On Tuesday November 8, 2011, the Earth will encounter one of the closest “near miss” confrontations with an Asteroid, that has occurred in more than 40 years. Given the name Asteroid “2005 YU55″, there will be just 202,000 miles between this large asteroid and our planet. If that does not sound to you like much of a threat, understand that the moon is approximately 238,856 miles from earth. Imagine an object over 1,000 feet long, traveling at 30,000 miles per hour, and it’s distance from earth, less than that of the moon.
Were an object of this size to strike our planet, the force would be equal to over 500 nuclear explosions the size of Hiroshima, detonated all at once. A strike on our planet of this magnitude would generate massive tectonic plate shifts, Tsunamis in excess of 70 feet, and would annihilate many Island communities, as well as those living on the coastlands of mainland countries. The death toll could conceivably be in excess of several hundred million.
As we contemplate the immensity of this near miss, those of us who study Bible Prophecy are reminded of Revelation chapter 8. The Tribulation period beginning at chapter 7 of Revelation, brings us to events so horrific that Jesus described them as “never having occurred at any other time in the history of man”.
Matthew 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Jesus said that if these global events were not limited to just the last three and one half years of the Great Tribulation, “no flesh would survive”.
Matthew 24:22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved…
By the time we arrive two chapters later at Revelation chapter 8, an object described as “A Mountain burning with fire…” will strike the sea and turn a third of it to blood.
Revelation 8:8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
Chapter 8 of the Book of Revelation is filled with the accounts of massive asteroid strikes on the earth that upset the tectonic plates of earth so dramatically, they will certainly cause a polar axis shift. When this occurs, the current location of the north and south poles could shift dramatically within seconds, by as much as 1,600 miles in any direction. Formerly frozen areas of the earth would instantly become tropical zones. Areas of the earth that have hot, humid climates would instantly be quick frozen by these radical shifts in earth’s polar axis.
The book of Revelation is the revealing of Jesus Christ, and how he has been appointed as Savior and Judge of planet earth. In the twenty-two chapters of Revelation, we are given a description of earth and man’s final judgment. We clearly see Jesus as the all powerful righteous judge of the earth, and read of twenty-one judgements he will pour out on the earth and her inhabitants. After more than 2,000 years of man’s rejection of Jesus sacrifice that he has made for the sins of the world, God will visit this planet with vengeance.
Hebrews 10:27-31 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The present days that we live in are those predicted by the prophecies of the Bible as being ‘The Last Days”. In this brief final moment before the judgment of God falls on those who have rejected Jesus Christ, God is offering one final opportunity to miss this coming judgement. All that is required of any person is that they come humbly to Jesus, confessing that they are a sinner, and sincerely desiring the forgiveness of their sins. An Acknowledgment that Jesus death on the cross was for those sins, and a complete surrender of the life of the repentant, to Jesus as Lord of their lives. By the confession of the mouth, and the acceptance within the heart of these truths, any person can be saved from the wrath to come.
Romans 10:9-11 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
Jesus promised all those who would confess him as Lord and Savior, that they would escape the horrific judgments described in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
God has not appointed those who love Jesus, to have to endure the same judgment for sin that the world who has rejected Jesus Christ will have to endure.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ...
During the events described in the book of Revelation, God will allow these near misses by asteroids approaching our planet, to make finally contact with the surface of earth. The devastation and destruction unleashed by these massive terrestrial objects will cause the death and suffering of millions of people on earth. God is a God of love and mercy. He delights in pouring out his goodness upon man. He is however also a God of justice and he has formerly stated that ‘the soul who sins shall die’.
Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.
God owns your soul and mine because he created them. We are accountable to God for the life we live. If we have sinned, we must take advantage of the opportunity that God has given us to put away those sins. God has justly determined a time when he will punish all sins. He has also given his only Son, Jesus Christ, who took upon himself all of your sins, and those of the whole world. He cannot appropriate to your account this forgiveness of sins, unless you willingly ask him for it. He will not force you to be saved. He provided the way for you to be forgiven, then he gives you the opportunity to experience that forgiveness. He has given every person who has been born on the earth, the time during their life, to accept this offer through Jesus Christ, or to ignore and reject it. A person must make a conscious decision for Jesus Christ during their life, for there is no pardon after the moment of death. If you reject Jesus Christ during your life and then die in that state, there is no possibility of the forgiveness of your sins after death.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…
In the same way, those who refuse Jesus Christ and are on the earth at the beginning of the seven year tribulation, will have no way to escape the horrible judgments that will happen on earth during that time. If however, a person receives Jesus Christ now, before that seven year tribulation begins, Jesus will remove you and all other believers from the earth, at an event described as ‘The Rapture”. This event will occur just before the beginning of the tribulation. The Lord will take us from the earth, wherever we are, and we will all meet him in the outer atmosphere of the earth where he will take us back to heaven with Him, where we will be protected from the wrath that he will be pouring out on the rest of the world.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.Therefore comfort one another with these words.
The near miss on Tuesday November 8, 2011, is just a forewarning of coming events described in the book of Revelation. God is speaking to the world and telling us that some day soon, he will withhold his protection of the earth from these massive objects and they will be allowed to strike the earth. Massive death and destruction will ensue and most of the people who live on the earth will perish. Today, all of us have the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and avoid the horrors of these days described in the book of Revelation. On Tuesday we will get an advanced screening of what the events of the book of Revelation will be like.
Rob Robinson.
