A few summers ago, I visited Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville, near Syracuse. While there a metal caution sign caught my eye. The sign showed a picture of an individual walking off of flat ground into the water. However, once their feet touched the water, what is shown below the surface is a sudden drop-off, a small underground cliff, and you see the individual falling backwards. The picture depicts an individual who thought that they were stepping into ankle-deep water, but they thought wrong. They were plummeting into a sudden drop-off. Underneath the picture, it states as written here in all caps “SUDDEN DROP OFF!”
For millions across the globe, this year will be the year of sudden drop-offs! According to www.database.earth, “In the year 2024, it is projected that 60,953,905 people will die globally.” It is projected that in the United States of America, 2,955,061 people will die. That’s not a small number. Bilbo Baggins of Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” used to tell Frodo, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.”
In 2022, there were 42,795 fatal car crashes in this country alone (usatoday.com). In 2021, 5,325 people choked to death in this country (statista.com). In 2019, sudden cardiac arrest took the lives of more than 370,000 people in this country alone (heart.org). If it’s not a sudden cardiac arrest, if it’s not a fatal crash, if it’s not choking on your cheeseburger, someway, somehow, you will be met with a sudden drop-off and ushered into eternity, whether to heaven or hell!
Not only is it a dangerous business going out your door, it’s a dangerous business waking up, going to bed and blinking your eyes. It’s a dangerous business being born into this world.
This very day, human beings left and right are walking in ankle deep water and they expect their next step to be the same, but there is an underwater cliff. Those who have put their lives into the nail-scarred hands of Jesus Christ and who may have cried out, Lord, I’m a sinner and I can’t save myself! Wash me clean! Make me new! Fill me with your Holy Spirit! Teach me your ways and lead me in your paths, have been given a divine life vest. When their feet hit that sudden drop-off into death, their souls won’t sink into the depths of hell. God will keep their heads above the water. The tides of salvation will bring them to heaven’s shore.
However, for those who don’t know the God of the Bible, nor have they obeyed the Gospel, there is no life vest. Have you ever tried swimming with jeans and sneakers on? How about with a winter coat, wool socks, scarf and boots? That’s what staying afloat in death is like for the rebellious. That’s what staying afloat in death is like for the wicked and immoral; the idolators, adulterers, those who are lustful with their eyes; drunkards, liars, murderers; and those who hate their brothers, sorcerers, faithless, unforgiving, neglectful of the needy, cowardly, covetous, envious and greedy; anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life. There is no staying afloat when the sudden drop-off strikes like lightning.
Prepare for your final step and get your life vest today! Jesus Christ Almighty God, who became flesh and bones, died so that you could have that vest. Now it’s your job to put it on. Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit.