The Day of the Lord

THAT period of time called the day of the Lord will surely break upon our world in its appointed time. Those who live to witness it will know that the Scriptures, in giving such prominence to it, have not overdrawn, or too highly colored the picture, in the description of that tremendous day; but that a faithful delineation has been given, to warn men of its terrors, and cause them to stop and think, to consider and turn; that they might escape from being cut off with the transgressors. Although various figures are used to represent it, yet, in other instances, it is described in language the most plain and literal; so that whoever reads with care cannot well be ignorant of the dreadful realities which are so faithfully revealed.

It is to be a terrible day, a day of wrath, even wrath without mixture, wrath such as earth has never known. Now mercy pleads. The Son of God has been offered a sacrifice for sins, as a lamb without spot or blemish, and our risen and ascended Lord pleads the merits of his own blood before the throne of mercy, in behalf of those who come to God through him. But in that day, mercy will no longer plead for the guilty, but he who now so affectionately pleads will put on the "garments of vengeance," and the "wrath of the Lamb" will be keenly felt by those who have spurned his offered mercy and trampled on his blood.

Some flatter themselves, because "God is love," and "Christ died for all," that all will be saved—that the wrath of God and the Lamb against the incorrigible cannot be a reality. Such should read the word of God more carefully. Wrath means wrath, as certainly as love means love. And though Christ died for all, thus opening the way of approach to God, yet he pleads only for the pardon of those who "come unto God by him," and is the "author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him," and no more. The intercessions of Christ are just as necessary to salvation as the shedding of his blood; and when it is proved that he intercedes for all alike—that he prays for the eternal salvation of all, whether they come to God through him or not—I shall be a Universalist, and not before. He prays the Father to spare the sinner and give him time to repent according to the parable of the unfruitful fig-tree; but never for his pardon, unless he shall repent. Repentance is absolutely necessary: "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." To ask then for the pardon of the sinner without repentance, would be to deny himself. This we are told he cannot do. Therefore the time will come when the unfruitful tree will be cut down and cast into the fire.

But, returning from this digression, I cite a few Scriptures which speak of the terribleness of the day of the Lord.

"Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Isa. 13:9.

"Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come." "For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" Joel 1:15; 2:11.

"The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land." Zeph. 1:14-18.