I Thess 5:1-11

            2          For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

            3          While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.

            4          But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;

            5          for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;

            6          so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

            7          For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.

            8          But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

            9          For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

            10        who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.

            11        Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

 

You don’t know when it’s coming. You’ll think everything is the same old, same old. It is just like you are sleepwalking – you don’t realize that what you are experiencing is real. We are to be alert – on our toes. Don’t go by what you see, but by what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church. Verse 8 sounds like Paul in Ephesians. Our destiny is not wrath, but salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. That in itself is encouraging.

 

13.       If we could hear God speak, He would probably say: “It’s like a child staying awake on Christmas. After a while he/she gets sleepy or bored and is no longer alert. There is too much to lose to sleep now. Even though it seems like the Day will never come, keep watching and praying like Jesus told the disciples in the Garden.”

Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.

 Zech 14: 1 – 21

            2          For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.

            3          Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.

            4          In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

            5          You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!

            6          In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle.

            7          For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.

            8          And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

            9          And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.

            10        All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses.

            11        People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.

            12        Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.

            13        It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another.

            14        Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance.

            15        So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.

           

 

Talk about gloom, despair, and agony on me! Natural disasters have nothing on this. The area around Jerusalem will be destroyed. Notice verse 12. It sounds like WMDs, biological, chemical or nuclear. How could anyone survive? It even affects the animals. You don’t want to be caught in the middle of that. Make sure you are on God’s side.

 

12.       If we could hear God speak, He would probably say: “All of this horror will come upon the people of the world. Be sure to seek shelter under My ‘wings’. I will not let anything harmful to come upon My people.”

In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.

 Zech 12: 1 - 13

            6          “In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem.

            7          “The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah.

            8          “In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.

            9          “And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

            10        “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

            11        “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

           

God says, “They will look on Me whom they have pierced.” How can that be, unless it is referring to Jesus? It will be terrible for the world, but the Spirit of grace will be poured out on Jerusalem. Right now, the world hates Israel and wants it wiped off the map. It reminds them of God’s choice of the Jews. They will regret it.

 

11.       If we could hear God speak, He would probably say: “I have no inclination to put up with the hatred of My people by the world. I could blot them all out in an instant, but I want them to know the suffering they have inflicted upon My people.”

Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

 Joel 1: 14 – 15

14        Consecrate a fast,

Proclaim a solemn assembly;

Gather the elders

And all the inhabitants of the land

To the house of the Lord your God,

And cry out to the Lord.

            15        Alas for the day!

For the day of the Lord is near,

And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

 

When “the” Day comes, mankind will need all the help it can get. Natural destruction or destruction by man can be devastating, but destruction from the Lord is unimaginable.

 

10.       If we could hear God speak, He would probably say: “I cannot say how bad it will be because you cannot conceive of it. Your mind and heart would not be able to handle it. Suffice it to say the worst disaster you’ve seen is but a tiny reflection of what is coming.”

I will completely remove all things From the face of the earth, declares the Lord. I will remove man and beast

 Zeph 1: 2 - 13

            2          “I will completely remove all things

From the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.

            3          “I will remove man and beast;

I will remove the birds of the sky

And the fish of the sea,

And the ruins along with the wicked;

And I will cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. 

            7          Be silent before the Lord God!

For the day of the Lord is near,

For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,

He has consecrated His guests.

            8          “Then it will come about on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice

That I will punish the princes, the king’s sons

And all who clothe themselves with foreign garments. 

            12        “It will come about at that time

That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,

And I will punish the men

Who are stagnant in spirit,

Who say in their hearts,

‘The Lord will not do good or evil!’

            13        “Moreover, their wealth will become plunder

And their houses desolate;

Yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them,

And plant vineyards but not drink their wine.”

Yes, God is going to clean house. You don’t want to be on His bad side. And no, after you die is too late to repent. He has given everyone plenty of warnings. They simply don’t want to/can’t hear any longer. They don’t believe He will do anything to them, if they believe in Him at all.

 

9.         If we could hear God speak, He would probably say: “I am coming when you least expect it. You won’t see it because your eyes are blind. You won’t hear it because your ears are deaf. You won’t understand it because your mind refuses to believe.”