“Jerusalem has sinned gravely, therefore she has become vile. All who honored her despise her because they have seen her nakedness; yes, she sighs and turns away. Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she did not consider her destiny; therefore her collapse was awesome; she had no comforter. ‘O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy is exalted!’” Lamentations 1:8-9 (Read Lamentations 1)

Will the LORD God judge His own people? Would He carry out judgments against churches in this world?

Read the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 1 and 2. What does Jesus say? Jesus rebuked His churches for leaving their first love, compromising the true doctrine to join in sexual immorality and pagan worship practices, acting as if spiritually alive when spiritually dead, and for being lukewarm in practicing their faith. Again and again, Jesus warned of judgment and the removal of a church if it did not repent.

And what of God’s church in the Old Testament times? What happened? The people disobeyed God’s commandments. They joined in the pagan worship of the people around them. They sinned and rebelled against the Lord.

God’s judgments came (cf. Deut. 27 and 28; 2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chron. 36; Jer. 52). Jerusalem, the place of the temple and the center of Old Testament worship, was destroyed and its people killed through famine and disease or the sword and the survivors carried away captive to Babylon.

In 2 Chron. 36:15-16, we read: “And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” Read 2 Chron. 36, verses 17-21.

The Book of Lamentations describes, in poetic form, God’s judgment upon His people, their suffering, their anguish and the end of temple worship in Jerusalem for 70 years.

Lamentations is written in Hebrew acrostic form. It is divided into five chapters, with each chapter having verses ordered by the 22-letter Hebrew alphabet. Thus, chapters one and two, four and five, each have 22 verses, with each verse beginning with a new letter in the order of the Hebrew Alphabet. Chapter three, the middle chapter, has 66 verses, with an ordered three verses for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Though the acrostic form is pretty much lost in the translation, the picture painted by the laments of Jeremiah, a prophet who warned God’s people of the coming judgments if they failed to repent and an eyewitness of the tragic fulfillment of those prophecies, is a picture we should consider in our day and in our time as God’s people and God’s churches compromise the truth of His Word, rebel against His commandments and join together in the sins and pagan practices of the world.

Will God judge those who claim to be Christian and followers of Christ when they tolerate abortion, accept homosexuality and same-sex marriage, engage in sexual immorality, join in the worship and pagan practices of the nations and peoples around us? He promises to do so! Cf. Rom. 1:18ff. Will we escape that judgment if we compromise our beliefs, soften our testimony to the truth, willfully engage in the sinful practices going on around us and accepted as normal by the world? No, His judgment will fall upon us! Cf. Rom. 2:1ff.; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Eph. 5:3-6.

What is the message conveyed to us by the Book of Lamentations? It is a call for us to examine our ways and repent of the sin and evil in our lives and look to Christ for mercy and forgiveness lest the same judgment fall upon us, lest our enemies be allowed to devastate our land and take our lives, lest our churches become temples for other gods and abominable practices, lest God’s Word and His blessing be taken from us and replaced with a curse!
If we do not repent of our sinful ways and turn to the Lord with all our heart, the lamentations of Jeremiah the prophet might become our lamentations. The scenes portrayed by Jeremiah in this Hebrew acrostic might be the scenes we see here during our lives.

God’s purpose, His desire for us, is that we examine our ways in light of His Word and repent of our sins and the evil in our lives and look to Christ Jesus and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross for mercy and forgiveness! We have an example in one of the late kings of Judah, Josiah, who, when he heard the Word of the LORD, repented and sought God’s mercy. Cf. 2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chron. 34-35. Though God’s judgment still came, God showed mercy to Josiah and the people during Josiah’s reign.

God grant to us mercy for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Exodus 20:5-6; Cf. Deuteronomy 5:9-10

A key to knowing the LORD God and how He deals with man is contained in these verses of Scripture. The LORD God is a jealous God who punishes the sins of those who hate Him and rebel against Him and His commandments, even down to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Him. But He is also a merciful God who forgives the iniquities, transgressions and sins of those who, by His grace, repent and turn back to Him for mercy.

In Exodus 34, God describes Himself in these words: “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation” (v. 6-7).

In the history recorded for us in the Bible, we can see the truthfulness of these words. When the Israelites rebelled against the LORD, went their own way and disobeyed His commandments, even worshiping other gods, God’s judgments fell upon them; and children and grandchildren who continued on in their sinful ways suffered the consequences – not only of their own sins but also of the sins of their fathers – when the Assyrians and the Babylonians came and destroyed their land and carried them away into captivity.

On the other hand, God showed great mercy to such men as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Jeremiah, Daniel and others. For the sake of the promised Messiah and Savior who was yet to come, God pardoned and forgave the sins and iniquities of those who turned to Him for mercy and forgiveness. Cf. Psalm 32:1ff.; 103:8-18.

