A Call To Avoid God's Judgment - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Chronicles 30:6-8,

"People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see. Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you."

Here is a portion of the letter King Hezekiah sent out throughout Israel. Because of the wickedness of Israel, the northern ten tribes had been slaughtered by the Assyrians at the Lord's behest. Hezekiah's father, King Ahaz, had led the southern two tribes right into the same idolatry the northern kingdom engaged in. Now, following the restoration of the temple, good king Hezekiah made an appeal to all of remaining Israel to return to the Lord and join him in celebrating the Passover. This verse is a part of that invitation.

Sin brought the Lord's judgment to Israel. Sin always brings the Lord's judgment.

What we have with Hezekiah's appeal to Israel was an opportunity for those of the nation who were left to turn his anger away from them. This opportunity existed because God had an agenda for Israel - he would use the nation as a tool in bringing his Son, Jesus Christ, as the Savior to the world for all who will embrace him. Eventually all worked out per God's plan, but not without the southern kingdom also eventually being destroyed by the Babylonians.

God has already accomplished his agenda of bringing his plan of redemption to the world through his Son two millennia ago. While God is active in the affairs of the nations of the world today for his purposes, he will remove his "restrainer" such that mankind fully expresses the sinful condition within their hearts. See 2 Thessalonians 2. This is how the end of this age comes. I believe all of us in the world today are well on the way...

The most important thing to keep in mind regarding the Lord's judgment is the judgment following this age. The great white throne judgment awaits all for their sins and those who have availed themselves of the redemption Jesus Christ has provided through his death on the cross will find forgiveness and deliverance from that judgment. All others will be cast into a "fiery lake of burning sulfur", Revelation 21:8.

Embrace Jesus Christ today to avoid God's judgment!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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