“And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.” (Zephaniah 1:12)
It is said there are two certainties in life – death and taxes. We can reduce this to one – the day that is coming, that Day. It is drawing near and we should be preparing ourselves and watching – waiting for God’s Son from heaven (1 Thessalonians 1:10) It is strange that there is more confusion among the professing Church of Christ with respect to the return of Christ than almost any other subject. Surely an enemy hath done this? This is a subject that increases in relevance, in urgency, with every passing day. We need to get on board, make sure we are on the winning side.
There are two extremes to which one can go when speaking of the Lord’s coming. On the one hand, there is a position of extreme pessimism that all but forgets the glory and victory. On the other hand, many ignore the tribulations, the apostasy, the storms and plagues that will precede this glorious event. If we must choose between the two, then victory must win out, as it is impossible for the purposes of God to fail. The pain is but for a short time and the glory is for ever. It is only unrepentant sinners that have reason to be pessimistic and to fear the return of Christ. Do they try to stop us teaching our children and bringing them up in the ways of God? Do they oppose the Gospel at every hand, banning Bibles from public places, trying to prosecute preachers of the truth and persecute the saints? So what? They are on the losing side. In a short time they will be cut down like grass, look for them and you will not find them, their individual names soon disappear from the public eye and not even appear in the history books. Those who elevate themselves eventually go too far and are then brought down. Many such cases spring to mind. These people come and they go. When Christ comes, they will never repeat their evil deeds, never again will they wear down the saints. They may pass this law, pass that law, senseless and wicked legislation, all contravening the revealed Word of God. Let us not be persuaded by others into a state of fear often about things that anyway may not yet have happened. These sinners may be a persistent irritant to the Gospel but that is all they are and we must not accept their own estimates of their own importance. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psalm 2:4).
There will be an end to all the nonsense we now see around us. The mischief makers who would break asunder the bands, cast away the cords (Psalm 2:3), live without any restrictions imposed by God, will find themselves suddenly overtaken by inescapable distress. They have foolishly supposed that their chief interest lies in throwing off the claims of Christ. That to which they have so stupidly held onto tightly shall be wrenched from their grasp. There are already the ominous rumblings of an approaching storm. Wake up! Wake up! Hear the coming thunderclaps! The sounds fall upon our ears with increasing clarity.
Inseparable from the ever-growing wickedness, the rampant idolatry despite divine threats, there is the prophetic warning of approaching ruin spoken by Him whose Word cannot be broken. Shameful crimes, abhorrent vices that grip our society cry out for vengeance. The violent man, accustomed to the most horrendous and blood-curdling scenes, will in that Day shriek in terror at the horrendous devastation that is set before him. Listen now, before the storm breaks, turn in true repentance when the wrath of the Son is kindled but a little and seek Him while His mercy and grace is still rich towards all.
Laugh? On that Day there will be no laughter except for the laughter of God. There will be no comedians, no entertainers, no music, no idiotic time-wasting movies (and yet you review this rubbish in your church magazine!), only bitter crying, anguish, desolation, the complete collapse of all that men have held precious and thought desirable. Goods, houses, wealth, all that those who hate Christ possess, all that upon which they have lavished their love in His place, they will lose it all. There will be seen no bright star of hope, only black clouds and thick darkness.
There shall be the shrill blast of the trumpet as God’s judgement overtakes those whose presumption dictates they can get along fine without God. That is the reality; that is the future certainty. It is the Last Day, the day of no return, the day of everlasting rejection and eternal damnation. All those who have followed their own ways instead of those laid out in the Word of God; all who have proved themselves to be obdurate opponents of all things godly will be exposed, unable to escape the onrush of God’s vengeance. As the shepherd sought the sheep that was lost, as the woman her lost coin, then to salvation, in that Day He will ‘search Jerusalem with candles’ tracking down every last enemy to bring him to book. The caves and tunnels beneath the hill on which Zion itself is built and from where the King shall reign, will serve as no hiding place from His wrath. Not one who has so much as shaken his fist against Christ, failed to trust and honour Him, and yet at His coming remains at large shall escape. Every single one will be caught; so thorough will be the search. Where mercy once prevailed, justice shall have its course and God’s wrath be satisfied. His enemies, the lofty ones who now swagger and shout the odds, they will stagger about like blind drunkards; unable to see the way they once imagined they saw so clearly. Those who regarded themselves as being untouchable will be touched by the finger of God. Their blood, their life, sacred even to God, shall be poured out upon the dusty ground; their flesh shall be as dung and trodden under foot. That which was the crown of God’s creation now depraved and corrupted by sin is cast out as so much rubbish. This judge cannot be bought with silver, nor His anger appeased with gold – no cash for honours here. There will be a swift and terrible destruction for any opponent of Christ, whether individual, group or entire nation.
