The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise about the Day of the Lord

Do not presume that the Lord is slow in keeping his about the Day of the Lord. Just because the Final Judgement has not yet taken or people have become lazy towards keeping watch about this great day, doesn’t mean it won’t happen at all. But in fact its the Lord God’s patience so that all reach repentance, as mentioned in 2 Peter 3:1-10. Here we go:

 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, ⁶ and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. ⁷ But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

 

 

Its consistent in God’s nature to be slow to anger

God is slow to anger. He made this very clear to Moses when he passed in front of Moses, that even Moses called this out.

Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6)

And not just Moses, but even the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel spoke of God’s long suffering nature towards sinners, so that they may repent of their sins. Happy are those who take heed of the call of God and truly repent! For that indeed is the will of God for all those who turn towards him.

And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18)

Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11)

 

Slow to anger, does not mean no to anger

There are some that presume that slow to anger, means no to anger. If God were not to punish the unrepentant, that what difference would be there between the righteous and sinners? If God were not to execute judgement at all, there would be people who would still keeping harming others with their cheating, stealing and murders and what not. Therefore, I adjure you in the holy name of God, that don’t fall prey to vain words which in various forms imply that God will forever be patient with everyone and not be faithful to his promise of Judgement day!

 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:4-5)

I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works. (Revelations 2:21-22)

 

We are to keep trusting God for his own timing

Always trust God to stay true to his Holy Word and his divine timing. So even if many people are scoffing the Holy Scriptures and following their evil desires, you stay put in following God’s commandments and be ever zealous in the love of God. Jesus Christ who is merciful will surely take heed of of your faith and prayers but make sure you are praying in the Holy Spirit as well. 

¹⁷ But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 1:17-23)

God be with you!

The righteous hates falsehood!

The difference between the righteous and the wicked is what they like and what they do.

The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace. (Proverbs 13:5)

The righteous will always hate falsehood and wicked will love falsehood. The righteous will do what is good and act as per will of God and live honorably. While the wicked will act disgracefully and shamefully. Don’t be surprised therefore to see both the wicked and the righteous having different judgments at Judgement day.

Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psalm 96:13)

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)

No one sees me, really?

Though the following verses talk about the downfall of Babylon, one must take note that everyone who thinks no one sees them and because of this they will escape judgement, is actually making a big mistake. God can see through the lies and illusions that men and women use to hide away their secret sins. If people are not willing to leave their wicked ways, God will not hesitate to punish them in due season. Now for the verses please read below:

You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” But evil shall come upon you,which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. (Isaiah 47:10-11)

Get rid of your lust before it gets rid of you

A man or a woman in lust is highly bothered about oneself. Such is the selfishness that seeking pleasure becomes the sole criteria of life. Immoral pleasures are the dark roads these people travel. They know not the cruel monster that hides in the shadows of sexual immorality. Outside the light of God’s loving kindness, they choose the prison of self-deception. This prison goes deep into the depths of stupidity. And many in the world cheerfully drag themselves into this. However, this prison of self-deception is not there for too long.

There are two things to consider; the physical and the spiritual consequences. A person is lust is always trying to hide his or her sexual immorality under the false assumption that what is kept secret goes unpunished. Well, that depends on what that person’s definition of secrecy is. The bad news for such people is that there is nothing secret in the eyes of the Lord God. Let’s check on the spiritual consequences first. He is aware of every sin and will surely judge at one’s death and also at the Final judgement. Think of it as getting judged not once but two times spiritually. Not a judgement of words alone but actual everlasting punishment in Hell and in the Lake of Fire. One word about these punishments; forever. When the fires of Hell burn the soul that lusted after sexual perversions, all self-deception goes away. No wonder, as pride goes before a fall.

To speak about the physical consequences there are various diseases passed on between adulterers and fornicators. Even medical science insists that to reduce instances of sexually transmitted diseases one must stick to only one partner. Yet, people throw caution to the wind and think they are exempt from the consequences. Such is their stupidity because they choose to ignore abundance of cases of AIDS, gonorrhea and the like which was transmitted due to prostitution, one night stands and whatever form of perversion. Then we have the social consequences of being found out. Many presidents who engaged into immorality today are out their presidency due to it. These have thrown away their legacy which takes years to build for a few minutes of deception. Reminds me of how Esau despised and sold his birthright for the sake of some food and never ever got back his supremacy. There was then an infamous case of how a sportsman cheated on his pregnant wife by engaging in perverse sexual relations with over a dozen women. Yes, over a dozen. And then the wife filed such a divorce case in which they not only got divorced but the sportsman had to pay a very huge amount of his earnings to her. Besides, he lost out on many advertisement deals and till day is not able to play his sport like in his earlier days of glory.

