I thought it would be good to post something about what the Bible says about God's wrath to come one day to earth. Here are selected Bible verses that relate to so called The Day of the Lord, second coming of Christ and God's wrath coming on those who won't accept God's grace. Since the today's world is filled with so much evil, we tend to think that God is not seeing this and not taking any action. But the below Scriptures verses clearly say that the time will surely come- unexpectedly- when all His wrath will be poured out on the wicked and unrepentant people.
The Day of the LORD is a special term in the Bible used to refer to a period of time when God directly intervenes in human affairs---in judgment or in blessing.
For the unrepentant who reject Christ's rule over them now during the present Day of grace, the fast-approaching Day of the Lord will be a time of terrible retribution, judgment and eternal destruction.
"This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering-since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant rest with us to you who are afflicted, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed."
(2 Thessalonians 1:3-12)
In contrast to the coming Day of the Lord, we can think of the present age as "The Day of Man," because God has allowed human evil to run its full course in our time. God's interference with man's attempts to conduct his own affairs as he pleases, is today minimal. Although there is restraint from God on man's attempts to run things, God is now allowing what is called "the mystery of lawlessness" to run its course. The culmination of "Man's Day" will be the appearance on the stage of history of a great world leader, a "lawless one," who will in actuality attempt to counterfeit God's Messiah and King, Jesus.
"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12)
At the present time Jesus Christ the Lord is indeed ruling over the earth (and indeed over the entire universe), however He is not yet reigning on the earth. It is God's will "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11) According to God's decree all men will one day submit to the authority of Jesus.The above quotation is repeated also in Romans 14:11 and is derived from Isaiah Chapter 45 in the Old Testament which says in part,
"...I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God...I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the LORD, who do all these things..."Woe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it, `What are you making'? or `Your work has no handles'? Woe to him who says to a father, `What are you begetting?' or to a woman, `With what are you in travail?'" Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands? I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host...
"For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, `Seek me in chaos.' I the LORD speak the truth, I declare what is right.
"Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: `To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.'"
The actual second coming of Christ to earth is described several places in the New Testament (as well as in the Old). Towards the very end of the First Century the aged apostle John saw the Second Advent in a great vision,
"I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
"And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords." (Rev. 19:11-16)
The Old Testament is replete with vivid poetic descriptions of impending judgments ;
"Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every man's heart will melt, and they will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in travail. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make men more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger." (Isaiah 13:6-13)
God's judgments-both of men and Satan, "the god of this world (or, age)" ---are especially directed at the root problem of sin---which is pride.
"Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty. The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high; against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills; against every high tower, and against every fortified wall; against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft. And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be brought low; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away.
"And men shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. In that day men will cast forth their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. Turn away from man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?" (Isaiah 2:10:22)
Today, the New Testament offers wonderful, complete forgiveness of all sin made possible by the death of God's own son, Jesus, on our behalf. The full power of his resurrection enables those who follow Jesus to live whole and godly lives. Furthermore, Christ promises that his bride, the true church, will escape from the wrath to come. (See 1 Thessalonians 1:10)
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews warns that God will soon shake not only all the cities of the earth, the foundations of all human society, but also the heavens themselves, including the "principalities and powers in the heavenly places," the unseen angelic orders who presently control human affairs to a great extent. Only those things in heaven and on earth which God himself has built will survive!
"See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.' This phrase, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:25-29)
Zephaniah the prophet gives us an especially vivid view of the Day of the Lord. A partial fulfillment of this prophecy occurred about 30 years later in the Babylonian captivity, however it is clear that the full implications of this prophecy are yet future:
"The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. 'I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth,' says the LORD. 'I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. I will overthrow the wicked; I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,' says the LORD.
"'I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests; those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens; those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom; those who have turned back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of him.'
"Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is at hand; 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 every one who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master's house with violence and fraud.' 'On that day,' says 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 thickening upon their lees, 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 men, 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 jealous wrath, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full, yea, sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth." (Zephaniah 1)
Zephaniah also writes of blessings upon Israel and all the nations in the days of Messiah's visible, earthly, thousand-year reign:
"'Therefore wait for me,' says the LORD, 'for the day when I arise as a witness. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all the heat of my anger; for in the fire of my jealous wrath all the earth shall be consumed. 'Yea, at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. 'On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no wrong and utter no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall pasture and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.'
"Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: 'Do not fear, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival. 'I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you together; yea, I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,' says the LORD." (Zephaniah 3:8-20)
Joel tells of disturbances in the heavens and great disruptions in nature associated with the Day of the Lord. These events are also described in the New Testament.
"And I will give portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls." (Joel 2:30-32)
And in the New Testament,
"When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?'" (Rev. 6:12-17)
God's ultimate purpose in judging evil is not the destruction of mankind but a new creation:
"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their children with them. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the LORD." (Isaiah 65:17-25)
The Apostle Paul tells us that the Day of the Lord will approach and come upon the world silently and unannounced:
"But as to the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people say, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape.
But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:31-11)
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Gospel of powerful Savior
Gospel is a great message of the hope given by God. It is a light in the darkness you should look to. For those who believe it it is a power into salvation. For those who ignore it it is a stumbling stone. Gospel is a message which can change your future, if it is accepted it guaranties a great future with the Lord, if it is rejected it will testify against you as you are under God's wrath. We sometimes do not fully realize the significance of the great truth. If you are aware of what are you saved from, you will appreciate the great message in which God gives you the way out. The fact about God's coming wrath is very often taken as a sort of dormant volcano. We ignore it, we put our feet on it, we may drop a stone into it, and the volcano is quiet. We think God doesn't respond. When we look at the world around us in the news; facts filled with crimes, injustice and we think people just get away with everything and we wonder where is God in all that? The truth is if His justice came right away we ALL would be a subject to condemnation. Including the apparent' good " people as there is no one without sin.
( Romans 3;11)
In the world we live in the name of Jesus often causes offense- the only name by which people can be saved. We don't realize that postponed judgement that is to come from God is result of God's love and grace. He doesn't want you to be condemned! His patience is to give you time to escape into a safe place coming to the Savior of the world.
But there are many who are lost because they do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord.
They underestimate the power of Christ as many remember him only as a crucified man. Man of sorrows, betrayed and killed. So we should be looking also at Christ glorified. He is not in the grave any longer because He is risen, He is not here because He has ascended and sits at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us. He is not coming as a judge now, because He is waiting for to come to Him to be saved.
We as believers would like Christ to come right away because for us it means seeing our Savior, but for the rest of the unbelieving world it means judgement. So if you want Christ to come quickly- share the gospel message with the lost world!
Coming to Jesus it is not coming to the dead image of a dead man, it is not coming to a little baby Jesus nursed by a woman. We must look to the Lord " that lives and was dead and is alive for evermore and has the keys of hell and of death." Revelation 1;18
We have to look to glorified Jesus who said: " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." (Matthew 28;18)
After remembering Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane in His bloody sweat then dying on the cross, now we find Him risen in glory surrounded with the omnipotence. He has received the privilege, honor, glory, fullness and power that lifted Hm far above the sons of men.
He is no longer the sufferer but a sovereign, no longer a victim but a victor, no longer a servant but a Monarch of heaven and earth.
"He went down into awful depths of unutterable agony to save us and now all power in heaven and earth belongs to Him as our Redeemer and Covenant Head." Ch.Spurgeon.
As we think about the words " all power" we can see omnipotence given Him by his Father. That includes the power over creation, the power of sustaining that which has been made, the power of making alive, the power to pardon and to condemn, to give and withhold- all this has been placed in authority of Jesus Christ our Lord.
