Five Below

It was five degrees below zero this morning when I awakened. That is cold for Wichita. That is cold for a native Floridian! Even though I've lived farther north and have experienced much colder weather, five below is still very cold and harsh.

The coldest weather that I have experienced is forty below. I changed my mother-in-law's thermostat in her car that day. I thought that my hands would freeze solid.

Such weather does make me long for the Day of the Lord's coming to arrive. Even though I know that He is being patient for the sake of all who will be regenerated to believe the Gospel, still I become somewhat impatient on account of the pains of the cursed ground.

Growing up in Orlando, I was entirely unable to conceive of the day when I would speak of forty degrees as being warm. Before being driven out of the garden, mankind was free of such troubles. Sin has changed everything. Turmoil and trouble and wars and rumors of wars and riots and inflation and corrupt government leaders . . .

Yes, the Second Advent of the Lord will be a good day. Those who reject the Gospel and refuse to be ruled by the peace of God will be gathered up and sent to the place that has been reserved for all who prefer the deceptive leadership of the devil so that those who have been converted to trust and rely upon God and His grace will forevermore be free of all of these troubles.

Such freedom is beyond imagination except for the promises of God in His Holy Scriptures. No garbage about 70 virgins, as the Lord Himself declares that marriage and giving in marriage will no longer be the way for men and women. Our sexual desires will have served their double purpose of procreation and leading us to realize the greater marriage of God with mankind in Christ. Such anguish as the burning passions of sexual lust will no longer burden us. Neither will the freezing temperatures that often cause frostbite in relationships. No jabbing and piercing comments, no angry lashings out at one another, no selfish expectations and impositions upon one another, none of these things shall press upon us anymore.

Having called my next-door neighbor to be sure that he is OK, an elderly fellow of 90 years, I was informed that the weather channel report for the low last night was sixteen below, even colder than I realized. In addition to looking forward to the parousia, such announcements also make me very thankful for God’s gifts of house and home, shelter and clothing, furnaces and insulation. As the old gray cat walked carefully along the sidewalks that I shoveled yesterday and last night, I also was very thankful for the warm shelter of my house, as well as the warmth and comfort of all of God’s promises in Christ.