The images on our TV screens of the fire and destruction on the Hawaiian island of Maui have been horrific. Like a thief in the night, wildfires consumed the seaside city of Lahaina before residents could be warned. Many lost their lives in the raging flames while others fled with moments to spare, many escaping the flames by jumping into the ocean.
The scenes of roaring flames, torched buildings, and burned-out vehicles reminds us that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). Imagine the whole world in flames, for someday it will be.
In Maui, some were lost, some were saved. Jesus said, “So will the coming of the Son of man be. Then there will be two men in the field, one will be taken, and one will be left” (Mt. 24:40-41). Interestingly, in Lahaina many were saved by water, so it will be on Judgment Day, to apply Peters words, “In that day many were saved by water. In the like manner baptism now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21). If the Lord returned today, and the world erupted into flames, would you be taken up to meet the Lord in the air, or left to die in the flames?
-Dennis Doughty