June 18, 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” moments, 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.

The second will be that day of His Appearing when in His separating “the wheat from the chaff” and the chaff was thrown into the fire to be consumed and the wheat was gathered into the Master’s barns for safekeeping, then there will be peace as the world and the earth had only known once.

The third will be that day of Final Reckoning. No, I am not speaking of the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie recently released. I am speaking of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic word to Israel. Those who were in exile, both foreign and domestic, will see the last battle where God’s justice will put an end to the hostilities against God’s people. It is the final chapter in the war between “good” and “evil.” I do not need to define those terms, by this point. The point is clear. What will also be clear is that God’s purposes and humanity’s choices will be “final.” I would draw your attention to a prominent verse in Luke’s gospel (18.27), “What is impossible with human beings is possible with God.” The “possible” Jesus was speaking of and attempting to teach His disciples was about salvation which culminates in eternal life with God. I know the verse is used as a motivational tool by many across many genres. The promotion of human capacity to succeed by accessing the belief that “saying God is blessing the human work” just seems to fall short. I do believe that there is far more that we as human beings can do. We have a resource within us, our brain, that is largely untapped. It is a marvel of God’s creation which processes information both seen and unseen in nanoseconds. Yet, in spite of its tremendous potential, the human will has proven to be a great hindrance. What is the purpose of the work we do? Is it to advance our own desires and agendas? Is it to serve the will of God and bring Him glory in Heaven and on earth? Is this where we can see, as many stories and movies tell, good being used for evil and evil being called good?

It is here that we have to return to ground zero in the Garden of Eden. With the creation of humanity as male and female, the question of salvation is not even considered. They are created in the image of God and imbued with the Spirit of God. They are created out of the culmination of God’s creative effort to bring forth life on earth step by step. Niel Armstrong said “One small step for man, one giant step for mankind” as he put his foot down on the surface of the moon. It was the culmination of human effort, a priority established by President John F. Kennedy at the beginning of the 1960s. From chaos to order, God brought forth vision and opportunity and invested it in humanity. They were meant to and were intended for “good.” They misused the opportunity and did what they were not meant to do and thus experienced the presence and consequence of “evil.” They then had to take the steps “away from God” and learn the steps “back to God.” Humanity has been out of step ever since. Even with the witness of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ of God and Messiah, we are still influenced by the sin-fection which was released at the invitation of Satan the Deceiver and Enemy of God and humanity. It has been left to us as God’s created children to bear witness to the truth of God’s mercy and love. We are called to stand against the testimony and lies of the Enemy so that the world may know the truth and receive it unto themselves. It is by the “walk of faith” following Jesus Christ as His disciples that we are witnesses to the “goodness” of God. We may pass through David’s “valley of the shadow of death.” We may venture through Moses’ “wilderness of Sin.” We may be swept up in the flood of justice as Noah and the Ark. We may face the persecution of “believers” and “non-believers” alike as did the Early Church. It all continues to this very day. But, one day, that last “that Day,” it will all cease. God has made it clear that in Christ Jesus the final conflict, as I said at the start- “the final reckoning,” justice will be served and the Enemy will no longer be that “Prince of the Earth.” There will be no more overtures and opportunities to repent, confess and profess except to affirm the staunch polar opposites which will forever be separated as “light and dark.”

“That Day” is coming and it may be coming sooner than many think or dare to believe, or worse- dare to ignore.

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.