When God says Your Time is Up

(2 Thessalonians 1:9-12)

Recently, I have been studying different scriptures and have noticed that there comes a time when God says your time is up. He reaches a point where His patience ends and He says “Enough!”

And sadly, when God says your time is up, there is no escaping His judgement. Who can stand against the will of God?

This scripture I am looking at today is just one more that reminds me that although God is patient with everyone, there does come an end to His patience. And there will come a time when God says your time is up.

The Patience of the Lord

There is no question that God is patient with His people. He has given His people His grace and in it He overlooks our many faults.

Jesus too shows His great patience for people in the hope that they will repent and come to Him. He says this in many ways, and one of the best I find is where scripture says:

19 He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will any one hear his voice in the streets; 20 he will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick, till he brings justice to victory; 21 and in his name will the Gentiles hope.” (Matthew 12:19-21)

His patience is such that if there is even the glimmer of a spark that someone might come to God, then He will not quench that spark. Instead He will give it every opportunity to be fanned into a flame for Christ.

But this is not the case with everyone because for many the time has come, and will come again when God says your time is up.

When God says your time is up

There are many instances where we see the patience of God was tested and eventually ran out. Consider the times of Noah when God waited patiently for the building of the Ark. He gave up on mankind and His patience ran out. For the rest of the world at that time God made it clear that their time was up. And the whole world apart from Noah and his immediate family was destroyed.

Again we see in the situation of Sodom and Gomorrah a situation when God says your time is up.

There was a great outcry amongst the peoples of that time against the evil and the sins of those two cities. And God sent His angels to investigate the situation in the hope He would find some reason to spare the cities.

But only Lot, Abraham’s nephew, was found to be righteous in all that region. Lot was told to flee with his wife and two daughters, because God said of Sodom and Gomorrah that their time was up because of their sins.

When God says your time is up…again

The day is coming in the not too distant future again when God says your time is up.

Those in Christ are eagerly awaiting the second coming of the Lord. We know that His return is not too far away, and the signs described in the prophecies of Daniel and other places tell us He is at the very door.

But for the rest of the world who do not know Christ, or choose to reject Him, their time will be up. There will be no second chances, no deathbed confessions, and no hope for anyone who rejects God. When God says your time is up…that’s it! The end!

There will be difficult times to come also. If you think putting up with COVID is tough, this is just a small foretaste of what is yet to come. The tribulations described in various Bible prophecies tell a story of suffering and horror never before seen on Planet Earth.

Truly, time is almost up for this world and the people in it. And when God says your time is up completely, then there will no longer be hope for anyone.

So what do we do when God says your time is up?

The last days of the earth as we know it will be a struggle. Scripture reminds us again and again how difficult it will be. We are told it will be a time for great endurance for the people of the Lord.

And this makes sense. We are told that we will be hated by all just because we choose to follow Christ. They will imprison some, torture some, put some to death, and many other horrors, just for professing to know Christ.

We are told that even friends and family will give up Christians to the authorities and we will have no-one.

But through it all we WILL have Christ. We will be able to rely on Him and He has promised to protect His people who endure, offering them the gift of life with Him and the Father.

When God says your time is up, then and only then will we go to Him. He holds the lives of every person in His hands and a person dies only when He says they die.

As Christians, we know also that death is not the end. And in these end times it may be that the Lord will allow His people to die for the purpose of removing them from suffering. The scripture has this to say concerning this matter.

The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity, he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness. (Isaiah 57:1-2)

So for us in these end times we need to consolidate our relationship with the Lord. Strengthen your faith and grow strong in Christ. Trust Him in everything. Seek Him in all you do and don’t be afraid of what the world can or will do to you. You are in the Lord’s hands and He will protect you, or take you out of this place of suffering.

Do this so that when God says your time is up, it means that your time with Him in His kingdom is just beginning.

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