THE DAY OF THE LORD

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In Christ, Mark

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

“Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.”

“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand—a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come. Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them.”

^“They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows. Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord thunders at the head of his army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command.”

“The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?”

Joel 1:15-20, 2:1-11

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

It started like a day that was like any other day back in early Old Testament times. Many people in the world went about their business as usual, most of it living apart from God in sin. And there wasn’t even an inkling of concern among the people when it began to rain one day, the crops were in need of watering anyways. It rained all day and then it continued to rain the second and the third and the fourth. I’m sure the people saw it as unusual to have rain that many days consecutively and the volume of rain had begin to produce localized flooding. There was widespread concern that the crops would all be ruined because of the excessive rainfall.

That became the least of the people’s worries as the rains prolonged through the end of the week and beyond. One week turned into two and now the people were heading to higher ground to preserve their own lives, their homes and towns flooded, their belongings outside of what they could carry lost. They still held out hope that the rains would stop and the waters recede so they could return home to try and rebuild.

But then the rains kept falling. It had been thirty days since they started and the waters were rising ever higher and higher. Many people were being swept away, perishing in the depths of the seas. Only the strongest that were able to keep climbing were able to survive but soon even they succumbed to the greatest flood the world had ever seen as the waters rose above the mountain tops after a full 40 days and 40 nights of rainfall. It was destruction of epic proportions, destruction that could only come during the Day of the Lord, a day when He brought judgment on His people.

Had it not been for God’s grace and mercy, choosing a faithful servant named Noah to build an ark to preserve the very existence of mankind and the animal kingdom, it all would have ended during that great flood.

For we know how this story continued. The waters receded, the ark came to rest, and when it was safe, Noah, his family, and all the animals they had harbored safely in the ark disembarked to start life anew. And God promised never to send a flood of that proportion to the earth ever again, placing a rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise.

Now, note that God didn’t say that He would never send judgment on His people again. He didn’t promise that. And we know that there were other times when God’s people experienced His punishment on other Days of the Lord.

One such time was during the days of the prophet Joel, the scriptures we are currently studying from. You’ll recall the Israelites had chosen to worship false gods and idols instead of God, in direct disobedience and violation of His commands not to do so (Exodus 20:3-4a). God had done so much for them and their ancestors but the people acted as if they had no regard for God’s goodness and so they would go on to experience His judgment when the Day of the Lord came upon them. Look again at the closing verses of Joel, Chapter 1, and the opening verses of Chapter 2:

“Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.”

“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand—a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come. Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them.”

^“They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows. Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord thunders at the head of his army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command.”

“The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?”  Joel 1:15-20, 2:1-11

The Day of the Lord came in the form of attacking forces from Assyria and Babylon, the Assyrians assaulting and annihilating the northern kingdom of Israel while the Babylonians attacked and obliterated the southern kingdom of Judah. When these battles were over, the holy land of Canaan would be left in ruins, devastated and desolate, with the surviving Israelites taken away into captivity. Nothing within the two kingdoms was left untouched by the onslaught much like the flood waters of Noah’s time impacting everything on the earth.

It was a terrifying time for the people of God, a day of darkness and gloom, as they were consumed by the great armies of the Assyrians and Babylonians. The Israelite forces were overwhelmed, outnumbered, and overmatched. Their enemy’s victory was already predetermined because they were only serving as instruments of God’s judgment. And what was a once flourishing land and people, a garden like Eden, became a smoldering wasteland akin to the desert wildernesses.

In the end translation, the people would definitely echo these words of Joel:

“The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?”

So how does this relate to us today, well over 2,000 years since the two Days of the Lord mentioned, the great flood and the Assyrian/Babylonian invasions?

It reminds us that there is still a great Day of the Lord coming, a day when Jesus, the Savior of the world, will return to judge the earth and all the people within. Jesus described it like this:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’”

“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’”

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’”

“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’”

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’”

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’”

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  Matthew 25:31-46

No one knows the day that Jesus will come back, when the final Day of the Lord happens. We do know what’s at stake when He does and that leads me to one final question for you to ponder:

Will you be placed on the left or right when Jesus returns?

The answer will dictate whether the Day of the Lord will be your best or worst day ever.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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