The Day of the Lord Is Near

 

August 5, 2020

 

Zephaniah 2:7-18

 

The Day of the Lord Is Near

 Be silent before the Lord God!  For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.   And on the day of the Lord's sacrifice—
“I will punish the officials and the king's sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire.   On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold,
and those who fill their master's house with violence and fraud.  “On that day,” declares the Lord, “a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills.  Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar!   For all the traders are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off. At that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent,  those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.’  Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste.  Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”  The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.   A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.  I will bring distress on mankind so that they shall walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.   Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end  he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.”

 

For the people of Judah when the Babylonians attacked, it was the day of God’s judgment, yet for those who were spared it was a time of silence before God, they went from house to rubble.  Shall we bring it into a time we understand, Nazi Germany was going through Europe destroying army after army, most of Germany was not part of the Nazi party, but if you did not agree, the brown shirts of Hitler’s bunch of thugs would hurt you, if they did not kill you.  If you were a Jew they put you in concentration camps, and later when He came to power they would kill six million of them in gas chambers.

 

But in God’s providence, He allowed the evil man Hitler to believe he could attack Russia with the same success as those he had so easily defeated the nations in Europe and also attacking shipping of American supplies to China, Russia, and England.  The six-year and one-day war ended with Germany in rubble, and those left were silent before the Lord God.

 

Many who go by the title of Christian have lived in fear during the China virus, but a day when God brings His wrath on those who have put their faith in government, leaders, and wealth, will be judged, and not one thing will stop God’s judgment on this nation.  I believe we are having the birth pains of a Nation that has moved from in God we Trust to in Hollywood, in Socialism, in big government, we trust.  I do not know what tomorrow brings, but this I do know, my Father has full control over all things.

 

Are you one of those the Father has consecrated as his guest?   Shall we revisit verse 7, “Be silent before the Lord God!  For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice