Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2003 : November 9, 2003
The Day of Christ is Coming Soon
End Time 2 - Final Judgment
Dear holy ones, saints of God in Christ Jesus,
Not too long ago I was having a devotion at an elderly care home, and the man who was in charge of getting a religious person in there on a regular basis talked to me after my devotion. He said that my message about Jesus was great. But he asked if I wouldn't mention that idea of hell any more because it might unduly upset the residents. Of course, I told him that I couldn't do that because if I was going to talk about Jesus, I had to talk about the hell that we deserve for our sins, but that Jesus suffered our hell in our place to save us. If you take away the fear of what our sins have brought upon us, then people won't be too alarmed by their sins, and then they won't see their need for a Savior.
We need to be reminded of all these things as well, so today, on this second Sunday of End Time which deals with the Final Judgment, we will look at what God tells us to expect on that Day. The Day of Christ's Second Coming is Coming Soon, as Jesus told us 2,000 years ago. The Old Testament prophet Malachi tells us that day will bring eternal fire and eternal sunshine depending on what your relationship with Jesus Christ is.
Our text comes from the last chapter of the Old Testament. "Surely the day is coming," Malachi says. What "day" is Malachi referring to? His description of it makes it obvious: " 'All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,' says the LORD Almighty." Since God refers to "all" the arrogant and "every" evildoer, this "day" can't be some local tragedy -- it has to be talking about Jesus' second coming on Judgment Day. That day will set "all the arrogant and every evildoer on fire." Who should we classify as "arrogant" or as "evildoers"? Just yesterday a man was caught in Hartford, WI, after fleeing Atlanta, GA, where he had allegedly murdered two women, real estate agents, who were showing him a house. If the allegations are true, I think we can classify that man as an "evildoer," don't you? Also this past week, a judge heard the confessions of Gary Leon Ridgway, a man known as the Green River killer, who confessed to strangling 48 women in the Seattle area. Those horrific acts make him the deadliest serial murderer in U.S. history. If there was someone we could call an evildoer, it would be Gary Ridgway. Those kinds of "evildoers" can't be burning in hell soon enough, we'd probably think.
But those murderers, as despicable as they are, are just one type of evildoer. God lumps "arrogant" people in with them. What's an arrogant person? Someone who puts himself above others -- even God himself. They scorn God and look down on his people. We've visited almost 1,500 homes this past summer. How many people did you meet who said something like, "I don't go to church, and I don't want to. I'm happy just how I am"? Isn't that arrogance? Even though God forgave the sins of the world, there will be people who by their lifestyles and actions show that they don't care a bit for what God has done for them in sending his own Son to suffer and die for them. They basically say, "No thanks. You can keep your crummy gift. I'd rather live my way. I don't need anything from you!" These people have set themselves up against God and his grace, and their punishment is well-deserved. Malachi calls them "arrogant" and "evildoers." Psalm 5:4-5 says, "The arrogant cannot stand in [God's] presence; [God] hates all who do wrong."
We can understand a mass murderer deserving hellfire forever, and even someone who lifts his nose at God's gift of his Son. But shouldn't the fact that "God hates all who do wrong" make us pause and reflect a bit? Have we been arrogant? Have we done evil? Of course we have. Earlier in his prophecy Malachi gives a number of ways in which even God's people have shown themselves to be arrogant and evildoers. God's people brought diseased, crippled, injured animals for sacrifice to God. Have we not many times failed to give God our best, whether that be the firstfruits of what God has given to us with our possessions, our time for his kingdom, or our talents in serving him for all he's done for us? Malachi spoke also of the spiritual leaders of God's people failing to turn God's people to the Lord and away from sin. How often haven't the spiritual leaders gathered here today failed to train their own children in their homes, much less do their duties as leaders in the church? Yes, we deserve God's wrath as well.
God says his wrath on Judgment Day will burn "like a furnace." I'm assuming that you've all been burned before, so you know it is not a pleasant experience. But the burning that Malachi speaks of is not just a burn we might get in taking the pizza out of the oven. "It will burn like a furnace." "Furnace" can also be translated as "oven." Usually we look at ovens as good things. We think of the upcoming Thanksgiving turkey with all the stuffing and gravy -- a huge feast that was made possible by that oven that mom slaved over all day. She could tell you how hot that oven gets -- to an extent. But our viewpoint of a nice oven would change quickly if we weren't the people outside the oven, but the ones inside the oven, the ones being cooked. Then the idea of an oven is horrible. Think of what Allied soldiers found when they liberated Hitler's concentration camps at the end of World War 2 -- ovens filled with the remains of those who didn't make it. That grisly sight is similar to the glimpse God gives of the Final Judgment Day -- a day of unimaginable misery and torment. But unlike the ovens of Dachau or Auschwitz, the oven of God's fury against sin will never die out. Isaiah says that God's terrible wrath against sin is meant for "those who rebelled against [God]; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind." This is the furnace that God will unleash on the Day of Christ's second coming.
