17th September 2024

17th September 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Obadiah 1v15-18 & 1 Thessalonians 4v13-18)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


I’m an unapologetic fan of the old TV show “The Waltons” and I remember an episode in which a young boy got a thorn stuck in his foot. He was told that it wasn’t too bad and not to worry about it, causing him to reply “when you’ve got a thorn in your foot, there is nothing else.” In a more serious fashion, I think that for those who witnessed the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem it would be nigh on impossible to believe that things would one day improve - when all seems bleak it is difficult to imagine the dawn.


Even so, a much better day is coming, for as we read in Obadiah “the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.” (v15a). As Jerusalem burned and Edom boasted, another day was approaching when all nations would have their deeds returned upon their own heads (v15b).


The concept of “the day of the Lord” is a common one in the Minor Prophets, but when will it be? Let me answer by giving a brief summary of orthodox Christian belief. We believe that Jesus died and was raised again to life and those who have received Him by faith will be resurrected on the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is called various things in Scripture like the final/last day or the day of judgement. 


The day of the Lord will be the last ever day because human history will end with the return of Christ. The Disciples were told that Jesus who ascended up into heaven would return the same way (Acts 1v11). Jesus told us to expect His return even though He Himself did not know the day or the hour (Mark 13v32). The final day is a reality and when Christ comes He will come in judgement (Matthew 25v31).


Years after Obadiah, Paul helped the Thessalonians (and us) understand the day of the Lord in more detail. What did he teach? Jesus will come back and every Christian who has died before His return will come with Him (1 Thessalonians 4v14). This is not fanciful nonsense, it is the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 4v15a). Paul adds that those who are still alive at Christ's return will not precede those who have died in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4v15b). What does this mean? Paul goes on to explain.


When the day of the Lord comes, Christ Himself will descend from heaven with a trumpet blast of God (1 Thessalonians 4v16). There won't be anyone who will miss Christ's return. It will be a momentous event and the eyes and ears of the world will be lifted from the emptiness of Facebook and Tiktok to the seriousness of the Christ the Judge. Christ Himself will speak with a mighty angelic voice and issue a command (1 Thessalonians 4v16). What will He command? Just as He once commanded Lazarus to come out of the grave (John 11v43) Jesus will also command "the dead in Christ" to rise. The souls of Christians in heaven will be reunited with new bodies. Just as Jesus died and was raised to life, so too every Christian who has died will be raised never to die again.


The resurrection of the Christian dead will come first and when it is complete, living Christians will be transformed and called up to meet Christ and their brothers and sisters in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4v17). So living Christians will not precede (be raised before) dead Christians. The dead in Christ will be raised first and then those Christians still alive at Christ's return. Together we will always be with Jesus.


The Christian has nothing to fear when the day of the Lord arrives but for those who have rejected Christ, they will receive the due reward for their deeds. Just as Edom drank and celebrated at the fall of Jerusalem, on the last day they and the rest of the world will drink the cup of God’s wrath and be destroyed (v16).


Evil might seem to be winning in this dark world but it will get its comeuppance. The day of the Lord is coming as Christ Himself tells us “Surely I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22v20). In response we cry "Come, Lord Jesus!”


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q92 What is a Sacrament? A Sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.
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