God's Justice Will Be Served

It sounds ominous, foreboding, and frightening.

It’s much easier to skip over it than to deal with it, and struggle with its meaning.

Sometimes it’s used to beat people up spiritually and emotionally—the wrong use.

Sometimes it’s used in an attempt to hold power over people—the wrong use.

Sometimes it’s used to sound a warning—the right use…most of the time.

It is often wrapped in apocalyptic language, language that describes the complete destruction of the end of the world—sometimes referred to as “end time’s prophecy.”

“Alas for you who desire the Day of the Lord!

Why do you want the Day of the Lord?

It is darkness, not light;

as if someone fled from a lion,

and was met by a bear;

or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall,

and was bitten by a snake.

Is not the Day of the Lord darkness, not light,

and gloom with no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18-20)

Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? It is. But what does it mean? How should we understand this “Day of the Lord?” Should we Christians be purveyors of gloom and doom? Some are.

The prophet Joel: “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible Day of the Lord.” (2:31) Sounds frightening, doesn’t it? Wait! There’s more: “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved…” (Joel 2:32)

And then there’s Isaiah:

“Wail, for the Day of the Lord is near,

it will come like destruction from the Almighty…

For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

the sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light…

I will punish the world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,

And lay low the insolence of tyrants” (See Isaiah 13:8-13.)

Sounds foreboding, doesn’t it?

In the New Testament letter we refer to as Second Peter, there’s this:

“But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed {some ancient authorities read, “will be burned up.”} (See 2 Peter 3:10)

We must balance that verse with this one, “But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.” (2 Peter 3:13)

Writing to the Christians in Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul warned, “For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape.” (1Thessalonians 5:2-3)

And again, we must balance this with, “For God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)

Let’s hear Jesus on the matter:

“But in those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will be falling from heaven,

and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”

Ah, but there is more… “Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” (See Mark 13:24-27)

John is given a vision—Revelation—about the coming Day of the Lord when the sixth seal of the scroll is opened. (The scroll cannot be opened by just anyone; for only the Lamb (the risen Christ) can open its seals. So the Revelation comes from God.)

It’s scary. Hang on! Here we go… “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand.” (Revelation 6:12-17)

God’s justice will be served.

But…we must see the bigger picture that John paints for us in his writing down of his vision—Revelation—from God.

“After this I looked and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”

(Revelation 7:9-10)

Once more… “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

And I remind us of the words of Joel, “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Is it time to call on the name of the Lord?

The only person that can answer that question is you.