(2 Peter 2:5) . . .he did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a deluge upon a world of ungodly people. . .
WHEN Jesus Christ gave his Sermon on the Mount, he included a model prayer that summarized his main teaching. He taught his followers to pray to God:
“Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:9-13)
Jesus “went journeying from city to city and from village to village, preaching and declaring the good news of the kingdom of God.” (Luke 8:1)
Christ urged his followers: ‘Keep on seeking first the kingdom and God’s righteousness.’ (Matt. 6:33)
Jesus foretold: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:14)
The good news about God’s Kingdom is of utmost importance. Why, it is the most important message in the world!
When Satan, Adam, and Eve rebelled against God, wanting to decide for themselves what was right and what was wrong, the human family was set on a disastrous course. Before the global Flood, over 1,600 years later, “the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time.” (Gen. 6:5)
Regarding our time, the Bible foretold: “In the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here.” After describing conditions of the last days under human rule, the prophecy states: “Wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse.” (Read 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13.) That is what Christians expect, for “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one,” Satan. (1 John 5:19) However, the good news is that God will soon deliver those who love him. They will be delivered from this world, which is rapidly going from bad to worse.
Even on a worldwide scale, Jehovah can deliver those who do his will. When he destroyed the ancient wicked world in the Flood, he “kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others.” (2 Pet. 2:5)
Jehovah will again deliver the upright when he destroys the present wicked world. His Word thus states: “Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth . . . Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3)
As a result of that worldwide destruction, ‘the upright will reside in the earth, but the wicked will be cut off from it.’—Prov. 2:21, 22.
*** w08 5/15 pp. 14-15 par. 12 Deliverance by God’s Kingdom Is at Hand! ***
Photo Credit: zeerood
