Good Tidings from Heaven

ARE YOU SLEEPING?

A court in the UK found a man guilty of causing the death of folks on a train because he fell asleep at the wheel of his car, lost control and the car careered down a bank onto a railway line where it caused a train crash with resulting fatalities. It appears that if the driver of the car had been awake the disaster would not have happened.

To be sleepy at the end of the day is natural and to have a good night's sleep is the way in which our bodies and minds are refreshed. In fact the Scriptures acknowledge, "The sleep of a labouring man is sweet," Ecclesiastes 5.12. There are many dear people who would love to enjoy a night's undisturbed rest. However, as the case mentioned illustrates, there are times when it is dangerous to be asleep.

Do you know that there are people reading this paper who are fast asleep. You may say, "How could they read in their sleep?" Such a notion is very foolish. When a person is asleep they are unconscious of all that is happening around them. That is why a patient is put to sleep in the operating theatre and they become impervious to their surroundings and their pain. Thus the concept of sleeping is a very apt illustration of the spiritual state of people who have never been awakened by the gospel message to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

John described the world in his first epistle chapter 5 v 19, "....the whole world lieth in wickedness." The idea he is conveying is that the whole world lieth in the lap of the wicked one. He is saying that the wicked one, Satan himself, has taken the world's population in his arms and, like a mother, has rocked them everyone to sleep. This has left them, and you dear reader, unconscious of what is happening all around.

Many illustrations are to be found in the Bible, where the condition of physically being asleep depicts the spiritual state of an unbeliever. Space dictates that we must suffice with two.

Sisera was unconscious of the proximity of death, Judges 4.21, "Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died." My dear reader, how close is death to you? If you knew, you could prepare for death and its ensuing consequences at your last moment, but since you do not know, you need to prepare now. This was the message of the Old Testament prophet, ".....prepare to meet thy God," Amos 4.12. Why is such a preparation needed? Let the Scriptures answer. Hebrews 9.27, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment".

Samson was unconscious of the proximity of weakness, Judges 16.19, Delilah "made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him." Previously he had strength to fight and overcome the enemies but now he was weak and impotent. With regard to your salvation you are weak and impotent and unable to effect your deliverance. Romans 5.6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Here is the only way of escape and salvation - through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died that you might live. He "gave Himself a ransom for all," 1 Timothy 2.6.

Do not allow yourself to be duped and further deceived by the devil until it is too late and you are lost forever in the judgment of God. Be aroused, be awake to your need and "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." Acts 16.31. It is stated in Romans 13.11, "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep...".