THE NORTH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:

‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’ Cry aloud and say: ‘Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities!’ Raise the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay!”

“For I am bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction. A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant. So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.”

“In that day,” declares the Lord, “the king and the officials will lose heart, the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be appalled. At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, ‘A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.’”

“Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined!”

Jeremiah 4:5-9, 11-13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Here’s a truth that no one can deny unless they are completely divorced from the word of God:

Disrespect and disregard God, choosing to openly sin against Him, and you will face His judgment.

It’s a harrowing fact that we find in today’s scripture passage from Jeremiah 4 and it’s a fact that we face today as well. More on the present and future later but for now, look at the plight of the Old Testament Israelites first:

“Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:

‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’ Cry aloud and say: ‘Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities!’ Raise the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay!”

“For I am bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction. A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant. So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.”

“In that day,” declares the Lord, “the king and the officials will lose heart, the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be appalled. At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, ‘A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.’”

“Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined!”  Jeremiah 4:5-9, 11-13

God’s people had pushed Him too far. They knew they were to give Him their full devotion and were not to worship false gods and idols and yet they did so anyways. Perhaps they thought they would get away with it. Maybe they thought that God was so merciful that He wouldn’t dare punish them for their blatant sinfulness. If that’s what they thought, they were very wrong on both counts.

We know this because of what God promised would come and indeed what did come.

Note here that the disaster that would represent God’s penalty and befall His people would come from the north. The ferocity of the forces coming on the Israelites was so great that would be fleeing for safety against the coming attack and the destruction that would accompany it, seeking out fortified cities in which to find refuge. The fear that would grip the people in the wake of the onslaught they faced would leave the kings and officials disheartened, the priests horrified, and the prophets appalled. Their future held woe and ruin as their land would be ransacked and the people hauled away from their homeland.

This was what God promised and it’s exactly what went down. The northern kingdom of Israel would be attacked by the Assyrians who would come from the north and overrun them before heading south and terrorizing the southern kingdom of Judah. That would be where it would end for the Assyrians but the Babylonians would take their place as the antagonists, destroying Judah and Jerusalem before taking the Israelites captive for seventy years of exile.

The people of Israel had challenged God and it was their worst idea ever.

But what about us? Are we facing judgment from the north as well?

The answer is yes but the north the Bible talks about is directly above us in the heavens. It’s there that we see this scene play out as Jesus, the slain Lamb of God, begins to open the seven seals on the scroll that God gives Him:

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Revelation 6:1-14

The imagery here is amazing and frightening at the same time. One thing is certain, when Jesus begins to open each of the seven seals on the scroll, an event will occur that will demand everyone’s attention and the magnitude of these events will drive people into hiding, afraid of the judgment that is befalling them.

How do we know this?

Look at the reaction after the sixth seal is opened:

The kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”  Revelation 6:15-17

Wow! Did you catch that? The level of alarm and trepidation will be so deep that people will wish that stones would fall upon them to spare them from the punishment God was bringing on His people, judgment coming from the skies above, dire consequences imposed from the north.

Friends, there is no doubt that God will not allow blatant, unashamed sinfulness to go unchecked. There is a day coming when His final judgment will befall us all and the only thing that will save anyone is the same Jesus who broke the seals to send judgment in the first place, exercising the authority that His Father had given Him over heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18).

If you are in Christ, and only if you are in Christ, you will be spared judgment, justified before God by the shed blood of Jesus who washes your sins away and leaves you white as snow before your heavenly Father. You will head north when this world ends to live with God and Jesus forever in the new heaven and earth they will create as the heaven and earth we know now is destroyed along with all those who failed to place their hope, faith, and belief in Jesus as Savior.

What will it be for you?

Will you face destruction from the north, a victim of God’s judgment against your unpardoned sins?

Or will you head north when this world is destroyed, redeemed and alive forever, freed from all the things that afflict us in this present worldly existence through your trust in Jesus, the only One through which you can be saved (John 14:6)?

Do yourself a favor. Accept Jesus today and guarantee you’ll head north because trust me when I say, you don’t want to head south (Revelation 20:11-15).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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