9.g.  Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger?

Joel 2:10  a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run. As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle. Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale. Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths. They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted. They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?

Numbers 24:23    And he took up his discourse and said, “Alas, who shall live when God does this?

Nahum 1:6     Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

Malachi 3:2   But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.

Revelation 6:17    for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

How many people right now are walking around with the thought of Christs’ coming wrath?  How many tune in their radio to an uplifting station that speaks of grace, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ, who, living in prosperity, freedom, and without many worries cast their focus on the ease of life.  The thought of coming wrath and anger of Jesus Christ is far from their thoughts.  He is coming again to claim His own and then the judgment.  The problem is we very seldom give thought to the coming judgment because we know we are redeemed, saved, and have our focus on eternity in heaven with Him.  If we don’t give thought to coming judgment how are we to have the urgency to tell others of the gospel.  It seems as though the gospel has been watered down to prosperity, financial, relational, and health benefits for believing in Jesus Christ.  It seems as though calls to come to Christ are not for the redemption of sin and coming wrath and judgment but rather for ease of life cares.  We need to speak of sin, judgment, and salvation.  This needs to be proclaimed or I fear we will see shallow conversions without root.  Our lives this side of eternity are not about ease of life but rather walking through this life of trials and troubles with faith in Jesus Christ knowing that our home is not here but in Heaven.  Our redemption and salvation from sin change us from the inside and trust, obedience, and reliance grows through maturing our faith in Christ through His Word.  Ever before us is the knowledge of what we have been saved and set free from.  The knowledge of being saved from our sin and the coming judgment against sin should propel us to speak boldly of sin, judgment, and salvation.

197. How would our life change were we to give our whole heart, soul, and mind to God?

2 Kings 23:4   And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Deuteronomy 13:5    But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

We read all of the actions Josiah took after he made a covenant to walk after the Lord.  We went city by city and destroyed the false idols, altars, and anything that was a compromise in serving God with their whole heart, mind, and soul.  What a testimony to a changed life.  What a testimony to humbly serving, following, honoring, trusting, relying on, and obeying God.

How would our life change were we to give our whole heart, soul, and mind to God?  What would be changing in how we think? What would change in where we go? What would change in what we say?  What would change in how we act?  What would change in what we allow to influence our lives?  What would change in how much time we spend in His word?  What would change?

When we come to God’s word with hunger and thirst for it, when we come to God’s word with a seeking and a desire, when we come to God’s word with a want to hear and be led by the Holy Spirit, we will filled with a continual hunger for more and more knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of Jesus Christ, and we will be able to discern the deceptions and illusions this world has to offer.