you see is the sun rising, and the sun setting, and think that nothing more will ever come; and this is the grand illusion, and it has deceived many. It has been a very expensive error, and has cost mankind much. My will is for you to awaken from your slumber, and dispel this illusion.

Come, you sleepers, and rouse yourself from your drowsiness. Behold the everlasting gold that awaits you. Behold the terror and eternal weight that the actions of your own life possess. And consider: one day the earth shall be clean dissolved, and why should you too suffer loss at this flame?⁸ Turn from vanity, and lay hold on My eternal rewards.

Delve Deeper

1. Ephesians 5:15-17
2. Matthew 7:21-23
3. Matthew 24:42-44
4. 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3
5. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
6. 2 Peter 3:3-4
7. Colossians 3:1-4
8. Isaiah 24:19-20

© 2004, 2006 Eric Meier