The Day The Lord Cometh

Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Isaiah 13:9

For centuries Christianity has preached the coming of the Lord with its fiery end to Satan, sin and sinner, and many today believe that mankind is now facing the last days of earth’s history. Crime, violence, abuse , moral decay and hatred prove that the heart of man has grown cold, indifferent and apathetic, completely void of love for God or his fellowman. Salvation is something an unbelieving world does not understand or desire. They scoff at the idea that the judgments of God are about to fall with all the fierce anger that He has promised throughout the scriptures. An atmosphere of somber complacency rests upon an ignorant and deceived generation whom Satan has cloaked in seemingly impenetrable darkness. The prophet Joel’s prophetic words regarding the awful and fearful days of wrath that will fall upon a disobedient people goes unheeded as today’s society chases the whirlwind of self-indulgence. We are a people in desperate need of repentance, revival and reform, even within the church. We are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. And the sad part? We don't even know it. We say we are rich, increased with goods, knowledge and self pride, and have need of nothing (Revelation 3:17), and Satan glories in our weakness! He works with all intensity in these final days to shroud the truth of God in error and deception, leading a deceived people to the wages of their continued rebellion.....death (Romans 6:23). Satan plays to our self indulgence with temptations that will entice, pleasures that will deceive and attitudes that bend to the every whim of our uncontrolled passions. But Proverbs 14:12 says that There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

The time of the Lord’s visitation, His second coming in the clouds of glory, draws ever nearer, and most are not prepared for that midnight hour when the “Day of the Lord” will come upon us like a thief in the night (2 Peter 3:10). Malachi 4:1 states “For behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Powerful words for us today, but as in the days of Noah we continue our daily routine, oblivious to what lies upon the horizon. The voices that cry in the wilderness to prepare a people to meet their God are ridiculed and silenced as foolish fanatics. Those willing to sacrifice their time and energy for the sake of the gospel are crying out to lost humanity to hear the good news and turn their hearts back to their creator before its too late. Do they hear? Will they listen? Will they accept God’s offer of love and salvation before His hour of judgment shakes the world to its very foundation, striking fear and confusion into the hearts of those who have refused Him and turned a deaf ear to the everlasting gospel?

The prophecies of Daniel & Revelation reveal in vivid description these coming events so vital to this most awesome time in man’s history. Satan, however, would have us blind to these issues that will determine our destiny as he step by step prepares his final battle plan to draw the world into a one world power that will defy the word of God in favor of manmade doctrines and traditions. Herein lies his devious plan to lead a slumbering and apathetic generation to unknowingly receive the “mark of the beast”. Like putty he has shaped and molded this faithless and weak generation with just the right mixture of truth and error, with just enough counterfeit revivals, charismatic movements, and soft sermons to set the stage for his final assault against God and His law. But against such, the wrath of God will be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).

The end of time, the last days, the Day of the Lord, judgment day, all denote a time when mankind must finally face a day of reckoning, a day of perdition for ungodly man. But man has grown cold with waiting. Scoffers cry out “where is the promise of Christ’s coming? Many before us have died and all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation (2 Peter 3:4). We have lost faith in God’s promise to come again, but the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, but delays out of love because we are not ready to receive Him. He is long-suffering and merciful to His children, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). The Day of the Lord will come. To some it will be a day of terror, of agony, of death with no hope of salvation. To them the preaching of the cross was foolishness. But to those who are saved, it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). The redeemed will then lift their voices to heaven and cry out “Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us, and we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation” (Isaiah 25:9). Oh glorious day, glorious victory when the reign of sin and suffering is over for those who have overcome by faith in the precious blood of the Lamb.

When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world was the question the Disciples ask Christ almost 2000 years ago (Matthew 24:3). As we approach the coming third millennium since His first advent, we would do well to heed His words of instruction and discern the signs of the times. Jesus stated: many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in many places, but this is just the beginning of sorrows (Matthew 24:5-8). What we must know and understand is that persecution shall rise again because of the preaching of the gospel. For Matthew 24:14 states: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come!! This is what Satan fears, a resurgence of the power of the gospel that will reveal his evil schemes. At all cost he will kill, destroy or counterfeit anything that could possibly hinder his concentrated efforts to defeat mankind. But scripture tells us not to be shaken in our mind concerning these things, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of peridition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4). And this mystery has been at work since apostolic times when the works of Satan through compromise of Christianity with paganism entered the church and man began to exalt himself above God and began to fall away from the truth following his own will and his own ways. The heart of man has grown cold in his responsibility to God and the Commandments. The thick darkness that pervades a decadent society grows deeper and darker as Satan continues to blanket the world with the same evil schemes that he perpetrated on mankind during the dark ages. The deceptions, the errors, and the lies that can only be brought to light through the power of the scriptures have again invaded mankind. Salvation through Christ alone has again been replaced with a Laodecian attitude of self pride that needs the three fold cure that God offers in Revelation 3:18: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire (faith and love), that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment (Christ’s righteouness), that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of they nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve (wisdom and discernment gained only through the power of the Holy Spirit) that thou mayest see. The detector of error, the magnifier of the truth (the Bible) has again been set aside and replaced by man’s ideas and man’s desire for self government. Through doctrines, urged on by self-seeking men and women who are guided by the unseen hand of Satan, the darkness persists. With their mouth they profess to serve God, but their hearts are far removed from Him (Matthew 15:8). What havoc has reigned as we have spurned God and His law. What fallacies have set the stage for the final battle of truth and error. The glorious days of the reformation that brought to light the hidden treasures of truth found in the scriptures and so long denied a starving people have been forgotten. Satan again is locking the doors of truth by presenting to mankind spurious doctrine and watered-down truths that create confusion and apathy. This he hopes will keep us bound in the chains of misapprehension and misunderstanding that will leave us unprepared to face the coming time of tribulation with its choice for or against the mark of the beast.

Before that glorious day of Christ’s coming there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time nor shall ever be again (Matthew 24:21). Who will go through this tribulation? Many teach that the church will be raptured out before this time of judgment. But scriptures teaches that before that glorious day when the church shall be taken home, they must endure a testing time, they must show to the world there faith, their trust, their obedience to Almighty God under the most difficult circumstances (Revelation 11:3) God has ordained them for such a time as this as His special people, those who will vindicate Him, His love and His mercy. Those of whom He can say to Satan and the world, these are my people, they have not bowed the knee to the ways of the world, but have served me faithfully against all odds. They are light bearers to a world steeped in darkness. They will give the final message of salvation to this dying world against every dart that Satan can throw. They will preach the gospel with great power and they will light the earth with the glory of God through the power of the latter rain of the Holy Spirit. What a privilege for this last generation to be alive, and to partake of such a momentous time.

What the world needs now is revival!!! Before the final visitation of God’s judgment upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times (EGW pg 132, The Power of the Spirit). When the church is idle and there is no spirit of revival, there is no persecution. When the church is on its knees and thinks, prays and lives a glorious revival, Satan is alarmed and persecution begins. Satan is on the alert for such a spirit of godliness, and he will do all in his power to hamper it. He will establish a “counterfeit” revival with signs and miracles that are intended to draw mankind away from the truth. Revelation 16:14 states “they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. The stage is set, the hour draws nigh, and the spiritual warfare of this great controversy escalates. In all things then we must be fortified with the truth! To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word; it is because there is no light in them.