The Great and Terrible Day.
By Sarah J. Wakeling.
We read, “The day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Isa. xiii, 9. The prophet points us forward to the great and terrible day of the Lord, when all faces shall gather blackness, and the hearts of the children of men shall fall for fear. Now, how is this day to dawn upon the earth? Shall none know of it; none be aware of its approach? The Saviour says in his testimony that that day shall come as a thief in the night. But he exhorts us to watchfulness. But for what shall we watch? I think I hear some one say, “The signs of its approach.” Well, we will see if there are any. The apostle informs us that that day shall not come upon us as a thief; then, if it does not, it will be because we have had some sign that it is near, and as the prophet says, hasteth greatly. One prominent sign of its near approach is the calm security of the world at large, who are being lulled by the soft voices of their watchmen singing the siren song of peace. But the prophets tell us, too, that this shall be when there is no peace. So in this delusion, the world remains peacefully slumbering, and that day comes, even as a thief in the night, and they know it not until awakened from their delusive dream of peace to find that dreadful day upon them. And when we see this state of things existing around us, we may know that it is near, and hastening. And as we see these things come to pass, let us examine ourselves. Shall I be able to stand in that day, when the Lord shall be like a refiner’s fire, and shall try us? Oh! what shall be the portion of the saints while the vials of the wrath of God are poured out? Listen to the voice of the prophet. “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Then we who are looking for his coming, and for the day of wrath upon the wicked, have a work to do. If that day comes upon us, and finds us in violation of God’s law, and haughty; our minds full of avarice and pride; if one spot be upon our character and life, we cannot expect to be hid. Then, when we see our duty, and do it not, we have the greater condemnation. Oh! let us seek righteousness, by keeping all God’s precepts; and meekness, by following all the testimonies of Christ, that the Lord may shield us in the day of wrath. If we are found among the little, blood-washed company when the decree goes forth, “He which is filthy, let him be filthy still;” “he that is holy, let him be holy still,” we shall be safe. The holy angels will encompass the saints; while upon the wicked, the glory of the Lord is a consuming fire; and they shall perish by the brightness of his coming, but he will receive the saints to himself, and return with them to the beautiful City, and bid them partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Who would not wish to be one of that favored company when the glorious King himself will come forth to serve them? But let us cast our eyes back to earth—the earth now desolate, and void of inhabitant. The atmosphere, or heaven, having passed away, causes the clouds which had floated above, upon it, to settle down upon the earth, even as they were before the atmosphere was created “and darkness was upon the face of the deep,” thus fulfilling the prophecy of Joel ii, 2: “A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.” The earth in this state is the abode of Satan for one thousand years. The plan of redemption will soon be completed. He knows his fate is sealed, and I think none will envy him his reflections, as he looks abroad and beholds the heaviness of the curse which he has brought upon the once beauteous earth, then waxed old as a garment. But the thousand years having expired, Jesus descends to this earth, “and his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east, and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” Zech. xiv, 4. Then the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, cometh down from God out of Heaven, see Rev. xxi, 2-10, and rests upon this mighty plain. Then the wicked dead receive their call to rise; but they come forth to hear the sentence of death pronounced upon them. Jesus and his people enter the beautiful city, and Satan goes forth trying to deceive those who came up last, and make them think they are able, because of their great multitude, to take the city. He assembles the generals; they advance to their posts, and with Satan at their head, move forward, flattering themselves that they can take the city. They march up on the breadth of the earth, an exceeding great multitude, as the sand of the sea in number, but as they encompass the camp of the saints, Jesus and his people ascend to the top of the wall of the city. Then every eye beholds him, even those wicked Jews who caused him to be crucified, and those who pierced him shall look on Him whom they pierced. “Not crowned with thorns and gory,
But crowned with glory now.” As the wicked now behold Jesus and the saints in all the unspeakable glory that surrounds them, and hear the soul-enraptured song of the redeemed, they will realize what happiness and joy they have lost. Fire from heaven consumes them. They are punished according to their deeds. The same fire which destroys the wicked purifies the earth; and what a scene of awful grandeur will then be presented to view! The earth one great lake of fire. The fire will eventually destroy every vestige of the curse, and the earth, purified and renewed, will soon bloom again in all the beauty of its primeval state, when fresh from the hand of its Maker, and everything was pronounced “very good.” When all effects of the curse are removed, against which the wrath of God was kindled, and the day of wrath ended, and nothing left to mar the beauty of the renewed earth, the saints will realize that for which their souls so often longed. They will dwell in the presence of their King, and “God himself will be with them and be their God.” No tears there, no sorrow. Of the beauties of that land it hath not entered the heart of man to conceive. The most vivid imagination cannot picture the height of its beauty and its glory. Dear reader, which will you do? Will you go on, surfeiting, feasting and careless, and allow that dreadful day to come upon you as a thief? Or will you be watchful, sober, temperate, girding on the whole armor of God, preparing to stand in the battle on the Lord’s side, and receive the blessing of God, the gift of eternal life, and a home in the earth made new?