Meditation on 'the day of the Lord' | 默想“主的日子”

 

Author：Karen   Narrator：Liying

Have you ever wanted to know what lies ahead of you? I bet you did. We tend to think that if we could foresee the future, we would make some wise decisions. But sadly, we have no way to foresee the future using our human power , so we hardly know if our decisions are good for us or not.

 

But God, our Creator, doesn't want us to live our lives without our destination in mind. He leaves us no doubt about individuals' and the whole world's future. He makes the truth about the future abundantly clear. He revealed to us that human history will end in judgment of rebels and blessing on the obedient. The Bible calls the final time period of human history "the day of the Lord".

 

The term "day" could refer to any length of time. I think the period of "the day of the Lord" begins with the Lord first coming to this world about two thousand years ago. It continues until the "day of judgment" when God sits on His throne to judge every people and nations. Right now, we live in the period of "the day of the Lord" when God waits patiently for all who will be His can come to repentance.

 

The proclaim of "the day of the Lord" is a resounding wake up call. It calls us to wake up from our drunkenness, from our complacency, to consider soberly His ultimate judgement, to live in light of the reality that God will judge. God judges sinners who deliberately refuses to repent.

 

The announcement of "the day of the Lord" is immediately followed by God's astounding news: He prepared a way for sinners to escape from His dreadful judgment. The way is Jesus. The sinless Son of God took His people's judgment on Himself on the cross. He died for repentant sinners. He also resurrected for them. Everyone who trusts in Him may find assurance of new life, a sinless one which would not be judged.

 

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

 

God keeps His word. Do we confess in order to be saved, to take Jesus as our refuge on the day of judgment. On that terrible day，it will be too late to confess, it will be too late to ask for forgiveness. Do not wait! Make the decision now to seek safety in "the day of the Lord".This is the best decision we can make in our life. It is infinitely good for us.

 

你想不想知道你的未来？我猜你想的。我们以为若能预知未来，便能做出些聪明的决定。可是很悲哀啊，我们靠着人的本事，无法预知未来，当然也就没办法知道我们的决定是不是聪明。

但是，我们的天父，我们的创造主，不想让我们走人生路的时候，脑子里没有目地的。祂对每个人和整个世界的未来描述的非常清楚，没留下什么疑问。祂启示我们人类历史将以对不信者的审判，和对信靠祂的人被拯救为终结，圣经把人类历史的最后一段日子叫“主的日子”。

这个“日子”是一段可长可短的时间，我认为“主的日子”这个时期始于两千多年前主耶稣基督第一次降世，一直延续到父神坐在宝座上审判万国万民的“审判日”。现在，我们正处于“主的日子”这段时期，神在这个时期耐心地等待着祂的子民悔改。

宣告“主的日子”相当于敲响了哄亮的警钟，把我们从麻醉，自满的状态中唤醒，使我们严肃地思考神的最终审判，在度日时，牢记神终归要审判这个事实，神审判那些一门心思拒绝悔改的罪人。

约珥书2:31节刚宣告完“主的日子”，紧接着在2:32节就告诉我们，祂为罪人们准备了一条逃避可怕审判的道路。这道路就是主耶稣，无罪的神子在十字架上顶了世人的罪。祂为所有悔改的罪人死，也为他们复活。每个信靠祂的人都会得到新生，无罪的，不受审判的新生。

“我们若认自己的罪，神是信实的，是公义的，必要赦免我们的罪，洗净我们一切的不义。” 约翰壹书1:9

神信守诺言，我们要不要认罪悔改，在审判的日子可以躲在耶稣里得救恩呢？在那个可怕的日子，悔改求原谅可能有点儿晚，不要拖延，今天就做个决定吧，定意在“主的日子”能有平安。这是我们能做的最好选择，绝对的好选择。