November 7, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a driving wind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until He fully accomplishes the purposes of His heart. In days to come you will understand this.“

(Jeremiah 30.23-24)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

When the Apostle Paul explains the last days when Christ will return, he mentions that “in a twinkling of an eye, we will all change and not all will sleep.” (1 Corinthians 15.52f) The mention of “sleep” in that passage refers to death. Some interpret Paul’s words here as an alluding to the rapture when all the saints are evacuated from the earth before the final conflict. I mention the final conflict as the determining point of such rapture not to enter into a debate on “pre-, mid- or post-tribulation.” I am simply speaking of that final moment when, after all has been said and done on earth and in the heavens, there will be one final conflict. We know this from The Revelation of Christ to John. Immediately leading up to that conflict, the “Evil One” will be released from his one thousand year imprisonment. Satan is full of wrath and a desire for vengeance upon the Lamb. He has rallied his dark forces prepared for a final assault to defeat the Lamb and bring down the throne of God. The whole world waits to see the conclusion to what it has known would come since the beginning of creation. It will be a terrifying sound of rattling chains against the prison bars far beyond anything cinematically presented in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, especially in the concluding episodes of both tales: The Return of the King and The Battle of the Five Armies. Yes, the furor and the fury of lustful evil will be unleashed on the world. It will spill out on the face of the earth in a demonic intent to infest completely. It will be terrible until it won’t… in a twinkling of an eye. Remember the passage of scripture found in 2 Peter 3.8? There it says “…a day will be as a thousand years and a thousand years will be as a day in the eyes of the Lord.” A more apt reading would reduce the time of “day” to a twinkling of an eye. It will be quicker than the snap of a finger but that image will suffice. Essentially as the Enemy of God is released to engage in a final conflict of good versus evil in their full darkness, the light of God’s mercy and grace in its fullest execution of righteousness snaps on. In that moment, the Enemy is cast down forever in “Hell” and the righteous of God are established in the New Heaven, the New Earth and the New Jerusalem which is the city of Light and Peace. That day will come. That day is coming. That day may be a thousand years, and it will most certainly seem that way for many and many of us have had days like that. That day may be like the twinkling of an eye or the snap of a finger and its passing so quick that you might fear you will have missed it but the change will be so immediate and the consequences so final you will know it without question.

The real question is not what God will do. All of scripture is clear on this point. We know what God will do because we know what God has done. God has not changed. He is multi-faceted and has many faces but He is still the One True God. Those faces that are shown may be best understood as the faces we were looking for and are the consequences of our understanding of our own mission and purpose. What is it that we truly want to see of God that is aligned with His nature and character? Yes, the real question is not what God will do. The real question has always been “What will we do in relation to God and God’s Word?” Will we “draw near to Him” as will the “one who rises up in the midst of the people to lead”? Will we prepare for the day of His coming and more so for His coming again? Will we remain faithful to the calling by which we have been first called and execute it with faith, hope and love? Will we steady ourselves upon the Rock of Christ as our firm foundation set against Him as the Chief Cornerstone? Will we build upon the foundation the community of believers who purpose is now threefold: love God, love neighbor and love one another? Will we affirm the purpose of such building up as for eternal life with God in His presence on earth as it is in Heaven? What will WE do? That is and has always been the question. One day that will no longer be a question as in the twinkling of an eye or parenthetically in a “snap of God’s finger” all will be changed and death is no longer a requirement for experiencing that change.

What does it mean to be “changed”? We experience that change in part when we confess our sins and rest the control of our lives into more capable hands. Those hands are God’s Hands. We see them through the lens of the nail-scarred “hands” of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ crucified for our sins and raised into newness of life offering to us the same blessing. However, there will be an ultimate and complete “change” that is yet to come. It will be when the sheep and the goats, the believers and the unbelievers, will be separated and put into their appropriate sheep pens. There will be no more mixing of the two. There will be no more misunderstanding of who is who and what is what. There will no more be a middle ground with one foot on the solid rock and the other on shifting sand. There will be no more straddling the fence and riding the fence post. There will only be light and dark and the light will be known as in total control as it has always been. That light is the glory of God which shall reign in the midst of the believers and continue to rule over those who do not believe or who refuse to choose to believe. Mighty ones of God, that day is coming. What shall you do about it? It was the question for the Jerusalem exiles and those exiled in Jerusalem. It is the question still today for the entire world to answer. It is your question!

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 of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.