The Day The Lord Answered

THE DAY THE LORD ANSWERED

Read Zephaniah 1:1-18

Read Zephaniah 1:1-18

At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.” Zephaniah 1:12

I remember watching on television a documentary on the Nuremburg Trials that followed the end of World War II. Nazi officials, including Nazi Air Marshall Hermann Goering, were tried for a multiplicity of war crimes against humanity. The thing that struck me most was their three layers of defense.

First, these criminals repeatedly took as their defense the plea that they were “only following orders.” Gone from their consciences was any concept of the moral responsibility as both government officials and military officers to refuse to obey an illegitimate or immoral order. Second, they repeatedly reminded the allied judges that they had not done anything that the British, French, Russian or American governments had not done. They said, in effect, “If Germany had won the war, the allied officials would be on trial for war crimes. Such was the nature of war––you do what you have to do to win.”

But their third defense tactic was truly amazing. These Nazi Generals, in particular Goering, believed that the Allied Powers lacked the moral fortitude to punish the Germans at all. This led them to respond to the Chief Justices of the free world with a mixture of arrogance, dismissive attitudes and flippant humor. At times, they acted as if the judges were on trial! It was this attitude of moral indifference that sealed their fate years before the war had begun.

Zephaniah, more than any other prophet, emphasizes the day of the Lord. His brief prophecy is all about God’s coming judgment, first for Israel and then the nations. This day of the Lord is a day of both retribution (1:1-3:8) and hope (3:9-20). This coming day promises destruction for the world and the conversion of the world. Meanwhile, the hearts of men are being examined by God.

What is mankind’s root problem? It is much like that of General Goering and his cohorts: an arrogant heart of moral indifference: “I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.’ ” (1:12) God, so they think, lacks the moral fortitude to punish all the evil of the world. They are fatally incorrect in their thinking!

A young man once said to me that the Christian doctrines of judgment and hell were nothing but scare tactics to force people to go to church and believe in God. “There’s no way,” he confidently told me, “that God is going to punish all sin! Why, if God did that He’d have to judge all men and send all of us to hell! No way!”

My misguided friend was correct on one point: God must judge all men for their sins on that great and terrible day of the Lord. And, hard as it may be for us to accept, God will send all people to hell, unless they repent of their sins––their war crimes against heav-en––and believe in Jesus Christ. God does not need “the majority” with Him in heaven; He has been perfectly content from eternity past with the fellowship of Father, Son and Spirit. The thought of losing the majority of people does not cause God to lack the moral courage to judge the guilty. The only question is this: Are you willing to be judged now in Jesus Christ and escape hell, or would you prefer to stand before the heavenly tribunal and take your own chances? “The Lord will not do good, nor will He do ill.” Oh, really? Better rethink that statement before the day of the Lord arrives.

PRAYING FOR THE PCA

CEP: Please pray for the one hundred or so students and twenty-five adults who will take part in YXL, CEP’s summer leadership conference July 6-11 at Covenant College. Thirty to thirty-five churches from around the PCA will identify one to five high school students as potential leaders and send them to the conference. This year we will be wrestling with what it means to “Live Free” as sons and daughters of God.

CC: Please pray for our faculty as they teach and mentor our students.Pray that they will be continually grounded in God’s truth in Scripture as the framework for all their academic work, and that God will bless and multiply the impact they have on our students in equipping them for lives of Christ-honoring service in the church and for the Kingdom.

MNA: Pray for the financial resources needed to continue expanding and growing ministries to Hispanic Americans in North America; pray for Tim McKeown as he works with key leaders in developing these resources.

PCAF: Pray for the PCA Foundation’s Board of Directors, that they will continue to exemplify Godly character and integrity as they deliberate and contemplate the direction and progress of the PCA Foundation.

RH: Pray for Dick Hagedorn, Food Service Manager, and his assistant, Jennifer Huskey, as they labor long hours six days a week throughout the summer months. These long hours and heavy schedules also exist other times of the year. Pray that the Lord will provide good health, joyful and creative perseverance, helpful staff and wisdom to create enjoyable meals with critical efficiency.