Let all who live in the land tremble,
for The Day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
A day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Excerpt from Joel 2:1-2
There's a stereotype regarding southern Evangelical Christians depicted in movies like Talladega Nights and TV shows such as Young Sheldon. The stereotype, while less than flattering, is quite accurate. The general stereotype depicts religious buffoons as perfectly content with their human traditions and gross biblical illiteracy. Conversations in homes, around dinner tables, and even in Sunday school are not unlike those in the Bobby household... “Well, I like my Jesus to be...” or “What that passage means to me is...”
This mindset of conforming King Jesus into our image rather than our being radically conformed to His exposes that many southern Evangelicals are following in the fatal footsteps of the Pharisees. Rather than banking on circumcision and genealogies for salvation they bank on having asked Jesus into their hearts, prayed a prayer of salvation, and been dipped, dunked, or splashed with magical baptismal waters.
Like contemporary southern Evangelicals, the Pharisees of Jesus' day had their traditions nailed down too— the right foods, the right days, the right times, the right externals and appearances, the right rules kept, the right boxes checked, the right loopholes in place, the right excuses, and a healthy dose of self-serving whitewashed religion oozing judgment poured out upon sinful heathens from lofty towers of self-righteousness.
One of the glaringly epic fails of the nation of Israel throughout the Old Testament is the fact that they never grasped God's designation upon them as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex 19:6). That twisted mindset is what led to John The Baptist's harsh words in Matthew 3:7-10:
But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
It has always the insiders like Cain, Nadab and Abihu, Korah, King Ahaz, and the Pharisees who squandered their inheritance. It has always been outsiders like Tamar, Rahab, Moses, Ruth, King David, King Jesus, The Twelve, and the Apostle Paul who perpetuated the kingdom. God has always utterly despised hypocritical pseudo-religious sycophants (Pr 6:16-19). He loathes our casual blending of idol worship with worshipping Him. In 2 Kings 17:41 we read, “Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.”
In Isaiah 5 we read about God's expectation for His people to yield good grapes (i.e. a fruitful and productive ministry as a blessing to all the nations around them), but found “it yielded worthless grapes” instead. God's response is not the pathetic tolerance of a dysfunctional enabler, but rather that of The Almighty's perfect standard of holy and righteous judgment:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and thorns and briers will grow up.
I will command the clouds
that rain shall not fall on it...
He looked for justice,
but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but heard a cry of distress.
Churches today have often become places where worldly idols have not only infiltrated but wholly replaced our worship of God. Because of seared consciences, we give no thought to the abominable blending of our worship of God with our worship of family, technology, corporatism, safety, security, consumerism, mediocrity, alternative lifestyles, convenience, and unbridled hedonism.
The Day of The Lord is coming soon. The Book of Revelation makes clear that King Jesus will not be impressed with our abandoning Him as our first love, our tolerance of false teachings, our rampant sexual immorality, our reputation for being alive, or our being lukewarm. He makes clear that the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, manipulators, idolaters, and all liars will reap their share of everlasting torment in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.
When The LORD descends to bring judgment upon the earth, some will say in bewilderment, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” To which the King of Kings and Lord of Lords promises He will respond, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!”
The Day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand. For His followers, it will be a bright day of glorious rejoicing. For the rest, it will be a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.
What kind of day will it be for you?
Blessings and love,
Kevin M. Kelley
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