June 16, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flowing stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and bounced upon her knees. As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

[Isaiah declares] When you see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants, but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.” (Isaiah 66.12-14)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

We cannot imagine what “that Day” will look like. What I mean by that is, despite the motion picture industry trying to capture the vision of the last Days, we simply are out of our league. In order to have some focus on the impact of those “that Day,” let me offer the following. There are three “that Days”:

The first will be that terrible day of the Lord when His justice shall come over the earth in such power and fervor that both the just and the unjust will experience it. Despite the many visions provided by the prophets of old (both major and minor) and those of the new (Jesus, Paul and John) of the conflicts, wars and painful death, I do not think there will be anything more “terrible” than when the culling of the flocks will be done. On that day, the sheep (those who have put their faith in God alone through Jesus Christ and sought to live by faith and not by sight) will be separated from the goats. (Trust me in saying this, such will not be “the greatest of all time,” but rather those who refused the word of the Lord and its call upon their lives to repent, be baptized and walk in the light of the gospel. They may think of themselves more highly than they ought, focusing on their own self-elevated and other-approved status because they were not believers over and against those who took on the servant status as believers.) It is on that day when those who were believers and had sought to “win” loved ones and friends to walk by faith in the light of God’s word who is only Jesus the Christ will experience the terrible pain of seeing those who did not accept Jesus as the Christ be put “on the other side” forever. It will be, as we saw in the case of Pharaoh, for example, of their own choosing. They will have chosen the fate of living without God, living against God and living only for themselves. The believers will have seen it and feared it for them. They rued the day when it would come knowing the anguish of losing forever what they desired to be found. They will not know the joy of the Prodigal’s father as the time will have passed to recognize the error of their ways. On that “terrible day,” there will be weeping and wailing and the gnashing of teeth on both sides. For one side it will exist but for a moment. How God will wipe away every tear, remove every sorrow and convince the believers who are experiencing such loss that there is no time or room for grief is beyond my understanding. I accept it by faith that it will be so. [Let the reader beware, this is the true calling of the Great Commission to which we must adhere. We must do all we can with the understanding it is sadly true that we will have to “shake the dust off our feet and move on.” Where will we move on to? There are others who are lost and desire to be found like the “one of the ninety-nine” whom the Good Shepherd sought.)

The Second and Third I will reflect upon tomorrow.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works leading others to call Jesus Lord in faith, hope and love. AMEN.