Today, I’d like to just share some Scripture verses that are, honestly, pretty depressing. They are verses about what faces nonbelievers when Jesus comes back, and they’re hard to read. But they are also truth and future reality for people YOU know and love. I’m praying that by reading and considering these verses, your sense of urgency to share the gospel will skyrocket. 

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.  -Matthew 25:31-33, 41, 46

• Right now, TODAY, if Jesus were to stand and separate your friends and family members into groups on His right (believers) and His left (nonbelievers), who would be directed to His left? 

While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. -1 Thessalonians 5:3

• Do you know anyone personally who does not wish for peace or safety? Surely not. Well, every person who has not confessed Jesus as Savior is heading directly in that direction. Instead of peace and safety, it will be inescapable pain. How can you use this thought to reach out to someone in a new way?

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. -Joel 3:14-16a

• Are you ready for your loved ones to be standing in that valley of decision? On that day, it will be too late to decide to love and follow Jesus. God will be a refuge for those who stand with Him (Joel 3:16b), but He will be a just judge against those who do not (Joel 3:2).

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. -Revelation 9:1-6

• How does it make you feel to think about people you know enduring this kind of torture? Can you imagine being in so much pain that you actually want to die—but can’t? Surely you wouldn’t wish this on anybody, would you? But by staying silent about the gospel message, isn’t that indirectly what you are doing? 

People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. -Isaiah 2:19

• Imagine the strongest, most self-sufficient nonbeliever you know. Now, realize, even that person will be looking for a cave or a hole in the ground to hide in when Jesus comes back. Does it break your heart to think about people you know and love desperately looking for a hole in the ground that can attempt to shelter them from the splendor of God’s majesty? How can you pray specifically for your loved ones’ softened hearts so that they can stand safe and secure when Jesus returns instead of frantically fleeing for cover?

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. -2 Thessalonians 1:8-10

• Would you even wish on your worst enemy the possibility of being shut out from the presence of the Lord? I doubt it. Can you imagine a worse fate than to be excluded from God’s presence forever? While the nonbelievers you love may not think this seems too terrible, you know how devastating it would be. But as that pastor preached, They’ll get exactly what they wanted—no God. How does this motivate you and increase your urgency as you close your eyes and picture the people you love who don’t know Jesus? How will this spur you into action today?

Not the most light and cheery thing to think about and read about! Sorry about that. But actually, I’m not that sorry. It’s so important to know the truth of the Bible. Not just the verses that are encouraging and exciting, but also those that are heavy and difficult. God’s wrath, which will come in full one day, is an expression of His love. Because He is just, He cannot let sin go unchecked and unpunished. Choosing not to surrender to Jesus as Savior means choosing, instead, to remain subject to the harsh realities of verses like those listed above.

Don’t let your family members go one more day without hearing about the love of Jesus one more time, or maybe for the first time. Don’t let one more hangout session with your friends pass by without you inviting them to church or Bible study. Be intentional about your prayers, your words and your actions. …because remember, Jesus is coming soon. He will continue providing chance after chance for people to repent and turn to Him, but once it’s too late, it. will. be. too. late. He could come back today! Are you ready? Are your friends ready? Are your parents, siblings, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews ready? 

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” -Revelation 22:12-13