Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/91

Contributor - H. Martyn Van Essen

Title - Advent and the Day of the Lord

Topic - Advent

We are in the season of Advent. During Advent we prepare ourselves not only for the celebration of the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, but also for His coming again in glory; in fact, especially for His coming again in glory. This is the traditional focus of the church during Advent. For this article on Advent I have chosen to focus on the return of the LORD. I have done this with the intent of forcing us to take stock of our lives - to aid us in preparing ourselves for the LORD's coming again.

We are a people in waiting. We pray for the coming of the LORD. We look forward to the Day of the LORD when the new heavens and earth will be created. This is certainly a glorious theme to focus on during Advent. But we must be prepared to meet the LORD, whether we meet Him in the air as He returns to earth riding the clouds of heaven, or whether we die before He returns.* We do not know when Christ will return; nor do we know when we may die. Our lives could be snuffed out in a split second - on the highway, in a stroke or heart attack, some accident on the job, or by a crazy man who shoots up a restaurant. We must always be prepared to stand before the eternal judge.

Are we really prepared for his second coming? We hope for it. We look forward to it. But do we really know what we are hoping for and looking forward to? I ask this question in the context of Amos 5:18-20:

Woe to those who long for the Day of the LORD! Why would you have the Day of the LORD? It is darkness and not fight. [You are] like a man who flees from a lion and a bear confronts him; or who goes into the house, rests his hand against the wall, and a snake bites him. Is not the Day of the LORD darkness, and not light? gloominess without brightness?

What Amos prophesied to the people of Israel during the eighth century before Christ came is still true today. There are people who call themselves Christian, who look for the Day of the LORD, but who will find that day, when it comes, to be a day of judgment and not one of joy. So also the LORD warned that there would be those who would prophecy in His name and who would cast out demons in His name, but whom Jesus calls "evildoers." (Matt. 7:21-23)

The people of Israel to whom Amos prophesied considered themselves to be good Jewish people. They sacrificed to the LORD on a regular basis and in the prescribed manner. They held feasts to the LORD. They held solemn assemblies for the worship of the LORD. They sang to the LORD and made a joyful noise to His name. All in all, we might say that these people were good religious people. Today we might call them pious. From an outwardly religious point of view, they were orthodox and faithful worshippers of God. They considered themselves to be faithful worshippers of God, too - so much so that they refused to see their true condition and heed the prophets whom God sent to warn them. So blind were they that they actually longed for the Day of the LORD, not realizing that the coming visitation of God to His people in the Day of the LORD could be either for vindication or judgment.

The problem with the people of Israel was that their worship of God was correct in form, and regular, but not from true faith in God. They had the appearance of being pious, but in their hearts they were not. These people practised a ritual of religion. They practised ceremonies which they thought would please God, but they didn't worship God with their hearts from a true faith in covenantal obedience. And so, we find during this time that though the people of Israel worshipped God outwardly according to all the instructions God gave through Moses and the prophets, they lived their lives in a way that was completely contrary to the will of God. They oppressed the poor, their business ethics were corrupt, they committed adultery, they got drunk, and they did various other things which angered the LORD God. That's why God said, through Amos, "Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD!"

The Day of the LORD was a day on which, it was believed, God would vindicate his people and punish all evildoers. For the Israelites this meant very simply that God would vindicate Israel and pour out his wrath on all Gentile nations. The Israelites so took for granted the fact that God had chosen them for his own people that they figured God would vindicate them over against all the other nations of the world no matter what. Consequently, they eagerly looked forward to that day, never thinking that God might also judge them. So Amos turns the whole concept of the Day of the LORD against the very people whom God had chosen for his own possession. "You think you will be vindicated?" asks Amos. "Think again! You won't be vindicated; you'll be judged. You think the Day of the LORD will be your glorious day of triumph? 'Mink again! It will be a day of judgment against you. You think the Day of the LORD will be your salvation? Think again! It'll mean your condemnation. "Woe to you - you are as good as dead." The sense of the word woe is important - it refers to the cry people make at a funeral. Amos says, "Death to you who long for the Day of the LORD." Amos compares Israel to a man who flees a lion only to be confronted by a bear; to a man who flees into the safety of his house, only to be bitten by a snake. Either way, the Eon kills, the bear kills and the snake kills. He is a dead man. There won't be any escape, wams Amos. There won't be anywhere that you will be able to escape the wrath of God.

The Day of the Lord is often referred to as the judgment day. Let's not make the same assumptions the Israelites made. The Israelites assumed that the Gentiles would be judged, not them. They were wrong. The judgment came upon them, and God used the Gentiles to execute his judgment! Assyiia came in 722 BC and carried the ten northern tribes into exile. Judah didn't learn anything from this and persisted in its wicked ways. God executed his judgment against Judah in 587 BC when Nebuchadnezzar captured it and carried it off into exile.

In the church today we find all kinds of people. Are they all true believers? Are all the people we find sitting in the pews truly children of God? Are all people who participate in the activities of a church converted by the Holy Spirit and motivated in their worship by a true faith created in them by God? The Scriptures teach us clearly that the answer is "No". Not all covenant people are reckoned righteous by God through a true belief in his promises. Not all church people are truly believers. There are the sheep and the goats. There is the wheat and the tares. There are the foolish virgins and the wise virgins. Many times we cannot distinguish between the two groups. 'ne Israelites in Amos' day were pious in their religion. They said all the right things. They did all the right things. They worshipped God in an outwardly acceptable way. They were pious, but they were judged.

Advent is a time for anticipating the second coming of Christ - the coming Day of the LORD. It is also a time of preparation for the celebration of that day. It truly will be a celebration for those who have believed God's promises in Christ and who live in grateful obedience in the renewed covenant through His Son. It truly will be a glorious day for all those who love the LORD and who have been reckoned righteous by faith. Faith is a gift from God, and it produces fruit that is pleasing to Him; therefore, as we anticipate Christ's second coming, let's ponder the question Peter asks so that we may be prepared for the Day of the Lord:

"what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and earnestly desiring the coming day of God ... ? (2 Peter 3:11, 12)

In the N.T., the Day of the Lord refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the O.T. Yahweh/Jehovah is behind the capital letters LORD. In fact, Jesus is Yahweh. He is the LORD. This is plain in many places in the N.T., but perhaps none more than when Jesus announces that he will come with the clouds of heaven, for only Yahweh rides the clouds of heaven. (see Psalm 104, et al.)

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