"All power in heaven"
Jesus has divine power. Whatever God can do, Jesus can do, whatever belongs to God, it belongs to Jesus. " All what the Father has, is mine." (John 16;15)
"If it were His will to immediately fold up creation like a worn out garment ( Hebrew 1;10-12) the elements would pass away ( 2 Peter 3;10) and the heavens would be shriveled like a scroll ( Isaiah 34;4). Angelic hosts are waiting in midair to obey the commands of Jesus. He who was despised and rejected by men ( Isaiah 53;3) now commands the homage of all heaven as the One who was given all the power in heaven and earth by the Father. "
" All power in heaven " relates to the providential skill and might with which God rules everything in the universe. He holds the reins of all created forces and impels or restrains them at His will giving force to law and and giving life to all existence. Jesus is Lord of all for the Father has committed all things into His hands. ( Matthew 11;27)
"All power on earth"
If a man could rule over all his fellowmen, he still would not all power on earth, for there are other forces he has no control over.
Deadly diseases and natural disasters, power of nature laugh at the power of men. Even before being glorified Jesus demonstrated power over nature where wind and waves obeyed Him, when the fig tree withered at His spoken words. ( Matthew 8;27) ( Matthew 21;18-22)
He is the One whose power will raise all the people who have ever lived back to life, either to eternal life with Him or to the judgement.
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man."John 5;24-27
" By sickness, pain and death the proudest princes have been forced to recognize that, after all, they were only men." Ch.Spurgeon.
All can understand in our weaknesses that power belongs to God alone. When He entrusts a little bit of it to the sons of men, some usually tend to boast about it. But it ALL belongs to God and now given in the hands of Jesus. We keep waiting when His name will be honored by everyone.
At the present time Jesus Christ the Lord is indeed ruling over the earth (and indeed over the entire universe), however He is not yet reigning on the earth.
There is coming a day when everyone who has ever lived and everyone who ever will live will bow their knee to the name of Jesus.
Troubling events we hear in the news may distress us but there is coming a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2;9-11
"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."
One day all rebellious sinners may hear these words of Jesus Christ, “During that long day of grace, I was the Savior whom you were insulting and despising, and I would have forgiven you. But you chose to ignore my grace. Today I am your Judge. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!”
Matthew 24;37-39 says that all who are ignoring the message of salvation, the second coming of Christ as a judge may take them by surprise;
"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."
Rejecting God's grace now will have its consequences in the future;
"(...)when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. (2 Thessalonians 1;7-9)
Those who don't want to know Jesus now, they will have to know Him later at His second coming in glory and power. But it will be already too late for salvation as the time of grace is now.( 2 Corinthians 6;2)
God's coming judgement is described in a powerful way;
"Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every man's heart will melt, and they will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in travail. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make men more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger." (Isaiah 13:6-13)
So now is the day of salvation.
Jesus is living and accessible Savior and He is able to save anybody that comes unto God by Him. Hebrew 7;25
The New Testament offers wonderful, complete forgiveness of all sin made possible by the death of God's own son, Jesus, on our behalf. The full power of his resurrection enables those who follow Jesus to live whole and godly lives. Furthermore, Christ promises that his bride, the true church, will escape from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
Don't wait until it is eternally too late! Accept Him as your Savior and Lord today. Know that you will spend eternity in His presence.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
All will rise one day
“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out. Those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned." John 5;28-30
This is one of the great devotions Charles Spurgeon wrote based on these words spoken by Jesus.
Have you ever thought about the magnificence of what this means? One day Christ will raise all the dead out of their graves. All does not only mean all whose bodies are actually in the grave at this time, but all who ever have been buried, all who have ever existed. Try to imagine all the people who lived in the earth, who lived before and after the flood.
Think of the all Adams descendants from Tarshish to Egypt, people in Nineveh, Babylon, Chaldea, Persia, Greece, Rome. These were vast empires of men. Then the Saxons and the Franks and Celts, yet these nations were only some of a numerous group of nations. Think of the whole continent of Africa, people in India and China and Japan. Out of all who have ever lived not one will be left in the tomb. We can say the same words as the psalmist did of another matter;
" Such knowledge is too wonderful to me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it." Ps 139;6
How has God marked all of the bodies , how has He tracked the remains of each one? More of this - He even knows all the stars and knows them by name. Billions of billions of stars in every galaxy!
