Feb 01 2009
At The Sound of the Trumpet!
Scripture says in Joel 2:1: “Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, surely it is near. Verse 9 continues: “The earth quakes; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. And the Lord utters His voice before His army. The day of the Lord is indeed great and awesome and who can endure it? ‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and mourning, and rend your heart and not your garments.’ Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him. Blow a trumpet in Zion!”
With these words the Lord is warning those who refuse to repent that time is short before His return to judge the world.
At the first advent Jesus came as the Lamb of God, a servant, if you will, to take away the sins of the world. The second advent, however, will be quite different. When He comes again, He will come as the Lion of Judah, to judge the world for rejecting His gift of salvation.
Our God is a loving God who constructed Plan B when man sinned and we needed rescue. He sent Jesus, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, to die in our place, bearing our penalty on the cross.
But that’s where grace ends. If we reject and refuse His tender mercies, we will stand before Him without excuse, and will be told, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
My heart grieves for those who will be lost in the end, even if it’s by their own choice, because they have no idea what’s on the other side of eternity. Scripture calls it “outer darkness where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Does that sound like somewhere you’d like spend eternity? Remember, eternity never ends.
Be warned. Be wise, for the righteous judge, Jehovah God will countenance no excuses. Either the blood of Jesus covers our sin or it doesn’t. And no matter how important or how generous or kind we were in this life, we will find ourselves naked and without excuse in the end.
If we are living for ourselves, we will forever pay for the privilege. If we are living for God our rewards will be great. Heaven will be an indescribably amazing place, prepared for those who love God, while everyone who has their own agenda will be forever separated from God. Why would they want to be with Him anyway when He’s exactly what they’ve run from their whole lives?
To say that regret is the most common emotion in hell is the understatement of all time. But by the time judgment is pronounced, there will be no turning back~
I’m sounding the trumpet! Will you hear it sound and repent, turning your heart toward God while there’s time? I pray it is so.
Let him who has an ear hear the Word of the Lord!
Because of His great love,
Nancy
