Tuesday Reflection Dec 8, 2020.

The Day of the Lord.

This is the second week of Advent. Advent begins the church calendar or the Christian Year. The word Advent means ‘coming’ or ‘arrival’ and refers specifically to the second coming of Christ. As we celebrate the Advent, looking forward to the coming of our Lord, we also pause to celebrate His first coming (Christmas), and what it means for us in today’s world. The coming of the Lord is an event that every Christian anticipates as it references the culmination of life as we know it and the beginning of the reign of Christ in God’s eternal kingdom established on earth. We often refer to the coming of Jesus as the day of the Lord and we find this phrase in today’s text. The day of the Lord is coming, it is near. Joel 2: 1.

The text embodies a message we have heard for as long as we can remember. For Israel during the time of Joel, the day of the Lord gave hope, promised peace, anticipated joy and would demonstrate love. For them this ‘great and terrible day of the Lord’ (Joel 2: 31) would be that day when God would defeat the enemies of Israel and establish them as the leaders of the nations of the world. The people therefore longed for the day of the Lord to come since in it they found hope even in the direst of situations, it promised peace in a time when they were losing their sons and their inheritance to war, it promised joy in a season of mourning and it promised the ultimate demonstration of God’s covenant love for Israel in their being raised up from slaves, servants and exiles to be world leaders. In the midst of this joyous anticipation however, the prophet sounds a note of caution. He warns them that this long-anticipated day will not be what they are expecting. It would be about God exercising a heavy hand of punishment on the people for their sin, rather than elevating them regardless of their apostacy. This is also reflected in the declaration of the prophet Amos who stated: Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! What will the Day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light. Amos 5: 18. Israel’s anticipation of their exaltation would really be God’s glorification, as God used Israel’s hardships of plagues, famine and war, to bring them to repentance and a return to Him.

Today as we celebrate Advent, the church longs for the return of the Lord. We anticipate the day of the Lord as that time when Christ shall return and establish God’s reign on the earth. We see it as a time of hope realized, peace established, joy fulfilled, and love completed. This day however will be one of both joy and sorrow. Those who faithfully anticipate this day of the Lord, will from our Lord receive a crown of eternal life. Jesus promised us that those who endured will be the ones saved. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Matt. 10: 22. We also see salvation as the reward for faithfulness regardless of the circumstances faced in Rev. 2: 10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. It is our faithfulness to God that will be rewarded in the end, not our position, our calling nor our possessions. Note also that if faithfulness will be rewarded, then unfaithfulness will be punished. Both reward and punishment are part of this long-anticipated time of Christ’s Advent. The day of the Lord is coming, it is near. It will be a day of rejoicing for the faithful and a day of mourning for those who have fallen away from God. God’s word calls us to faithfulness. We are not promised a safe path, or complete protection from hardships and diseases. On the contrary we are to expect hardship, disease and betrayal in this life. Our faithfulness to God should not be destroyed by what we face but rather strengthened as we anticipate the Day of the Lord, the culmination of our Christian hope and the realization of everlasting peace, joy and love. It was Brigham Young who said, ‘every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation’. Indeed ‘trials mark the road leading home to God’. The day of the Lord is coming, it is at hand. Amen.