Thursday, January 24,
2013, 5:00 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the hymn, “Rejoice, the Lord is King!” Speak,
Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 12 (NIV 1984):
In that day you will
say:
“I will praise you, O
Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned
away
and you have comforted me.
Surely God is my
salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, is
my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw
water
from the wells of salvation.
In that day you will
say:
“Give thanks to the
Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has
done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing to the Lord, for
he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
Shout aloud and sing
for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among
you.”
In that Day
“That Day” refers to both the Day of our Salvation (deliverance)
and to the Day of Judgment when Jesus Christ comes to judge the earth and its
inhabitants. Let me explain.
In chapter eleven of Isaiah we read a prophecy concerning
Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, Messiah, Judge and King. We also read
prophecies concerning him in chapters two and nine. These prophecies concerning
the coming Messiah included prophecies of his birth through his millennial reign
on the earth as King of kings and as Lord of lords. These prophecies concerning
the Messiah/King were also woven in among warnings of judgment and rebukes of
God’s people for their spiritual adultery and their idolatrous ways, and
because they put their hope and trust in mankind instead of in the Lord. So, he
would come to judge them, but he also promised deliverance and restoration to
the penitent. This parallels the prophecies concerning the last days in both
the Old and New Testaments, but in particular in the book of Revelation, where
Christ Jesus is seen as both Judge and as Savior.
Then, in chapter twelve we see Christ Jesus as the Savior
and deliverer, following the time of judgment. The Lord had been angry with his
people, but now his anger was turned away from them, and so he comforted them
with his salvation (deliverance). This speaks, I believe, of both physical and
spiritual deliverance (salvation). So, “That Day” has both a negative and a
positive aspect to it. On one end, they were under God’s wrath in divine judgment
and on the other end, he delivered them from his wrath, and he restored them to
himself, both physically and spiritually.
Yet, lest we get confused, let me clarify here that God’s
wrath and judgment against mankind during the time of tribulation is not the
same as the final judgment and divine wrath of God that determines our eternal
destiny, because scripture teaches us that people will come to Christ (nations
will flock to Christ) and the bride of Christ will be purified and made holy
and ready for her groom/husband during the time of tribulation. So, God judges
us in divine discipline in order to bring people to Christ and in order revive
his church and to make her holy and pure before his return, yet there is also a
wrath of God that stands against mankind that speaks of our eternal destiny,
from which we must also be set free. For those who die outside of faith in
Jesus Christ during the time of God’s judgments on the earth, though, they will
also face his wrath in sending them to the lake of fire.
Spiritual Wrath and
Salvation
In Romans 5 we read about being justified by Christ’s blood
through salvation, and about future salvation from God’s wrath. In chapter 9 of
Romans we see a parallel between this wrath and ultimate destruction. Then, in
Ephesians 2 we learn that when we lived to gratify the cravings of our sinful
nature that we were by nature objects of wrath. And, in chapter five we read that
God’s wrath comes on the disobedient. In 1 Thessalonians 1 we read that Jesus
rescues us from the coming wrath. Then, in chapter 5 we read that God did not
appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ, showing that these are opposite of each other, i.e. wrath here equals
eternal damnation.
So, outside of faith in Jesus Christ, we are objects of
wrath (eternal damnation). So, God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ (God
the Son) to die on the cross for our sins so that we could receive eternal
salvation and eternal life with God, and no longer be under his wrath (bound
for hell). Wrath, in this context, is thus the opposite of salvation. So, in a
sense, God was angry with us (his wrath stood against us) when we did not know
Christ, yet he also loved us and showed his divine mercy and grace by giving
his Son Jesus Christ to die in our place (to take our punishment) so we could
go free.
We come to belief in Jesus Christ when we receive his gift
of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, what is faith? Some people have
reduced faith to mean nothing more than an emotional one-time experience at an
altar or to some type of surface level acknowledgment of what Christ Jesus did
for them in dying on the cross for their sins. Yet, the Bible teaches us that
faith in Christ means that we die (daily) with Christ to our old lives of sin,
that we are resurrected with Christ to completely new lives, transformed
through the process of metamorphosis into new creatures in Christ Jesus (spiritually
new born), and that we now live our lives by the strength and power and working
of the Holy Spirit within us. We are no longer our own. We were bought with a
price, therefore we are to honor God in all that we do (see Eph. 4:17-24; Luke
9:23-25; Gal. 2:20; Romans 6 and 1 Co. 6:20).
Physical Wrath and
Deliverance
In the first chapter and second half of chapter two of
Isaiah we read Isaiah’s (i.e. God’s) rebuke of Judah and Jerusalem. Judah was a
rebellious nation. They had forgotten their God, and they had turned their
backs on him. They were children given to corruption. They heaped up
meaningless offerings to God, and he was not pleased by them. God could not
stand their evil assemblies. Their rulers were rebels, companions of thieves.
