The Bible tells us that we fall under His judgment when God’s patience runs out because of our sin. How it must pain God to bring judgment on the ones He desires to come to Him and receive salvation.
Noah spent years building the Ark and is called a preacher of righteousness in 2 Peter 2:5, yet there came a time when the Lord closed the door to the Ark, and judgment began. Sodom and Gomorrah didn’t even have ten righteous people, and God destroyed them.
2 Peter 3: 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.[1] God is patient to a point and knows the wise time to bring judgment.
Judgment Follows God’s Warnings
Only a few days before He was crucified, Jesus taught with parables in the Temple. He illustrated the Kingdom of Heaven with a parable about a wedding banquet. In the parable, a king had invited people to a banquet three times, but they refused to come and even killed the messengers with the invitation. God had invited the nation of Israel to follow Him multiple times. But they had refused and even killed God’s messengers, the prophets.
Matthew 22: 7 “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. 8 And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor.[2] The wedding guests confused the king’s invitation and patience with weakness and suffered the consequences. The king destroyed the ones who refused and invited others. He still does this today. If we refuse the invitation Jesus extends to us while we live on earth, we bring our own destruction.
God is Patient to a Point
Although Jesus taught on the parable of the wedding feast during Holy week, there is much we can learn today. The Lord is patient because He wants all to receive salvation and transformation. When the Lord calls us to faith, we need a sense of urgency, not knowing what tomorrow will bring.
We cannot be worthy to receive salvation on our own. We must depend on what Jesus has done for us. Galatians 2: 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [3]
The Lord has great plans for each person. Psalm 139:16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. [4] The sooner we come to faith, the more we are blessed to build God’s Kingdom.
To learn more about when God’s patience runs out, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/parable-of-the-banquet
[1-4] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation . Tyndale House Publishers.