If you just had a few moments to call out a warning to people you love, what would you say and how would you say it? What would you be willing to risk? If you knew that the warning would be scoffed at and ignored, would you still give it? I ask you to consider these questions and more in a series called, “The Three.”

In the last letter of the Bible, there’s a lot of symbolism; a story being told with vivid imagery. In that letter we find an urgent message in Revelation 14:6-11.

In my last post, I wanted to let you know that the message of the three angels isn’t for people who have put their life into God’s hands; those who are in an intimate, trusting, obedient relationship with our Creator. The message is for those who dwell on the earth, a phrase that the apostle John uses to describe those who have turned away from God. These are the people with blood on their hands; these are the people who love themselves and the world more than they love others and the kingdom of God.

Think of it this way. Recently, the news was filled with wildfires raging in California. Imagine there are people in the path of that fire and they are not moving. God comes racing ahead of the blaze with a loud voice – he has to use a loud voice because the roar of the fire is deafening – and he cries out – the fire is upon you, the time has come to take my hand, trust me and I will be able to save you.

A man-made God would say something like – I died to save you, you rejected me and my salvation, get lost! Isn’t that how we usually are in our relationships when things go bad? Haven’t you written off some friends and family because they got on your bad side?

But the true God, the living God, is beyond our imaginations; he loves with everything he’s got to the very end.