The faithful city had become a harlot. They were superstitious and idolatrous,
arrogant and proud; people who trusted in man over God. God said that if they
were willing and obedient, they would be blessed, but if they resisted God and
rebelled, they would be devoured with a sword. God promised them judgment in
order to purge away their junk (waste), and to remove all their impurities, yet
he also promised to restore her penitent ones with righteousness.
In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation we get a similar account
of the majority of the church in the final days before Christ’s return via
seven letters to the seven churches in Asia, which I believe represent the
church, in general, throughout the ages. Some people believe the church in
Laodicea represents the lukewarm church just prior to God’s judgments on the
earth during the time of tribulation. I agree, yet I believe each church and
each letter represents some aspect of the overall church through each generation.
Yet, I do see the institutional church in America overall fitting the
description of the church in Laodicea, as well as it fits the descriptions of
many of the other churches represented in these letters, too. I can’t speak for
other nations, because I live in the USA, and this is what I know.
Yet, what stands out to me about these prophecies in Isaiah
in connection with the prophecies in Revelation is how they follow a similar
pattern. Both have declarations of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, King, Lord,
Judge and Savior, they both contain warnings of judgment, descriptions of
rebellion, and calls for repentance to the people of God, which applies to the
church today. They both have descriptions of how God will judge (pour out his
wrath on) his people in divine discipline, and how he will judge the nations. They
both describe the time of judgment as resulting in multitudes from the nations
flocking to Jesus Christ and/or of the church (God’s people) having their
impurities removed (purified). And, they both describe the time when the
judgments will cease, when Jesus Christ will gather his people from the four
corners of the earth, and when Jesus Christ will reign on the earth as King of
kings and as Lord of lords during a time of peace. And, they both end with
songs of praise and shouts of Hallelujah for God’s salvation and his physical
deliverance from our enemies.
Proclaim Him
Before Jesus Christ left this earth, he left instructions
with his disciples (his followers). They were to wait for the promised Holy
Spirit, and when the Spirit of God came upon them, they would be Christ’s
witnesses to the ends of the earth. He also told them that they were to go and
make disciples (followers of Christ) of all nations, baptizing them, and
teaching them to obey everything Christ Jesus taught them. We, as Christ’s
followers, are under the same directives. When we receive Christ as Savior, we
receive his Holy Spirit within us and thus we are empowered of the Spirit of
God to be bold in our witness for Him. And, we are to take the gospel of Jesus
Christ to the ends of the earth. We are to make known among the nations what he
has done in giving us salvation, and also what is required of us in order to
appropriate that salvation to our own lives (see Eph. 4:17-24; Luke 9:23-25).
Yet, part of what they told concerning what the Lord had
done was they told of his anger, and how his anger had been turned away, and
they told of how God then comforted them and how he saved them. Part of our
testimony for Jesus Christ is sharing his gospel, yet part of it is sharing our
own personal testimony of where we were before we met Christ, and of how Jesus
Christ met us where we were, and the work of transformation he did in our
individual lives in saving us from sin and in giving us new lives in Christ
Jesus. We share this testimony through how we live our daily lives in the fear
of God and in obedience to Christ’s commands, as well as we share it with our
mouths in public declaration of his mighty salvation, including sharing the
truth of what salvation means for us while we are still on the face of this
earth, i.e. what is required of us to be Christ’s followers.
The Day of Judgment
A day of judgment is coming on the earth, known as the
tribulation period. This is separate from the final judgment when God will
either reward us for being his followers, or he will send us to the eternal
lake of fire for refusing him and his Son. I believe the church will go through
this time of judgment, though I certainly don’t know everything, and it is not
my place to declare with absolute certainty all God has planned for his people.
I just know that Revelation begins with letters to the
church warning of divine judgment if they do not repent of their sins, yet there
is also an indication that some may be spared. And, I know that following these
letters we then have the declarations of judgment. And, I see many parallels
between the prophecies in Isaiah and those in Revelation concerning the last
days. Plus, I believe with all my heart that God is calling out to his church
today to repent of her sins and to return to her first love or face judgment of
some kind, in particular to the church in America. So, not only is this a call
to rejoice in our salvation and to declare to the nations what Christ has done,
but it is also a call to make sure of our own salvation, and/or to get our
hearts right with God through repentance and turning to obey Christ.
Rejoice, the Lord is
King! / Charles Wesley / John Darwall
Rejoice, the Lord is
King!
Your Lord and King
adore;
mortals, give thanks
and sing,
and triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart,
lift up your voice;
rejoice;
again I say, rejoice.
Jesus the Savior
reigns,
the God of truth and
love;
when he had purged our
stains,
he took his seat
above.
Lift up your heart,
lift up your voice;
rejoice,
again I say, rejoice.
His kingdom cannot
fail;
he rules o'er earth
and heaven;
the keys of earth and
hell
are to our Jesus
given.
Lift up your heart,
lift up your voice;
rejoice,
again I say, rejoice.
Rejoice in glorious
hope!
Jesus the Judge shall
come,
and take his servants
up
to their eternal home.
Lift up your heart,
lift up your voice;
rejoice,
again I say, rejoice.
