by Tad Lindley
When the ocean liner Titanic left Queenstown, Ireland, she had about 2,224 souls aboard. Some were crew members (176 crew men did nothing, but keep shoveling coal 24 hours a day to power the steam engines), and the rest were passengers who had paid for a seat on the ship hoping to cross the Atlantic and arrive in New York City. As you may well know, on April 14, 1912, at 11:40 PM, the great ship struck an iceberg. Before the sun rose, the Titanic and over 1,200 men, women, and children lay in a watery grave over 2 miles beneath. Still others succumbed to hypothermia in the icy water, 333 having been recovered dead in their life jackets.
First class on the Titanic
By my rough financial calculation, a ticket for the finest cabins on the Titanic cost over $100,000 in current money. Some of the wealthiest people on the planet had booked passage on the ship and were enjoying the gym, the pool, the Turkish baths, and the lavish lifestyle of the first class portion of the ship. It was their intent to enjoy the absolute finest that money had to offer and so they did, until 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912.
Second and third class
For those who were not able to afford first class, there were cheaper accommodations available. Again, by my rough calculations, a cabin in “steerage” or third class could have been purchased for about $1200 modern dollars. Understand that everyone aboard would have preferred to be in first class, but the price was way too high.
Swapping seats on the Titanic
Anybody in third class would gladly have moved up to second or third class. It would have meant better food, more room, a cabin with a view, nicer bathrooms, better service, and greater respect from the crew. Unfortunately, the tragic truth is this, the best seats on the Titanic were not in first class with free access to a squash court, they were not the largest cabins with the fanciest decoration, nor they were to be found in the second class section, or even in steerage: the best seats on Titanic were in the life boats.
11:39 PM April 14, 1912
If the people on the Titanic could have seen into the future, passengers in First Class might have shouted down to the 3rd Class passengers on the poop deck, “Hey, somebody come up and have my stateroom, its 249A. I won’t be needing it!” And after 11:00 PM they would have tossed the room keys down to somebody looking for a better seat on the Titanic, while they themselves climbed into a lifeboat and waited.
This old world is winding up
Whether anyone believes it or not, there is an 11:40 PM coming for this world. Jesus foretold of a day when he would return, indicating that just as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be, for as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:37-39) Just like on the Titanic, everything was full steam ahead. People never in their wildest imaginations thought that the last grains were falling in the hourglasses of their lives, and then, BOOM!, it was over just like that. And it will be the same for many of us. The trumpet will sound and the Lord will descend with a shout, and it will all be over.
Switching seats
It’s nobody’s intention to die lost and spend eternity in hell, and so we try to do better. We try for a better place in life. Now that marijuana is legal, a whole bunch of fellows that are overweight from drinking beer are going to switch to smoking dope. When the liquors stores get here, heroin addicts will try to ween off of that onto inexpensive, easy, and legal alcohol. We’ll go from cigarettes to snuff, from one failed relationship to the next, from pornographic magazines to pornographic internet. We’ll quit bingo, but then blow are kids’ PFDs in Vegas. It’s like switching seats on the Titanic.
What’s your seat number?
The apostle, Paul, wrote a letter to the church in the town of Galatia. In it he told them, if you are living like this, all you did was change seats on the Titanic. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 NIV)
The only safe seat on the Titanic
The only people who benefited from changing seats on the Titanic were those who got a seat in the lifeboat. Unfortunately over two thirds of the people on board never made it into a lifeboat. Had they known, every lifeboat seat would have been taken by 10:00 PM that night. Let me ask you this. What seat are you in right now? If the Lord were to come in twenty minutes would you be saved? Are you in the life boat, or are you somewhere else in life? Have you gone through life switching seats on the Titanic, or are you in the lifeboat? In the famous words of John the Baptist, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! (Matthew 3:2)
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
