A tide table is a little tool that is smart to have if you are going to be spending time next to the ocean. It tells you what time high tide and low tide will be each day. That's good to know, especially if you're going to really set up shop for a while on the beach, which many people do. Some people bring their own little civilization to the beach with them: tarps, coolers, toys, and appliances. You'd think they were planning to live on the beach.
It can be kind of fun to watch the people who fall asleep somewhere between low tide and high tide. Slowly, but surely, the waves start creeping up from the edge toward their civilization. You really should wake them up, but that wouldn't be any fun. Eventually, as the tide tickles their toes, they wake up only to find some of their civilization about to float away. It's panic city, but it didn't have to be that way. High tide doesn't have to surprise you; it doesn't have to swamp you if you consult the tide table.
You might say that God has a tide table, or information that can actually help you avoid getting swamped by high tide. According to the Bible, high tide is coming. The Bible refers to it as the last days. That's last as in the turbulent days that count down to the finale of human history - the personal return of Jesus Christ to write that final chapter. Interestingly enough, surveys show that over half of Americans expect that return of Christ to happen. The Bible leaves no doubt and also describes the times leading up to it.
God uses one word to describe those times in the Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:1 says, Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. Other translations of this verse call them dangerous times. This section of the Bible goes on to describe what will make the world so dangerous before Jesus comes back. People will be total lovers of themselves, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
The Bible describes what kind of world Jesus will come back to - a world with massive natural disasters, weapons of mass destruction, and raging nations. A group of distinguished scientists reset what they call the Doomsday Clock. Since 1945, it's been registering their sense of how close we are to the midnight of a global cataclysm. Looking at the unsecured nukes in the world, nuclear possibilities in North Korea and Iran, and escalating terrorism and the dangers of climate change, they reset the clock to five minutes to midnight. These are dangerous and terrible times.
Jesus told us what to do when we saw high tide coming like this. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him (Matthew 24:44). In the words of a Biblical prophet, Prepare to meet your God (Amos 4:12). There's only one way to be ready, and that's to be sure your life is in the hands of the One who will write the final chapter - the final chapter for this planet, and the final chapter for your life. That's Jesus Christ.
Jesus died to get you ready to meet God. It took His death on the cross to pay for the sin that keeps you from God and will keep you out of His heaven forever. Then He walked out of His grave to prove that there's nothing that can take Him down. If there's never been a time when you've said, Jesus, I resign running my own life. I'm Yours, this would be a good time to get that settled.
The coming of Jesus is scheduled. It's sure and it's unpostponeable. Whether it's the moment He comes back to earth or the moment He comes for you, don't risk not being ready.