Tag: day of the Lord

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1 Thessalonians

Being ready for Jesus…whenever he comes for you

1 Thessalonians

A lot of people wonder when Jesus will come back. The Thessalonians wondered about it back in Paul’s day. People wonder about it today.

But Paul essentially reiterates what Jesus said: “We don’t know when Jesus will come back. So be ready for his return every day. That way you’ll never be surprised.”

Paul says,

Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

While people are saying, “Peace and safety,”destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day.

We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-9)

One thing we learn about the last days before the Lord returns is that people will have a feeling of security. That all is well, and that without God.

Jesus said people will be feasting, marrying, buying and selling, planting and building. Such were the times before the flood. Such were the days before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

These things in themselves, of course, are not evil in themselves. But these people had turned their backs on God and had become completely immoral, calling good “evil” and evil “good.”

Sound familiar?

And just as God swept down on them in judgment, so God will sweep down on judgment once again when Jesus returns. Only those like Noah and Lot will be spared.

Why were they spared? Because they were ready for the Lord’s coming in judgment.

So Paul tells us, don’t live in the darkness of sin, but live as children of light. Live lives such that if your actions are exposed, you have nothing to be ashamed of.

Put on faith, believing in the love God has for you, and believing that his way is best.

Put on love, love for God and love for others, letting it shape your attitudes and your actions.

Put on the hope of your salvation, so that you don’t get discouraged by the hardships you face. Rejoice in knowing that God hasn’t called you to suffer his wrath, but to receive his salvation.

And know that though you will be with the Lord forever someday, that starts today. He desires that we live in relationship with him…today…as we live here on earth. (1 Thessalonians 5:10)

Finally, remember that though the Day of the Lord, the day of his return to earth, is still in the future, for you, the “Day of the Lord,” the day he comes back for you personally, could happen at any time.

You could die in an accident. You could have a sudden heart attack. You could die in an earthquake. Tomorrow is not promised to you. So be ready.

How about you? If the Lord came for you today, would you be ready?

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Isaiah

The day of judgment

Isaiah

This chapter starts a series of judgments that God proclaims against the different nations.

Isaiah starts with Babylon, but as he does, we also see in it the judgment that is yet to come.

Isaiah wrote,

See, the day of the Lord is coming – a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger – to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.

The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light.  The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins.  I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.

I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.  (Isaiah 13:9-13)

If verse 10 looks familiar, it should be.

Jesus quotes this passage when talking about the last days in Matthew 24:29.

And what Isaiah makes clear is this:  God’s patience will not last forever.  Right now, we are in the age of grace.  And as Peter wrote,

The Lord is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  (2 Peter 3:9)

But then Peter adds,

But the day of the Lord (there’s that phrase again) will come like a thief.

The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed with fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.  (2 Peter 3:10)

The words in Isaiah strike me, “cruel day,” “wrath,” “anger,” “destroy,” “desolate,” “burning anger,” and “punish.”

We all like to think of God as a God of love, and that’s true.  He is.  But he is a God of justice as well.  And a just God must eventually deal with sin.

Sometimes we think God is late in dealing out justice.  But God makes clear here that that day is coming.

That was the warning God gave to Babylon and its king.  And that’s the warning God gives us today.  The question is, are you ready for the day of judgment?

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that God will just overlook your sin.  That it’s beneath his notice.

The day is coming when God will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their sins.

The only hope we have is to turn to him and beg for his mercy and forgiveness while we still have time.  And that time is now.

Paul wrote this,

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.  (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Won’t you turn to him today?

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Joel

How we respond to tragedy in this world

Locusts

Why is there evil in this world? Why is there so much tragedy?

That is one of the haunting questions that people have asked throughout the ages.

And as we take a look at the book of Joel, that’s what we see here. A swarm of locusts swept down upon Judah and stripped the land of its harvest.

It’s uncertain when Joel wrote this prophecy, but there are a number of people who believe that Joel wrote this right about the time of King Joash.

He was probably still an infant or young child at the time, with the priest Jehoiada serving as his mentor and perhaps as his regent as well.

It was a time when the people were coming out of the rule of three ungodly leaders—Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah—all three of whom had led the people of Judah into idol worship.

And now this tragedy hit. And into this tragedy, the prophet Joel spoke. What did Joel tell the people to do?

Basically he told them to turn to the Lord, to wake up from their spiritual slumber and repent. He said,

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. (Joel 1:5)

He particularly called on the priests, the spiritual leaders of Judah, to lead the people in repentance, saying,

Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God… declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.

Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord. (Joel 1:13–14)

Why did he call them to do this?

For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. (Joel 1:15)

Why is there evil in this world? Why do we see earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, and tsunamis?

I think one reason God allows these things is to wake people up from their spiritual slumber. And I’m not just talking about unbelievers, but believers as well.

If there were no evil in this world, people would probably just live their lives in comfort, not even thinking of the judgment that is looming because of their sins. God would not even cross most of their minds.

But that judgment to come is far worse than any earthquake, typhoon, or natural disaster that hits. Because once judgment is passed, there is no remedy, and the consequences are forever.

And that’s what Joel was saying to the people.

“Wake up! Do you think this tragedy is bad? It’s nothing compared to the judgment to come. Repent from your sins. Turn your face towards God, lest something worse happen to you.”

It reminds me of the words of Jesus that he spoke to a man he had healed. He said, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14)

In other words, “The suffering you endured from your disability is nothing compared to the suffering you will endure if you don’t repent of your sins. Being condemned to hell is far worse than suffering from being lame.

So repent that your soul and spirit may be restored, not just your body.”

How do you respond when you see tragedy in this world? May the tragedies we see bring us to our knees. As it was in Joash’s day, so it is today.

God calls us, his priests, to pray and repent of our own sins, and then to pray for the people around us, calling them out of the kingdom of darkness into God’s marvelous light.

Let us not be, as Keith Green once put it, asleep in the light.

Let us be awake and call the people around us to awaken too.

And let us all turn our faces to God before the true day of judgment comes.