The Day of the Lord

Image Credit: Unsplash

The current state of this world can cause us a bit of distress, to be sure. But it struck me today upon hearing yet another piece of distasteful news that that feeling that we have deep down when we see something unjust done to another person, is a normal response to wickedness. Now, what we do with that response of course is another matter, and both sides of this must be guarded and guided by Scripture. But we all long for a day when justice will reign on earth (Isaiah 42:4).

As we begin to close up our week talking about time, I had wanted to do a Friday share like normal, but that little bit of news has struck a chord and instead I feel led to perhaps talk about time and what it means for the wicked.

A day IS coming in which God will judge the living and the dead. It is not a possibility, a "maybe", an "it could happen", but it is an absolute certainty.

When we see dictatorships beat innocent and imprison its citizens, when we see evil go unpunished or the innocent punished, when we see children in need, or worse, when we see children violently mistreated, and when we see our brothers and sisters in Christ be brutally murdered for the name of Jesus, we long for justice. And we know that these are things that God hates (cf. Proverbs 6:16-19), and so we hate evil deeds as well.

But we know from Scripture that these evil-doers who enact such atrocities will in fact pay for their wickedness.

But let this not give us some kind of misplaced satisfaction; While we long for justice, and we praise God for His justice, we also must remember two things.

Firstly that these wicked sinful people are still made in God's image, though they tarnish it beyond recognition. Therefore, they are in need of the gospel.

And secondly, that but by God's grace so go us all. And it is only by the gospel that we who are Christian have been rescued from condemnation; A condemnation well deserved because of our own wickedness.

Let that sink in.

And lest you disagree, the example of Paul, once called Saul, persecutor of the church, should cause you to rethink your position.

And so we pray, asking God to bring justice in this world even as we wait for that final day, the day of the Lord.

But we pray for others, we pray for salvation, we pray for revival, we pray that the gospel would go forth and that Christ would have the fulness of His reward. And we go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20), knowing this: that He who reigns will one day destroy his enemies. Make sure you're not on His wanted list. Bow the knee to Him today. It's only a matter of time. Because as Isaiah says in 5:20:

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!"