He Is Coming

“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” (Ps 50:3 AV)

It occurred to me, by the leading of the Spirit, that the first part of the verse suggests to those who hate God that God appears to be uninvolved in the affairs of humanity.  They perceive God as silent.  Later in the same psalm, we find out why.  They perceive what appears to be the silence of God as His approval.  They believe God’s values are similar to their own and therefore, believe God is not judging them for their ungodliness.  We see this play out more than we would think as we read or watch the news.  We see celebrity after celebrity condoning and even promoting wickedness and suggesting their values are the true values of Christians.  They condemn those who tell the truth.  They judge us as unloving for sharing God’s holiness and pending judgment for wickedness.  They see, what appears to be, a lack of judgment, comparing this to our trials of faith, concluding they are in the right and God’s people are not.  But the ungodly better be careful.  What appears to be the silence of God will not last that much longer.  The history of humanity bears this out.  God judges wickedness.  This judgment is delayed because He is a gracious God who calls humanity to repent.  He gives more than enough time for the earth to repent.  But this time is limited.  He will judge evil.

Believers should not feel guilty that God must judge sin.  After all, He judges ours, right?  At some point, we have to decide who we love more.  Do we love God or people more?  If push came to shove, and we had to make a choice, who would we choose?  If we must choose between hurting feelings, who do we consider more?  God has definite feelings regarding sin and holiness.  This is not personal or fluid.  God’s holiness is absolute.  He created all things to exist in holiness.  He did so not to push His authority or prove His sovereignty.  He did so because He is benevolent.  His holiness is motivated by love, not by pride.  So, when mankind rejects His holiness, mankind rejects the love and benevolence of God.  God must judge this.  Even the silence of God is a manifestation of His benevolence.  He has every right to judge immediately.  Yet He often does not.  The lost world cannot see the motives of God.  All we do is see the holiness of God and His expectations as nothing more than a dictator who wants to steal fun from our lives.  This is not true.  A loving and benevolent God wants what is best for us.  If we reject His best, He has no other choice but to judge us for that choice.

I truly fear what humanity will endure when Jesus returns.  Reading the book of Revelation should make mankind tremble.  The word of God describes what will happen when God has had enough of the rebellion of man.  If we stopped and meditated on the details of what these judgments imply, I don’t think there would be anyone looking forward to the judgments of God.  A thorough study of the tribulation period will reveal that almost the entire human race will suffer horrible death as a result of rejecting what God intended to be a blessing.  For the believer, we can be encouraged in that no matter how bad the world gets, Jesus is coming back.  We will be rid of the evil by life or by death.  Either we will die before the rapture or be raptured out of here before the judgments begin.  Those who are saved during the tribulation, will either die a martyr’s death or last seven years and enter the millennial reign.  For those who are weary of the evil all around us, remember, that God will fix it all.  This is certain.  This is a matter of God’s reputation and honor.  This is a matter of God’s justice in balance with His benevolence.  Take heart, dear child of God.  No matter how evil the world gets, God will have the last word.