Waiting for THE Day

“Therefore wait for me,” declares the LORD,

“for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.

For my decision is to gather nations,

to assemble kingdoms,

to pour out upon them my indignation,

all my burning anger;

for in the fire of my jealousy

all the earth shall be consumed.”

Zephaniah 3:8

Sometimes we wait for what we do not want to see. There is a time appointed by God yet to come in which all the world WILL answer to Him. We generically refer to it as Judgment Day. The Bible most often calls it “The Day of the Lord”. In that day all the world will be judged. It will be found guilty of sinful rebellion against God. Humans will bow before God as Judge. Those who do not know Christ as Savior will know His justice and His wrath against sin. The picture here is of a lion seizing his prey. Nothing escapes this grip. The world cannot evade the judgment that is certain to come from the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Yet even as that fearful vision is part of what the saints should wait to see God do, that alone is not the end. Instead, that final “Day of the Lord” reckoning with all people of all time will transform the universe into a new heavens and a new earth. Emerging from that day is a new world in which all people “call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9). Worship of God will by untainted by sin and human pride (Zephaniah 3:11). People will be humble, worshipful, truthful, love justice, and the world will be at peace (Zephaniah 3:12). This is the scene we are waiting for! It comes first by fiery judgment, but after the ashes, beautiful new worlds will blossom like a new Eden!

Lord,

Your Day will arrive. All my waiting now, in a broken world, in the sorrow of sin’s losses that inevitably come to me, in my repentance and pain, all of that will literally one day melt away! Thank You, Lord for this big picture of both Your justice and Your redeeming re-creation. That vision makes all my present waiting well worth it!

Amen