Now Enoch, who lived seven generations after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said,
"Look, the Lord is coming with thousands of his holy ones.
He will bring the people of the world to judgment.
He will convict the ungodly of all the evil things they have done in rebellion and of all the insults that godless sinners have spoken against him."
These people are grumblers and complainers, doing whatever evil they feel like. They are loudmouthed braggarts, and they flatter others to get favors in return. (NLT)
"The Lord is coming."
The Lord comes for everyone; there’s no getting around that. This is His sandbox, He sets the rules, and eventually He comes for everyone.
He comes for those who love Him.
He comes for those who hate Him.
He comes for those who embraced His Word.
He comes for those who denied He exists.
He comes for everyone. And He will meet each of us with justice.
Why wouldn’t we want that? We all want justice. We want to be treated fairly, to have the rules applied evenly, for everyone to have the same opportunities, and to have the laws apply to us in the same way it applies to everyone else. And God does that. When He comes for us, He comes to apply justice. God is always just.
Just as He is always loving, always merciful, always kind, always patience, He is also always just.
The problem with justice is that each of us has our own individual idea of what is just and we would like to apply that, not only to ourselves, but to everyone around us. And it makes sense. It’s difficult to live in a family or a society where there are different rules for different people.
I’ve often heard my students complain that their parents allowed their siblings privileges which they themselves aren’t allowed. Even children want to have the same rules as their brothers and sisters. Some would even like to have the same rules as their friends (who live in different households). But who determines rules? That’s the corker because earthly rules aren’t established by some overlying principle, but rather by the persons in power. Thus those rules have subjective connotations which almost always serve the benefit of those in charge.
God is the only one who is different.
God’s rules for creation emanate, not from a personal desire to have His own way, but rather from His holy character. His rules are always for our good. They are always just. They are always loving. They are always merciful.
So why do we buck against those kinds of rules? Because we are, by nature, rebellious. We want our own way; we want to set the rules. Think about it. How many of us wouldn’t jump at the chance to be "boss for the day?" How many of us couldn’t wait to become parents so we could raise our children differently than we were raised? Why? Because we knew a better way than our parents. We are born rebellious and most of us stay, at least in some ways, rebellious. This is why the Bible talks so much about submission and obedience. We have to bend our own wills to God’s will. That doesn’t come naturally and there’s no easy button. It’s something we learn by practice, doing it every moment of every day. And when we fail, we confess that sin, receive forgiveness, and begin again.
What do the rebellious look like? They are . . .
• grumblers
• complainers
• braggers
• manipulators
• do whatever they feel like
Does that ever describe you? I know that it describes me. That hurts me to say that, but I have to be truthful. What are the opposites of these traits?
• those who are thankful
• those who trust God to work things out
• those who are humble
• those who pray for others
• those who do God’s will
The Lord is coming for me. He is coming for you. Because He is loving, merciful, and kind, He has offered salvation to us through the death of His only Son. If we have accepted that salvation, He will meet us with open arms as His beloved child. If we have rejected that salvation, He will meet us with His justice which demands our death for our rebellion.
The Lord is coming.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
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