God coming to visit has two extremes. One, He comes to open eyes and hearts with new life and faith, bringing salvation. The other is a day of VISITATION where He judges all disobedience in those who claim to serve Him and those who have openly rejected Him.
The number and content of Scripture passages that refers to this judgment is appalling. While many have wondered if the end was near during previous wars and times of world-wide disasters, current events seem to be pointing to this dreaded day of visitation.
One previous judgment prefigured this event could be sudden and nothing like the past. Numbers 16:29–30 tells of what God did with rebels among His OT people:
“If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”
Other passages describe the last judgment as being appalling, horrifying, a devouring fire, a mighty tempest, a day when all finery will be taken away and replaced with rottenness, sackcloth, and ugliness. There will be no one to flee to for help, no one to inherit wealth, nothing to do but hide or die.
This “destruction of sinners” will also result in a desolation of land, no light from the sun, moon, or stars, and an end to human pride. The “heavens will tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place at the wrath of the Lord in the day of his fierce anger.” People will flee yet fall by the sword with their “infants dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses plundered, and their wives ravished.”
No wonder Isaiah 13:6 says, “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!”
While theologians think many of these predictions came true in various stages of historical events, some are either global or so extreme that they must apply in the future. For instance, Isaiah says, “The Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it and will no more cover its slain” and “You will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.”
Isaiah and the other prophets speak of God making His people “drunk in my wrath” and pouring out their lifeblood on the earth, of having no shame for their sin and without restraint. God told Jeremiah, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence” and “Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil. Therefore, their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment.”
These disasters were for Israel but also the other nations, including the Philistines and Babylon. Ezekiel 7:7–9 declares:
“Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains. Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord, who strikes.”
Ezekiel 30:3 adds, “For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations” and Ezekiel 39:8 affirms: “Behold, it is coming, and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. That is the day of which I have spoken.”
In the NT, the destruction of Jerusalem was predicted because the people “did not know the time of your visitation” referring to the advent of Jesus Christ. But 1 Peter 2:12 also speaks of another day of visitation: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” While this could be the day God visits individuals with good news, it could also point to the return of Christ, or even to the event predicted in the OT when God determines to judge the earth.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. While all of this gives me shivers, my focus on the Lord says two things: tell others the good news and warn others about the bad news. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment