Is God’s Summer Nearing It’s End?
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11)
John the Baptist burst forth on the scene preaching with a sense of urgency (Matthew 3:1-17). God sent him to prepare Israel for a time of unprecedented blessing under the ministry of the Messiah. But this period of blessing would be followed by a time of terrible judgment.
Hence, the time of blessing would be purposeful. It was intended for humanity’s redemption, not for their pleasure and comfort. This time of blessing, characterized by the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit, was coming to awaken sinners to their wretchedness and the damnation that awaits them. The Messiah’s work through the Holy Spirit was to convict humanity of their sins, to open their eyes to Jesus, to create faith in their hearts, and to regenerate and sanctify them – before the dreadful “wrath to come.” In a word, this baptism in the Holy Spirit was coming to prepare all believers for eternity in heaven.
But for those who, throughout this entire time of blessing, resist God’s attempts to save them and squander His mercy and love, there will be a baptism of fire. John describes this as “the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:7), as does Paul the apostle (1 Thessalonians 1:10). John further describes resistant sinners as fruitless trees (Matthew 3:10) and as worthless chaff (Matthew 3:12) that will be burned with unquenchable fire.
Therefore, as the One who baptizes in both the Holy Spirit and fire, Jesus is portrayed as both Savior and Judge. He is the One who, in this present “day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2), “pours out” His love into all who will receive Him. But He is also the One who will cast into the lake of fire all who’ve rejected Him (Revelation 20:15).
At 3:20 PM, September 22, our summer ended. It marked the end of the predominance of daylight. The next day, September 23, our daylight became slightly less than our night. Our days will now grow steadily darker until Winter Solstice.
In the Bible, this change of season had an ominous spiritual application. For summer represented the time of God’s fruitfulness, blessing, and bounty. Conversely, the end of summer signaled the coming of leaner times. This was expressed in the prophet Jeremiah’s words, “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20). In other words, we squandered the mercy and love of God while it abounded, yet have nothing to show for it. And now it’s time for judgment and we are not prepared to face it.
Therefore, I ask the question, “Has God’s summer ended?” Look at our nation. Look at our world. Has humanity ever been so bent on self-destruction as it is today? Have obsessions with climate change, pandemics, CO2 emissions, etc. ever left people so confused, despairing, and frightened? Have the hearts of humanity ever failed them out fear as they are today? Have we ever seen such “signs in the heavens” as people are seeing today (Check out the latest “Two Preachers” video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfzsVibVjLQ)?
I believe God’s summer is nearing its end and that this present “day of salvation” that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 6:2 will soon draw to a close. But it hasn’t ended yet. Therefore, those who are not right with God need to turn to Christ in faith and repentance immediately. They need to trust in His cleansing blood and embrace Him as their Savior and Master.
Those who are disciples of Jesus need to pray for our nation and our world as never before. We need to pray that God will raise up laborers for His great Gospel harvest (Luke 10:2) and empower us to be faithful witnesses for Jesus (Acts 1:8). We need to focus exclusively on Christ’s judgment seat and do all in our power to prepare for it (2 Corinthians 5:9-10).
If the end of God’s summer is near, then we should anticipate – and pray for – a great outpouring of His Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-30) and a great harvest of souls before that great and terrible day of God’s judgment (Revelation 14:14-20). God help us not to waste it.
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, very soon I will stand before You at Your judgment seat and see You face to face. O, Lord Jesus, I don’t want that moment to be a terrible crisis for me, realizing that all my labors in this life have been for my own promotion and gain. I don’t want to show up before You empty handed. Help me to live the remainder of my life with eternity’s values in mind and spend the rest of my days for Your eternal Kingdom. Amen.
