DISASTER MOVIE - Part One -- Devotional for March 27, from "Good Seeds"

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with an intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up…But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God's righteousness (II Peter 3:10,12-13).

A film genre people never seem to tire of is the disaster movie. Why is it that we revel in widespread, even universal, destruction? Could it be that there’s a certain mystical, almost grotesque comfort in the thought that no matter how righteous or wicked people are, they all will be swept away together in that final “act of God.” Yes, when the tsunami, earthquake, stray comet, malevolent men from Mars, or in the case of the movie I just saw, a runaway solar flare, makes its appearance, everybody dies! “Misery loves company,” they say, so let’s all go down together! Well, I suppose I can be mesmerized by this spell as much as the next guy – hey, I shelled out the shillings to follow this sci-fi flick, didn’t I! But I was amazed how vividly Hollywood’s ingenious computer-generated graphics portrayed the final destruction of human beings and their precious cars and structures and cities – how the whole earth and its works were suddenly destroyed with an intense heat – almost exactly as Peter prophesied it! Movie producers seem to love searching the Scriptures for subject material for disasters of “biblical proportions”! Too bad they don’t read a little further, for then they would discover, to their great surprise – and for their own salvation – the back story, the deeper meaning, that even the most casual Christian understands. But it’s a story these men will never portray, while remaining outside the camp of God’s grace, for they see God as the undiscriminating Bad Guy in the Sky, the ultimate “God”zilla monster to face down, the universal enemy of the human race who, when on the attack, causes nations and cultures formerly at war with one another to join forces against this hated Immortal Power. Of course, this is exactly how God’s rebellious creatures have always viewed Him, until they come to see by faith His true identity: Father/Creator, and Lover of our soul. He has done everything to win back his wandering prodigal sons, and now, He patiently waits. But the time of waiting will one day be over, and that final war will begin. It will be over in an instant, and the result will be a new world “wherein only righteousness dwells.” “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought we to be?” (verse 11). That’s the climax and conclusion of the most vivid disaster movie of all – one you dare not miss! Your survival, and eternal life, depend on it!