2 Corinthians 13; 1 Chronicles 3-4; Zephaniah 1

“Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; For the day of the Lord is at hand, For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.” (Zephaniah 1:7 NKJV) 

Two movie quotes come to mind as I think about this verse. Zephaniah was dealing with people who longed for the day of the Lord because, after all, Judah was God’s people and He would surely vindicate them. I’ll paraphrase the quotes, and you can guess the movies. “Day of the Lord? You keep using that phrase. I don’t think it means what you think it means.” or “You want the day of the Lord? You can’t handle the day of the Lord!” As the people of Judah longed for the day of the Lord, Zephaniah had to set them straight. The day of the Lord isn’t a day when God comes to vindicate “His people,” the day of the Lord is a day of utter destruction when there will be no safe spaces for anyone. Those who claimed their family heritage with the Lord, but lived in a way that rejected His ways would suffer the worst, even though they were most likely calling for the day of Lord louder than most.

I wonder what the return of Jesus will be like. I’m afraid that while Christians who are calling for the Second Coming are certain that they’ll be spared from any dangers, many of them will find themselves caught in the middle of the distress caused by the Second Coming. We may even joke that “Jesus is coming again, and boy, is He going to be mad,” thinking “at you” not realizing that it could end with the words “at me.” While we can desire for God to bring His justice to all, i can tell you honestly that I’m grateful for His mercy. Peter noted that God was not slow as some count slowness, but was waiting to give all a chance to repent. I wonder if our clamoring for the Second Coming, or the day of the Lord isn’t an indicator that we’ve forgotten how to love those who need Jesus, since we don’t want them to have more time to repent. While we should look forward to Jesus’s return, we should remember that we have work to do until He comes again. Let’s share His love with those who need to experience it today.

Lord, until You come again, keep me working and showing others how much You love them.