Monday, January 14, 2013

The Day of the Lord

I just started reading Zephaniah in the Bible. It is a pretty strong book talking about the Day of the Lord and all the wrath of God that will be felt at that time. Usually, we hear about the Love of God and about the Mercy of God, or that the Lord wants to Bless you and give you a good life. Of course the Lord loves you. The Love of God is plainly and often stated in the Scriptures. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever Believeth on Him, will not perish, but have everlasting Life." Of course that is true! But, God has other attributes and one of them is that He is a God of wrath. Oh dear...wrath? Yes! The Bible says that God is angry at the wicked every day. EVERY DAY ! Does that mean that , that negates His Love? Absolutely not! He is perfect, and He is Holy. He is the One who created the world and the universe etc. He made the rules. We are the ones who broke His rules, so we need to be punished. But herein He also is the One who made a way out for us, so that we can escape from His anger on the Day of Wrath and everyday. In chapter 2 of Zephaniah, it says "Before it comes, Before the Day, Before the anger comes, Before the Day of the Lord's anger..." . What about the Before? Chapter 2:3..: "Seek ye the Lord". That is up to YOU. You can change your whole destiny by you choosing the Lord. It also says, Seek the Lord , all you MEEK". It requires meekness and humility to Seek the Lord. You have to acknowledge that you are a sinner and that you deserve the wrath of God on your life, because you have broken His rules. Your sin is standing in the way of His holiness. He cannot stand our sin and cannot allow us into heaven with sin. So what shall we do? God gave the solution by sending His Son, who is God Himself in flesh born of a woman, dying on the cross, rising from the dead and then sending His Spirit to live in us. yes, He did all that but, it's not an instant application on our life unless WE chose it! "He came that we may have Life" , yes but again I say You and I must chose to humble ourselves before the Lord. Does He look at you and see you covered with blood of Christ or does He only see your sin? Remember the story of Moses leading the people of Israel out of Egypt? Remember that last day when the Israelites killed a lamb and applied the blood of the lamb to the doorpost of the houses? That night the death Angel passed over Egypt. Whichever house did not have the blood applied on the doorpost, the firstborn son was killed by the angel. Why? It was a symbol of Christ, the lamb of God coming to die. And now we need to apply His blood to our lives. How? What does it say? First SEEK HIM ! If you don't set your heart to Seek the Lord, you will not find Him! Next, Peter in Acts 2 said "Repent". That means to acknowledge you are a sinner worthy of death. Then Peter said, "Be Baptized, everyone of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the washing away of your sin." That is when the blood of Christ is applied on your life by God Himself. You won't see blood...but God sees it.. and will change your direction from death to Life. After that, you are ready to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit(evidence is speaking in tongues), and living a Holy life , with His help. You may not ever see the actual time that is called "The Day of the Lord", but you still have only this life to chose Him. He is Love but He is a God of anger. Come to Him . Seek Him! You will find that loving and serving the Lord Jesus, is the whole fulfillment of your life and heart, that you have been seeking.