DAY OF THE LORD
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INTRODUCTION
Day of the Lord will be a Day of Recognition of Almighty God and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. Apostle John wrote: I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war (Revelation 19:11).
The armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite (strike) the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God; and he has on his vesture (robe) and his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:14-16).
Day of the Lord
Execute Judgment
Apostle John gave the response of the unsaved realizing the greatness of the coming wrath: The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman (slave), and every free man, hid themselves in the dens (caves) and in the rocks of the mountains; saying to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hid us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb (Christ); for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand (Revelation 6:15-17)?
Many unbelievers will want to die and to hide from God, but will be unable to do so. It was noted that the great day of wrath is the day of the Lord; the predicted time of God’s judgment on the earth and its inhabitants. Apostle Jude revealed a prophecy: The Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints; to execute judgment upon all, and to convince (convict) all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly (in an ungodly manner) committed, and all their hard (harsh) speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him (Jude 1:14-15).
Desiring the Day
of the Lord
The Prophet Amos gave warning: Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord; to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light; as if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him; shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light; even very dark, and no brightness in it (Amos 3:18-19)?
The day of the Lord will not be a pleasant sight to the unsaved; those who have rejected God, and His Son. Scripture reveals: This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world (the Lord Jesus Christ), and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). Apostle John wrote: He that believes on the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) has everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides (remains) on him (John 3:36).
Day of Reprisal
The Prophet Obadiah revealed: The day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen (nations); as you have done, it shall be done unto you; your reward (reprisal) shall return upon your own head (Obadiah 1:15). Day of the Lord is pictured as the time when God will judge the heathen (nations).
The Prophet Isaiah revealed: The day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low (Isaiah 2:12); and the loftiness (pride) of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day; and the idols shall utterly perish; and they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he rises to shake terribly the earth (Isaiah 2:17-19).
A Day of Accountability
A Day of Accountability is coming for all people. Scripture reveals: It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). It was noted that we can accept the work of redemption Christ accomplished for us and have our sins forgiven and be welcomed to a home in heaven, or we can stand before God in that great Day of Judgment and be sentenced to eternal separation from Him. Those who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.
Jonathan Edwards sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” contained these words: Consider the fearful danger that you are in: You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder. You have no interest in any mediator, and nothing to hold on to save yourself, nothing to keep the flames of wrath away, nothing of your own, nothing that you have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.
Those words still ring loud and clear today towards endangered souls who are about to descend into eternity without the benefit of a Savior (the Lord Jesus Christ), unless repentance comes prior to Judgment Day.
Sound the Alarm
The Prophet Joel, in speaking the words of the Lord, cried out: Blow you the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord comes, for it is nigh (near) at hand (Joel 2:1). The trumpet (ram’s horn) was used primarily for religious purposes but in this instance it was used to alarm the people of the seriousness of a crisis that was upon the people; to turn to God in repentance.
Joel in sounding the alarm noted that all the inhabitants of the land would tremble at the judgments of God coming upon them; that the day of the Lord is fixed by God, towards a wicked people, to pour out His wrath and vengeance on them, on the day of His visitation.
There is a progressive social gospel which does little to deal with sin, or warn concerning the coming judgment of God, or sound the alarm of impending doom, with a dereliction of duty in teaching and preaching the entirety of God’s Word as the day of the Lord draws near.
Fruit of Righteousness
Into Hemlock
The Prophet Amos revealed there will be a time that the fruit of righteousness will be turned into hemlock (Amos 6:12). It is interesting to note that the word hemlock refers to a plant that poison is derived from. Poison infects or pollutes the body until injury, illness, or death results. It can be of a harmful influence such as will ruin, taint, inhibit, or embitter. When this influence creeps into a church, oftentimes unawares, it creates “A powerless Church.”
A dream captivated this thought in which the righteous man was ridiculed, of whose influence no longer had any effect; a church of pomp and splendor, where true worship was taboo and sin no longer identified; lives were without change or with little endurance if change occurred.
Thief in the Night
Apostle Peter revealed that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (unexpected by many) in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation (conduct) and godliness (2 Peter 3:10-12).
Peter then gave a warning: Beware that you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness (faithfulness); but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:17). It was noted that the day of the Lord here refers to the return of Christ in judgment.
Reference to
Day of the Lord
The Prophet Joel noted: The day of the Lord is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come (Joel 1:15). The Lord shall utter his voice before his army; for his camp is very great, for he is strong that executes his word; for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible and who can abide (endure it) (Joel 2:11); multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision (Joel 3:14). It was noted that the valley of decision is not where the multitudes are in the midst of making a decision in favor of the Lord and repenting of their sin; rather, the decision is made by God, a decision to judge them in the day of the Lord.
Apostle John wrote concerning the Judgment Seat of God: I saw the dead, small and great stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things written in the books, according to their works (Revelation 20:12); and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (a literal burning Hell) (Revelation 20:15).
Repentance Required
Apostle Peter wrote: The Lord is not slack concerning his promise (the day of the Lord and destruction), as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Ample opportunity is given for all to come to acceptance of God’s provision for mankind to escape the day of the Lord; but there is no assurance all will do so.
Scripture reveals: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). This conveys the very reason the day of the Lord will one day become a reality, a time of judgment rather than opportunity for repentance.
One day the door of opportunity will be shut, as in the days of pre-Flood Days of Noah when the door was shut by God (Genesis 7:16); as was the door shut to the five foolish virgins who took no extra oil for their lamp (Matthew 25:10). Apostle John wrote: He that believes on the Son has everlasting life (a heavenly abode); and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides (remains) on him (a literal burning hell) (John 3:36). Today is the day of salvation, tomorrow may be too late.
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