I had an interesting experience a couple of nights ago—actually, terrifying would be a more accurate description. I don’t wake up from a sound sleep easily, yet this time I was startled awake with such intensity that it took quite a while to calm down.

We moved to Eastern Washington about 10 months ago and we are still getting acclimated to the weather here—we moved from central California, and it is quite a change! I’m sure we experienced thunder and lightning storms down south, but it was nothing memorable; they would pass by and then be gone. Not here! We’ve had storms for several days and one seemed to last all night long.

That’s when it happened. I was startled awake by an extremely loud crash, probably magnified by my dream state. It sounded like a heavy truck slammed into our apartment building—I knew it was thunder, but it seemed like so much more! I was gripped with fear and my heart raced. I felt disoriented and it took a bit to capture my thoughts and take them to Jesus, and my blood pressure to lower!

Several thoughts went through my mind—

The presence of God is signaled by the sound of thunder and His voice compared to the crash of thunder:

“On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain…then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God…And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.” (Exodus 19:16, 17, 19)

“He covers His hands with lightning and commands it to hit its mark. The thunder declares His presence; the cattle also the approaching storm.” (Job 36:32-33)

“Keep listening to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth. Under the whole heaven He lets it go, and His lightning to the corners of the earth. After it His voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard. God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend.” (Job 37:2-5)

 And I thought of judgment:

“The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them He will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of His anointed.” (1 Samuel 2:10)

“But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.” (Isaiah 29:5-6)

“Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire on the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” (Revelation 8:5)

“The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was the earthquake.”  (Revelation 16:17-18)

I wonder what it will be like when Jesus returns in the clouds. I can’t imagine we’ll go quietly! Revelation 19:6 hints at the sound: “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.”

Although I have confidence in my salvation by faith through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His atoning sacrifice for my sins, when I heard the thunder, I was overwhelmed with the awesome power of God. I had a sense of what those people who have rejected the Savior will experience at that time, “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,” and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” (Luke 23:30)

And…

“Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” (Revelation 6:15-17)

Although I had an inkling of the fear of that moment of judgment, I recalled, with the Holy Spirit’s help, scriptures of comfort and truth, scriptures such as:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air…But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace You [I] have been saved through faith….” (Ephesians 2:1-2, 4-8)

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  (Titus 3:4-7)

I am so grateful to have the scriptures for hope and encouragement; however, I also appreciated being startled fearfully awake. People we may know, friends or relatives are going to hear the Lord’s voice thunder and they will be terrified. They won’t have the scriptures, the hope, or the personal relationship with Jesus that will save them from the wrath to come. Though they may not be open or receptive to hear the good news of Jesus now, it is my prayer that their hearts will be opened to receive Him.

And that is why I write today. We don’t know when Jesus is going to return for his bride, but we know He is! He cautioned us to be alert and the scriptures give us signs of His immanent return. Now, more than ever we need to be interceding for the lost—even the people we don’t particularly like! Because “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)