Malachi also adds that it will be complete: "Not a root or a branch will be left to them." After a fire, a root or a branch that remained from a burned tree would signal hope for that tree to live again. After God's wrath on Judgment Day against sinners, however, no hope will exist for them because God will pour out his righteous anger against the sin he hates and against sinners who committed that sin. Their destruction will be total and forever in hell.
Looking at ourselves, we see that we, too, are arrogant with sin. How often would we rather follow our own thoughts and desires instead of God's? That is arrogance. And we don't have to be a serial murderer to be an evildoer. One sin classifies us as a doer of evil, and we are guilty of much more than one sin. We deserve every bit what these sinners in our text deserve. The sin that lurks in us and shows itself every day is an affront to God, and we have to say with Malachi earlier in his prophecy, "Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?"
But Malachi goes on with another aspect of that Day of Christ's Coming that brings us hope -- it will not only bring eternal fire, but also eternal Son-shine.
"But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings." When we revere God's name, that means we revere God and everything that God has brought about for us. And what God has brought about for us arrogant evildoers is beyond imagination. Yes, God is just and will punish sin with hellfire, but at the same time he is amazingly gracious, as Psalm 103 says:
He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
God sent his own Son to accomplish this. Instead of punishing us for our sins and unleashing the fire of his anger against us, he unleashed it on his own Son. Every sin was laid on Jesus, who took our hell upon himself so we could go free. That serial murderer is despicable. There isn't a place hot enough in hell for him. Would you take the punishment of that serial murderer on yourself? No. That would be insane. There would be no reason to do so. Would you take the punishment that will be issued for the man who murdered the two real estate agents if he's found guilty? No. You didn't murder anyone. Why should you be punished for something you never did? That would be unjust. Now think how unjust it was for Jesus, the only one who wasn't arrogant, wasn't an evildoer, to suffer and die in the place of murderers, in the place of you and me. You and I can never fully grasp how awesome the love of Jesus is for us and for all people. Our sin has been paid for in full. That's what Jesus said when he cried out, "It is finished!" from the cross. The Holy Spirit has led us to believe that what Jesus did applies to me. As Jesus said in our gospel lesson, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24)
For us who revere him, who fear him by standing in awe of his power and grace, and trust in him for our salvation, Judgment Day will have a completely different outcome than for unbelievers. Will we tremble on Judgment Day? Yes, as any sinner must when we face our holy God. But our trembling will be one not focusing on Jesus' damnation of those who stood against him, but it will focus on Jesus' redemption. For the Christian, Judgment Day means our final release from sin, our complete freeing from death and Satan, because all of these things will be destroyed forever along with all of Christ's other enemies, including unbelievers, so they will not be able to touch us again. Malachi asked, "Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?" Believers can and will endure it through faith in Jesus, who tells us: "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:28) Even though we are sinners, we can be confident on that Day of Christ's second coming. And it is all possible because of Christ's first coming.
Malachi refers to that first coming of Christ when he says, "The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings." The sun is actually describing the S-o-n of God's first coming as well as his second. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, spoke of Jesus in the same way: We will be saved "because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." (Luke 1:78-79) The Old Testament believers looked forward to that day when the sun would rise and the Messiah would come to save them from their sins. He came. His name is Jesus. We believe that he has conquered death by his death and has given us life through his resurrection. We now wait for his second coming in glory. We are very close. He said he was coming soon. The rosy fingers of dawn are etched on the horizon. They are getting longer every single day. Soon Jesus will come with his holy angels and heaven will be ours. But through faith heaven is already ours, so we await Judgment Day not with fear as unbelievers do, but with joy.
During football season, every game counts. If you lose one crucial game, you might not make it to the playoffs or the Super Bowl. But each game will always have a winner and a loser. The winners go away rejoicing; the losers are despondent. But even if you lose every game in a season, you can always say, "Just wait until next season." In God's judgment against sin, you also are either on the winning side or the losing side, but if you lose, there is no second chance -- it is the end of the world, which means either heaven or hell for you. Isn't it good to know that when Christ comes again, we will be on the winning side? In fact, we are on that winning side already. So as you look forward to That Day that will bring your final redemption, keep in mind the Day that Jesus brought that redemption about when he gave up his life for you on the cross, and then live every day for him as if it is your last day to serve him in this world, because it very well could be the Day he comes again. Amen.
