Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Russian Air Defense Program. He was a hero who broke from the Russian military protocol when he evaluated their early missile warning system had malfunctioned.
If he had followed protocol on September 26,1983, half the populations of all NATO countries, including the United States, would have faced annihilation. World War III would likely have begun on that very day.
You never heard of this? The fall of the Berlin Wall was still six years away. The incoming missile was determined to be over North Dakota and heading for the Soviet Union. Such detections require multiple sources before retaliation by the Soviets. It would have commenced a world nuclear disaster.
A similar world-wide disaster is coming, but no alarms will activate an early warning system. No missiles will be launched to shoot down the incoming weapons. It will be the final day of the world. How can you be prepared?
First, let’s look at the reality of that moment. Jesus taught that our final day will one day come. He says that some will be “saved” while others will be “condemned” (Mark 16:16).
You can change that outcome, but this still won’t cancel the fact of your ultimate death from this world. Jesus says in John 3:16, “God loved the people of the world so much that He gave up His only Son. Every person who commits himself to Jesus will not be destroyed. Instead, that person will have eternal life.”
Only those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God’s love, sent to die for our sins, can have the hope of eternal life.
Second, Jesus wants us to know that an end is coming for everyone. What will yours be like? You can change and make eternal life yours. That can be done only in this life. Jesus offers life to all who will one day die. When Jesus was raised after His death on the cross, He proved that everything He says and all that He has done is reality. His words are truth.
Finally, how will this world end? In II Peter 3, the apostle tells us, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts… But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire…But the day of the Lord will come like a thief… the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth…will be burned up” (vs. 3, 7, 10). This is how the world will end.
One question remains unanswered: When will your last day come? If you have eternal life in Jesus, that last day for you won’t really matter. If you love God and have made Jesus your Lord, then what is there to fear?
The most important question is not when the end will come, but the bigger question is, what will happen when your end comes? Remember John 3:16 -- Commit yourself to Jesus!