Stand in silence in the presence of the Sovereign LORD,
Zephaniah 1:7 NLT
for the awesome day of the LORD’s judgment is near.
The LORD has prepared his people for a great slaughter
and has chosen their executioners.
Not so Prepared
Where is my hope now? What will happen to the one who has not anticipated the inevitable and prepared for the day of judgment?
We claimed the Lord; then life proceeded with so many unexpected turns in our narrow path of faith. I was prepared for life, yet never expected death.
“I will sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” says the LORD.
“I will sweep away people and animals alike.
Zephaniah 1:3 NLT
I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish in the sea.
I will reduce the wicked to heaps of rubble,
and I will wipe humanity from the face of the earth,” says the LORD.
“I will consume man and beast… And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked… says the LORD.” Why did I not believe the word of the Lord? Were my eyes blinded to the scripture before us?
הַרְנִ֤ינוּ גֹויִם֙ עַמֹּ֔ו כִּ֥י דַם־עֲבָדָ֖יו יִקֹּ֑ום וְנָקָם֙ יָשִׁ֣יב לְצָרָ֔יו וְכִפֶּ֥ר אַדְמָתֹ֖ו עַמֹּֽו׃ פ
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people;
Deuteronomy 32:43 WLC;NKJV
For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
Romans 12:19, quoting Deuteronomy 32:25
But we knew this.
Why then were we not prepared?
Zephaniah
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps
and punish those who are complacent,
who are like wine left on its dregs,
who think, ‘The Lord will do nothing,
either good or bad.’
Of course, the Lord executed judgment against Judah. For his chosen ones, a nation set aside as holy before the gentiles, fell back into their sin of idolatry – the worship of gods who are not the LORD!
14 The great day of the Lord is near—
near and coming quickly.
The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter;
the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry.
15 That day will be a day of wrath—
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness—
16 a day of trumpet and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the corner towers.
17 “I will bring such distress on all people
that they will grope about like those who are blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their entrails like dung.
In the fire of his jealousy
Zephaniah 1:18b NIV
the whole earth will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
of all who live on the earth.
That was then — in another land at another time. This is now, here. Yet we flee the inevitable!
Has the Lord not reserved His righteous Judgement on the earth and its idolaters for a Day to come? Will the trumpet not sound?
Ignoring the deep darkness
I knew a brother who sat on a bench in the graveyard, speaking to his departed loved one measureless hours as if this lost soul had never departed. In charred remains of a building nearby roamed restless souls tormenting the faithful, tempting the saints.
I feel your presence, he laments. Why have you not departed this scorched earth for the waterless places where souls are not quenched?
You, blinded flesh who must see the unseen in the darkness of sin – you do not believe. Yet unseen powers would lure you and me into the pit of destruction. For the dreams of the prophets you have never believed.
Psalm 82
Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked.
They do not know, nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness;
All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
I said, “You are gods,
And all of you are children of the Most High.
But you shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes.”
קוּמָ֣ה אֱ֭לֹהִים שָׁפְטָ֣ה הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־אַתָּ֥ה תִ֝נְחַ֗ל בְּכָל־הַגֹּויִֽם׃
Arise, O God, judge the earth;
Psalm 82:8 Masoretic Text; NKJV
For You shall inherit all nations.
Inevitable death, Inevitable Judgment
Isaiah 14: excerpt
9 “Hell from beneath is excited about you,
To meet you at your coming;
It stirs up the dead for you,
All the chief ones of the earth;
It has raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.
“How you are fallen from heaven,
Isaiah 14:12 NKJV
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
And I ask you:
Is this the one over whom you revel, the unseen spirit of darkness you celebrate this night?
For by his deceit he would pull you easily down to the pit with him.
By the sweat of your brow you have eaten the bread of a difficult life, but remember you are dust… and to dust you will return.
The days are evil and sin clings near to the dying flesh. Have you not prepared for this time, rather than reveling in a brief respite from a quickened failing flesh?
Prepared for Judgment
Have you put on your armor of light? Do you bow down to the Lord God and Christ Jesus, who IS and will return to judge all mankind?
The angel of darkness may deceive you into believing any lie, but God IS and in Christ the Lord’s mercy is offered to sinners.
Perhaps you believe his lie that you will return to dust and then that’s it… nothing more… no accountability before God for what you have done in this brief life in the flesh.
Would a good God not judge those who have wronged the righteous? Shall evil triumph over good?
Not at all. For the Lord is good, full of mercy and love for His created ones. Therefore He sent His only Son to the world and out of His great mercy paid the great price of sin on the Cross so that those who love the Lord could be saved. Justice is served by the grace of Christ Jesus, sacrificed for us.
Hebrews 9:
He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Prepared by faith
Hebrews 11:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible…
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
What is your verdict?
Knowing that your end will come, knowing that the end of the world as we know it will come; have you, like Noah, prepared for these dark days by faith? Do you seek the Lord Jesus who will return on the clouds as promised by scripture?
The LORD has prepared a way of escape from your sin, though Jesus Christ. By his holy sacrifice for our sin God the Father has redeemed the chosen and restored our hope in these last days.
The days are evil – you see it – and ever so brief by comparison to all eternal time beyond the judgment.
Have you prepared to meet your Maker — to bow before the Throne of Judgment of your eternal soul?
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He has prepared a new body for you for a new heaven and earth.
So also has the Lord prepared a place of punishment for Satan – a horrific place of punishment and torment for fallen angels, fallen men and fallen women who chose evil over good. The verdict is the same for all sinners:
GUILTY!
Yet by the grace of Christ Jesus, will you accept God’s love and forgiveness?
Prepare… for the days are evil and you do not know the hour or the day of your death and then … your judgment.
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