How will Jesus Christ be able to raise them all? We do not know it but He will do it for He declared it and God has purposed it.
Jesus proved this fact that He can raise the dead ones to life on several occasions in His lifetime; at the gates of Nain where He met the funeral procession of the widow's son; then in the room of the dead daughter of Jairus, and again at the tomb of the almost-decaying Lazarus. Jesus had power to raise the dead ones to life when He was on earth and He still has power to speak to those who have passed away and command them back to life.
"For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will".
John 5;21
" All that are in the graves will hear His voice." All the righteous and the wicked, no single individual will be omitted.
We all we see Him coming again in His glory; Revelation 1;7
“Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and every eye will see Him,
even those who pierced Him;
and all peoples on earth will mourn because of Him.
So shall it be! Amen."
As`surely as you are alive right now, you will stand before the once- crucified Son of Man. It is not possible that you will be forgotten. We must all rise without a single exception. This is an amazing truth, and we should not doubt it. We may be in awe of this and admire the Lord who will bring it to pass.
The first voice you will hear after you 'wake up' to life again, will be the voice of Jesus Christ himself.
He knows everybody by name.
For those who don't want to hear the voice of Jesus Christ now, they will surely hear it then whether they wish it or not.
"You may plug up your ears today, but there will be no doing that in the Day of the last trumpet, on that day, you will have to hear." Charles Spurgeon.
If you do not respond to His voice this life, you will hear only the summons of judgement. Those who hear and obey His voice they hear the summons to mercy and life with Christ. We all will become subject to the power of God's omnipotent command and will appear before His sovereign judgement seat
The judgement, the future resurrection to life, seems to us temporarily far away as we are busy with the present.
But Christ said; "The hour is coming(...)" In God's mind the day of resurrection is very near.
It may be thousand years off , yet to God it is only one day ( 2 Peter 3;8)
"Christ wants us to try to think God's thoughts about it, He does not wants us to consider any amount of time to be long , since time is very short by its own nature and will be regarded it that way by us when it is past and the day has arrived. It is practical and wise for us to come face- to face with what is inevitable and act as though it was as soon as tomorrow that the trumpet would sound and we would be judged." Charles Spurgeon.
This day is appointed for all of us for the Scriptures says; Acts 17;31
"For he has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead."
If people weren't going to be risen and be accountable for what they have done in their lives, think about the evil ones just sleeping forever and never paying for what they have done, would you call it a justice? Definitely not! We all have to face the Lord.
Speaking about the resurrection the second part of John 5;28-30 is sometimes confusing for some believers as it talks as if we were justified by works;
v.30" (...)those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned."
Will men then be saved by their works? No, by no means! Salvation is completely the gift of grace
or else Jesus wouldn't have to die for us.
But the judgement will be guided by our works. We are justified by faith but not by the dead faith.
The faith that justifies is that which produces holiness for without 'holiness' no man shall see the Lord. (Hebrew 12;14)
Knowing that there is life after death should help us to be aware that our actions are not confined to this present life so we shouldn't be careless about them. They are reaching far, they are casting influence across an eternal destiny." Charles Spurgeon.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." 2 Corinthians 5;10.
The holiness is the evidence of your faith because the faith without any works is considered dead.
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." James 2;14-26
But there is a promise that by abiding in Christ you will be producing good fruit. Your heart will change if your life will be with Christ. (John 15;5).
Those who trusted and obey Him -they don't have to be afraid of the Judgement Day as Christ is able to keep them from stumbling and present them before His glorious presence with great joy without fault.
( Judy 1;24-25)
This is one of the great devotions Charles Spurgeon wrote based on these words spoken by Jesus.
Have you ever thought about the magnificence of what this means? One day Christ will raise all the dead out of their graves. All does not only mean all whose bodies are actually in the grave at this time, but all who ever have been buried, all who have ever existed. Try to imagine all the people who lived in the earth, who lived before and after the flood.