But as always, there are some people who are way too cunning to work out their lust without any physical consequences apparently. Well, their safe passage will soon run out as they won’t go to heaven if they choose not to repent of their lust. So they will have to face the evil spiritual consequences of their vile immorality for sure.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practise homosexuality,nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

So if you’re prone to lust or if you are struggling with lust here is what you should keep in mind so that you live a holy life:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:1-6)

A few words of wisdom about the dangers of sexual immorality and lust:

“Dietrich Bonhoeffer made the observation that when lust takes control, “At this moment God…loses all reality… Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.” What a world of wisdom there is in this statement! When we are in the grip of lust, the reality of God fades… This is what lust does! It has done it millions of times. God disappears to lust-glazed eyes.” – R. Kent Hughes

“Our eyes, when gazing on sinful objects, are out of their calling, and out of God’s keeping.” – Thomas Fuller

“Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man’s wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act.” – Augustine

“No sin that a person commits has more built-in pitfalls, problems and destructiveness than sexual sin. It has broken more marriages, shattered more homes, caused more heartache and disease, and destroyed more lives than alcohol and drugs combined. It causes lying, stealing, cheating and killing, as well as bitterness, hatred, slander, gossip and unforgivingness.” – John MacArthur

Why will the Beast destroy Babylon?

There are many things written against how depraved and evil the Babylonian system is. Indeed its correctly mentioned as sinful and blasphemous in its nature and workings. However, I also see how many are wondering how to defeat Babylon and seem scared due to that.  My answer to that is to be brave and look at what the Holy Scriptures says about her downfall by the Beast on which she rides. Let’s first read a description about her by John in the Book of Revelation:

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgement of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. (Revelation 17:1-6)

What we must utterly dislike about Babylon is that she is “the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus”. That shows her murderous nature towards believers in the Lord God. So, such a behavior ought to be punished greatly.

Indeed God has spoken judgement against Babylon and also wants his people out of her ways. The following verses confirm this:

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. (Revelation 18: 4-6)

And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.  (Revelation 17:15-17)

Because of the sins of Babylon, the Lord God destined it to be that the very Beast on which Babylon rides will become the instrument of her destruction. Don’t think that the Beast is doing anyone any favor. In a bid to be in control and assert its own dominance over the world the Beast along with the ten horns will ensure that the Babylonian system is taken down by brutal violence. So the evil ambitions of the Beast will be used by God to destroy Babylon in the process.

A thing to take note; Babylon though spoken of as a wicked woman is not actually one single person. The Bible makes it specific that Babylon is a city that has remarkable influence over world leaders. The following verses confirm this:

• And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)
• Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more (Revelation 18:21)

Someone might ask what about Matthew 12:26 which says “And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” in the context of the Beast destroying Babylon?

A simple answer to that would be Babylon is not Satan though she is profoundly wicked which warrants God’s judgment against her. Besides Revelation 17:17 says; for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

To make it more clear, God can use anyone to fulfill his purposes. That includes using those who are evil to bring God’s judgement upon the wicked. You might like to call them as unwitting accomplices of God. And this is consistent with the Bible. Here are two examples from the Holy Scriptures:

• Sennacherib the king of Assyria, was killed by his owns sons as a result of God’s judgement on him due to his blasphemy against God. (Read 2 Chronicles 32:1-22)
• Ahab the king of Israel who was very wicked and who was also the husband of the evil and idolatrous queen Jezebel, was killed by the a soldier of the king of Syria in a battle with the Syrians. This was due to God’s judgement upon Ahab prophesied by the prophet Micaiah. Now take note the king of Syria didn’t worship the Lord God yet God used him to execute his judgement. (Read 1 Kings 22:1-38)

To conclude, it’s true that God will use anyone (including sinners) to work good for those who love him. He is so great that he will use even the Beast to punish Babylon for her sins against those who believe in the Lord God. This shows a new dimension to Romans 8:28 which one might have not noticed earlier.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.(Romans 8:28)