LAST
JUDGMENT
November
6-8, 2021
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Malachi 4:1-3
“HAPPY JUDGMENT
DAY!”
1.
A
day when Jesus will be honored.
2.
A
day when Jesus will honor you!
Malachi
4:1-3 EHV
“Look! The day is coming, burning like a blast furnace. All the
arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. The day that is coming will set
them on fire, says the Lord of Armies, a day that will not leave
behind a root or branch for them. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of
righteousness will rise, and there will be healing in its wings. You will
go out and jump around like calves from the stall. 3 You
will trample the wicked. They will surely be ashes under the soles of your feet
on the day when I take action, says the Lord of Armies.”
We have this way of greeting people
when they come to a special day. Happy Birthday! Happy Retirement! Happy
Anniversary! You’ve said or heard them before. How about Happy Judgment Day!
Now I realize it’s not here yet but normally Judgment Day is not pictured as a
day of happiness. If the entertainment industry tries to lure you to watch a
movie sequel or buy a video game and attaches Judgment Day to it, they are
promising a lot of destruction. Several times this past year you have heard a
Gospel lesson where Jesus told parables picturing the last day. He often ended
them with something like “and throw those rascals into the darkness where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And what did we pastors say right after
reading that? “This is the Gospel of the Lord.”
Gospel? Doesn’t that mean Good News? Doesn’t sound like good news. But
it is. Brothers and sisters join me today as we look at what God says so we are
prepared one day to say, “Happy Judgment Day!”
The word of God we are looking at
comes from the last book of the Old Testament to be written. The last chapter.
For the next 400 years God would tell no prophets to write anything down until
after Jesus came. These were the last things God wanted His Old Testament
people thinking about as they waited and waited. While they waited, they would
see worshippers of false gods seemingly having it better than they. They would
be ruled by foreign governments and pressured to follow foreign gods.
God gave them something to look
forward to. Judgment Day. “Look! The day is coming, burning like a blast
furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. The day that
is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord of Armies, a day that
will not leave behind a root or branch for them.” Judgment Day is going to be a happy day when
the followers of the one true God will see Him honored. But for some it will
not be a happy day. For whom? The arrogant and the evildoer. Now at first
glance we might find ourselves getting a little scared. Have I ever been
arrogant? Have I ever done evil? Yes, many times over. But the particular
arrogance and evil that God is talking about here is rejecting Jesus as Savior
and replacing Him with anything else. Think on this, brothers and sisters. When
our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell into sin God would have been well within
His rights to wipe them out and all of us along with them and starting over. He
would have been well within his rights to say, “OK, I’ll give you another chance
but it will cost you, every one of you, your firstborn. They must die.” Now
think of who fills that spot in your family. Fathers, think of having to do
that deed. But that is not what God said. He said I will give my firstborn, my
only begotten Son, instead, and I will lift my hand against Him and He will pay
for you have done. No greater love.
And then some dare to say Jesus is a
prophet but Muhammed is greater. We will follow him. And others say Jesus? He’s
the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier and some Jewish whore. And still others
say “Jesus is great. But if you really want to be with God you have to do your
part.” In other words. Jesus you weren’t quite good enough. Your sacrifice on
the cross was not enough. Blasphemy! And others. There is no God. I am the
captain of my soul. I will steal if I want to. I will kill if I want to. I will
do it my way. Others crave earthly power and wealth so much that the murder
thousands of their own people using torture and imprisonment and fear to stay
in power. Why? Because they have rejected what God says about earthly and
eternal life. All of that is the type of evil and arrogance that God is talking
about.
On Judgment Day they will be readied
for the furnace of Hell. That there will be no root or branch left means there
is no hope. No second chance. If you have seen and paintings of Hell or videos
that have tried to portray it you may still find yourself thinking that
Judgment Day can’t be happy. It doesn’t seem something to celebrate. But then
maybe you think of some of the worst people the earth has produced and you
waver. Take Hitler for instance. Several times as people have grappled with grace,
they have asked, “Could Hitler be forgiven?” And the true answer is Yes. God’s
grace is such that any believer no matter what they have done is fully
forgiven. But did Hitler believe? There is nothing in what he said or did that
can lead you to that conclusion. His existence is a constant crematorium. Is it not right that people rejoice when
justice is done? Of course it is. But Judgment Day is more than that!
Jesus will be honored. All those who
rejected Him, replaced Him with their own way to heaven and have said much
worse about Him will acknowledge Him for who He is. All those who chose to use
His name as a curse word rather than in prayer will say it with awe. All of
those who used His words and His people as moneymaking schemes will honor Him
instead of themselves. Yes, the Devil and all the evil angels will publicly, in
front of everyone, bend the knee and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. Now
that’s something to be happy about. Jesus, our Lord, our Savior, our
substitute, finally treated with the honor He deserves by every one! That’s a
day to look forward to. Happy Judgment Day!
But there’s more. The Bible reveals
that on Judgment Day Jesus will honor you. Sounds a little out of place doesn’t
it? Let’s go back to birthdays. On a birthday it’s the one who birthday it is
that gets celebrated. Take Delores Gunkel who last Sunday celebrated her 93rd.
Rightly she was honored in special ways that day. Hopefully all year long by
her kids too. Maybe some of you have run into this too. When my girls were
young and the birthday parties were a big thing often they would get invited to
a classmate’s birthday party and come back with all sorts of candy and toys
they were given for attending. I found myself asking, “Now just whose birthday
was it anyway?”
A similar thing on Judgment Day. “But
for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, and there
will be healing in its wings. You will go out and jump around like calves from
the stall.” For you who fear my name. This isn’t
fear as in I’m scared of you. This is the revere fear. I respect. I don’t want
to disappoint. I want your approval. It’s the perfect father child relationship
that is a response to a perfect Father’s love. You can just put in there, “For
you who believe in My Son Jesus, it’s Happy Judgment Day.” It’s like watching
the sun begin to rise after a long cold night. It’s the healing of souls who
are told you have no sins to pay for. Jesus has paid for them in full. It’s
you. Any of you who have seen calves let out of the barn for the first time in
spring know the joy they have as they do their own version of Jump Around.
That’s you and me on Judgment Day. Jesus will publicly claim us as His own. He
will tell everyone we are innocent and we will be with Him forever and we were
right.
And we will join Him in pronouncing
judgment. “You will trample the wicked. They will surely be ashes under the
soles of your feet on the day when I take action, says the Lord of
Armies.” You know what this is? Vindication. You have your feelings right
now. You chafe when evildoers seem to get away with things. You feel the sense
of hurt and betrayal when it seems like God does not reward your efforts or
lets evil grow in our country despite your prayers and your efforts. A part of
you thinks of the time you have spent, the money you have given, the sacrifices
made and a doubt creeps in. Is it worth it? Happy Judgment Day! Then those who
have mocked or made fun of will not be laughing. But you will. Not at the
suffering they will get but that Jesus honors you in letting you be part of
that Judgment.
Now before we let God’s goodness to us
with public vindication turn to unholy glee or schadenfreude, a word of warning
and encouragement. Judgment Day is also called Last Judgment. It’s called Last
Judgment because it’s not the first. The first, as you heard in the lesson from
the Hebrews, is when you die. That means today is the day to be found standing
among those who believe. And today you do. Keep it up. Take care of your faith
and you will have a Happy Judgment Day. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment