not given us specific instructions and measurements as He did Noah. We are not commanded to build bomb shelters in our back yards. No, we are asked instead to be diligent to be "found in Him," for He is the true ark of our salvation. We are supposed to be a certain "manner of persons" in "all holy conversation and godliness...without spot, and blameless" in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. We are not told to build a boat, but we are told to build a Church against which even the gates (and flames?) of Hell cannot prevail.
Malachi asked, "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire..." (3:2). It is as easy for God to save through fire as it is through water as was verified by three Hebrew children. The fire had no power upon their bodies. They walked in the midst of flames with the Son of God and came forth loosed from their bonds to be promoted to seats of rulership (Daniel 3).
So, what are the things that abide fire? Paul tells us about a foundation that will abide and of certain works of faith likened unto gold, silver and precious stones that cannot burn (1 Corinthians 3:9-15). Jesus also told us to build upon the foundation of His Word which shall not pass away when the heavens and earth do (Luke 6:46- 49). Diligent doers of the Word become living stones that cannot be removed.
The Church is a City that "hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," and we are co-laborers with Him (Hebrews 11:10). Man has cumbered the foundation of the Church with heaps of fleshly inventions until the world can no longer recognize her as the City of the Great King. But, "the Day shall declare it...by fire!" Behind the facade of the "visible" Church, hidden to eyes that trust only in outward observation, true labor has been laid in gold, silver and precious stones. When God's voice shakes the heavens and earth "that are now," there shall be a removing of those things that can be shaken--the scaffold shall come down unveiling a Kingdom which cannot be removed. Our God is THE consuming fire that shall burn away all temporal, surface appearances to reveal the eternal reality (Hebrews 12:25-29). Through the darkness, dust and ashes of this conflagration, the nations of the earth will see a light, a City set on a hill with gates wide open and the Spirit and the Bride beckoning, "Come! Let him that is athirst come! Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely!" So let us labor together building our lives with the Word of God "which liveth and abideth forever."