Think of the all Adams descendants from Tarshish to Egypt, people in Nineveh, Babylon, Chaldea, Persia, Greece, Rome. These were vast empires of men. Then the Saxons and the Franks and Celts, yet these nations were only some of a numerous group of nations. Think of the whole continent of Africa, people in India and China and Japan. Out of all who have ever lived not one will be left in the tomb. We can say the same words as the psalmist did of another matter;
" Such knowledge is too wonderful to me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it." Ps 139;6
How has God marked all of the bodies , how has He tracked the remains of each one? More of this - He even knows all the stars and knows them by name. Billions of billions of stars in every galaxy!
How will Jesus Christ be able to raise them all? We do not know it but He will do it for He declared it and God has purposed it.
Jesus proved this fact that He can raise the dead ones to life on several occasions in His lifetime; at the gates of Nain where He met the funeral procession of the widow's son; then in the room of the dead daughter of Jairus, and again at the tomb of the almost-decaying Lazarus. Jesus had power to raise the dead ones to life when He was on earth and He still has power to speak to those who have passed away and command them back to life.
"For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will".
John 5;21
" All that are in the graves will hear His voice." All the righteous and the wicked, no single individual will be omitted.
We all we see Him coming again in His glory; Revelation 1;7
“Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and every eye will see Him,
even those who pierced Him;
and all peoples on earth will mourn because of Him.
So shall it be! Amen."
As`surely as you are alive right now, you will stand before the once- crucified Son of Man. It is not possible that you will be forgotten. We must all rise without a single exception. This is an amazing truth, and we should not doubt it. We may be in awe of this and admire the Lord who will bring it to pass.
The first voice you will hear after you 'wake up' to life again, will be the voice of Jesus Christ himself.
He knows everybody by name.
For those who don't want to hear the voice of Jesus Christ now, they will surely hear it then whether they wish it or not.
"You may plug up your ears today, but there will be no doing that in the Day of the last trumpet, on that day, you will have to hear." Charles Spurgeon.
If you do not respond to His voice this life, you will hear only the summons of judgement. Those who hear and obey His voice they hear the summons to mercy and life with Christ. We all will become subject to the power of God's omnipotent command and will appear before His sovereign judgement seat
The judgement, the future resurrection to life, seems to us temporarily far away as we are busy with the present.
But Christ said; "The hour is coming(...)" In God's mind the day of resurrection is very near.
It may be thousand years off , yet to God it is only one day ( 2 Peter 3;8)
"Christ wants us to try to think God's thoughts about it, He does not wants us to consider any amount of time to be long , since time is very short by its own nature and will be regarded it that way by us when it is past and the day has arrived. It is practical and wise for us to come face- to face with what is inevitable and act as though it was as soon as tomorrow that the trumpet would sound and we would be judged." Charles Spurgeon.
This day is appointed for all of us for the Scriptures says; Acts 17;31
"For he has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead."
If people weren't going to be risen and be accountable for what they have done in their lives, think about the evil ones just sleeping forever and never paying for what they have done, would you call it a justice? Definitely not! We all have to face the Lord.
Speaking about the resurrection the second part of John 5;28-30 is sometimes confusing for some believers as it talks as if we were justified by works;
v.30" (...)those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned."
Will men then be saved by their works? No, by no means! Salvation is completely the gift of grace
or else Jesus wouldn't have to die for us.
But the judgement will be guided by our works. We are justified by faith but not by the dead faith.
The faith that justifies is that which produces holiness for without 'holiness' no man shall see the Lord. (Hebrew 12;14)
Knowing that there is life after death should help us to be aware that our actions are not confined to this present life so we shouldn't be careless about them. They are reaching far, they are casting influence across an eternal destiny." Charles Spurgeon.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." 2 Corinthians 5;10.
The holiness is the evidence of your faith because the faith without any works is considered dead.
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." James 2;14-26
But there is a promise that by abiding in Christ you will be producing good fruit. Your heart will change if your life will be with Christ. (John 15;5).
Those who trusted and obey Him -they don't have to be afraid of the Judgement Day as Christ is able to keep them from stumbling and present them before His glorious presence with great joy without fault.
( Judy 1;24-25)
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