We live in the world that rightfully belongs to our King. It is His, the cattle on a thousand hills, all the fruit it produces, and all the people living in it. He is the rightful heir. The time is fast approaching when those who usurped His authority, wicked servants who ought to have done His bidding, will be pushed aside and punished, and the rule of the rightful Son and heir will begin. What we now do on earth is important. Awaiting the time when His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven, we must seek to live right now according to His revealed will in everything we undertake whether in our families, Church life, business, in all that we do. We are not polishing the brass work on the Titanic. Our work here is not vain in the Lord. It is a continuum, its success is made sure not in human effort, not even in human effort assisted by the Spirit of God, but in the sure and certain hope of the Lord’s return.
In Bible times, fermented wine was left on the ‘lees’, the solid matter that dropped to the bottom of the vessels. It remained like that for a time to improve the strength and flavour of the wine. Before being drunk, the wine was strained and the impurities removed, or ‘refined’ (Isaiah 25:6). In Zephaniah 1:12 the expression “settled on their lees” is used, meaning thickened or hardened. Leaving wine too long on its lees meant that it became syrupy and bitter, virtually undrinkable and of no use. The dregs thicken and the heart is hardened when men settle on their lees. Nothing stirs us; nothing moves us; we become hardened in our sinful ways. Instead of being cleansed through repentance and faith in Christ, the dregs and impurities of the flesh permeate the wine until it is ruined, useful for nothing, unpalatable, and fit only to be poured away.
My dear believing friends, what are we doing? Have we lost the real perspective? Do we fail to see what we do in the light of the Lord’s return? Do we not see that what we do here has an eternal dimension? All that we now do is open-ended. Or have we settled on our lees? Do we see the present going on forever, brought to a halt only by death, are we not settled on our lees? Away with all those meaningless trivialities! The wood hay and stubble shall be tried by fire and consumed; the gold shall be refined and remain. All that we have built up for ourselves and our own praise and pleasure will all be gone one day, the plaudits of men we so desire will fade on their lips and there will be only one ‘well done’ worth hearing from Him who is our Lord. The wealth, the fripperies, the obsession with things of this world that we have accumulated for their own sake and not to God’s glory, all will be exposed for what they are, only treasure laid up in the bank of heaven will survive. The cloaks of learning we wave before the eyes of our fellow men will appear as the tawdry worthless rags they are. Can we not see the Day approaching? What manner of men ought we then to be?
Christ shall reign on the earth and we with Him at His coming. What greater prospect can there be than that? Is not that something really worthwhile to live for? Are you outside Christ? Then friend, you are on the losing side. Time to change sides! ‘United Nations’, new world order? Forget them, they are no match for the coming reign of Christ. This should be large in our thoughts as the end approaches. (Read again all the verses of Watts' triumphant hymn given below.) All men, but all men, shall bow to Him who alone rightfully demands our love and honour.
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
Behold the islands with their kings,
And Europe her best tribute brings;
From north to south the princes meet,
To pay their homage at His feet.
There Persia, glorious to behold,
There India shines in eastern gold;
And barb’rous nations at His word
Submit, and bow, and own their Lord.
To Him shall endless prayer be made,
And praises throng to crown His head;
His Name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.
People and realms of every tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His Name.
Blessings abound wherever He reigns;
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains;
The weary find eternal rest,
And all the sons of want are blessed.
Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.
Let every creature rise and bring
Peculiar honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen!
Great God, whose universal sway
The known and unknown worlds obey,
Now give the kingdom to Thy Son,
Extend His power, exalt His throne.
The scepter well becomes His hands;
All Heav’n submits to His commands;
His justice shall avenge the poor,
And pride and rage prevail no more.
With power He vindicates the just,
And treads th’oppressor in the dust:
His worship and His fear shall last
Till hours, and years, and time be past.
As rain on meadows newly mown,
So shall He send his influence down:
His grace on fainting souls distills,
Like heav’nly dew on thirsty hills.
The heathen lands, that lie beneath
The shades of overspreading death,
Revive at His first dawning light;
And deserts blossom at the sight.
The saints shall flourish in His days,
Dressed in the robes of joy and praise;
Peace, like a river, from His throne
Shall flow to nations yet unknown.
All combined opposition, all who conspire against the Lord Jesus, will be utterly destroyed at His Coming. At His coming the kingdom of Christ shall be set up on the ruins of all others, throughout the whole world.
"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." (Daniel 2:44)
At this time appointed by the Father, He will bring forth the Kingdom of Christ in power and glory. Christ Himself shall become the desire of all nations (Haggai 2:7) His kingdom shall indeed stretch from shore to shore in a literal sense - "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). Even as the sea is full of water, so wherever man is found shall be pervaded by the knowledge of God.
"I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." (Isaiah 45:23)
"And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." (Daniel 7:27)
All nations throughout the world shall be subject to Christ.
"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation11:15)
As believers we ought to be awakened to a sense of the greater glory that awaits us. Were this so, we would face the coming perilous times and the dark days of the final struggle with fortitude and a warm spirit. We would be strengthened by hope, rise from the dust, face our enemies with boldness. Faith in our high calling in Christ Jesus enables us to face the future with confidence.
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