Surprise!

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. The Hebrew and Greek meaning of the words mentioned are from Strong's Hebrew Greek Dictionary.

I don't like surprises very much. Never have and I probably never will! My kids, when they were young, every so often would ask me something out of the blue.  I would almost always tell them no when they would spring something on me. There is however a question asked by God in Isaiah 33:14-16 where a surprise is mentioned, "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" 

The Bible answers the question in the next few verses,  "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure" 

The story from Daniel 3:15-28 came into my mind where the three Hebrew children were thrown into the furnace that Nebuchadnezzar had prepared. When king Nebuchadnezzar looked he saw four men walking in the fire and the fourth was like the Son of God. Almost immediately my mind went to the account of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1-2, when they offered strange fire to the LORD. The Bible says that the fire of God came out from the LORD and consumed them. God protected the Hebrew children and will protect those who sincerely call upon God when Jesus comes again. 

If you (and I) want God to protect us in that day we need to pay heed to the scriptures. God isn't willing that we perish but that we repent. (See 2nd Peter 3:9) Let me encourage you to obey the New Testament and be baptized in Jesus name and let God fill you with His Spirit. (See Acts 2:1-4 and verses 38-40) God wants to save you but He will only do so His way. He inspired the apostles and prophets  to show us the way. What they said is that there is no other name but the name of Jesus that can save us. (See Acts 4:12)