The question for you and for me today is this: “Do we want God to deal with us in His mercy? or in His wrath?” If we continue on in rebelliousness and sin against God and His commandments, we will suffer His wrath, both here and forever in eternity! But if, by the gracious calling and mercy of God, we repent of our sinful and rebellious ways, turning to Him for mercy and forgiveness, He will, for the sake of the innocent sufferings and death of Messiah Jesus in our stead, have mercy upon us, forgive our sins and give us a place in His everlasting kingdom.

O LORD God, have mercy upon us and turn us from our evil thoughts, desires and ways to Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son and our Savior, for forgiveness and life eternal. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible]

Though it doesn’t happen often, I was asked by a friend in the newspaper business for my take on a world event and how that fits into the prophecies of the Scripture regarding end times. His take was apparently based on an entirely different view regarding the end times than mine — a view which is rooted in dispensationalism and includes a secret rapture, a tribulation period and a millennial kingdom here in this world.

How do you tell someone in a few minutes that you are neither premillennial or postmillennial? How do you explain in a few sentences that the current view of many modern-day Christians is based on a 19th-century heresy somewhat akin to a first-century heresy of Cerinthus who claimed to have a revelation from angels of a millennial kingdom on earth? How do you tell someone that a current event, while it may be a part of God’s judgment upon this world, may not be all that significant in regard to the fulfillment of certain ancient prophesies?

While I certainly do not claim to understand every prophecy of Scripture, I do seek to follow the principle of letting Scripture interpret Scripture. In other words, I do not come to Scripture and try to make its words fit my views. Rather, I come to Scripture and seek to conform my views to what is plainly taught in the Bible. When I find a passage difficult to understand, I don’t come up with some fantastic interpretation and then do violence to the rest of the Bible to make it fit my views. I look to the clear and plain passages of Scripture to help me rightly understand those passages which are more difficult for my sin-damaged mind to grasp.

So what do I know from the Bible’s clear teaching regarding the end times, Christ’s return and the final judgment?

In the book of Hebrews (9:26-28), we read of Christ Jesus: “Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

The Bible clearly teaches two comings of Christ — His first coming, recorded in the New Testament Gospels, to suffer and die for the sins of the world; and His second coming, on the Last Day, to judge the living and the dead (Matt. 24:29ff.; 26:64). Note that this is far different than the views of dispensationalists, who teach two more comings, one to secretly rapture away the church and another to establish an earthly millennial kingdom.

Though an earthly millennial kingdom is an ancient heresy rejected by Christians from the first century onward, dispensationalism is a relatively new doctrine, beginning with John Darby in the 1800s and spreading like wildfire in the churches through the notes included in the Scofield Bible. I was taught it in college for 2 1/2 years, but through the emphasis of that same college on the study of Scripture, I saw that dispensationalism contradicted the clear and plain teaching of Scripture on point after point and had to reject it for the error it was.

Part of the problem is that people do not carefully study the Scriptures and are unfamiliar with much ancient history. But those who study their Bibles and know something of ancient history will see that Jesus’ words regarding a great tribulation and the series of visions in the Book of Revelation have already been fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and in the rise and fall (or decline) of the Roman Church and Holy Roman Empire.

But getting back to the judgment, from God’s Word we see that – unless Christ returns first – each person will suffer temporal death; and after death comes God’s judgment. We also hear again that Christ came into this world to go to the cross, sacrifice Himself in our stead and for our sin that He might return on the Last Day to receive us to Himself and grant us eternal salvation.

God’s Word reveals to us that, at death, the souls of believers are taken to be with their Lord and Savior in heaven, and the souls of unbelievers begin suffering the eternal torments of hell.

Consider Jesus’ words in Luke 16:19-31. When the beggar died, he was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. When the rich man died and was buried, he was in torment in hell and asked his ancestral father, Abraham, to have mercy on him and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue because he was tormented in hell’s flame.

Note what Jesus said to the dying thief who repented and looked to Him for mercy: “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The apostle Paul wrote to the believers at Philippi (Phil. 1:21-23): “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.”

In Revelation 14:13, we read: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”

Of those who have died in unbelief, we read of their imprisonment when the crucified and risen Christ Jesus “went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (1 Pet. 3:19-20). And the Bible also says: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment … the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Pet. 2:4,9).

The Bible also teaches that, on the Last Day, Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead; and on that Day, all the dead will be raised up.

Jesus said, “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28-29). Job expressed his confidence: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me” (Job 19:25-27; cf. Rev. 20:11-15; Acts 10:42; 17:31; 2 Cor. 5:10).

The wicked and unbelieving will be cast, both body and soul, into the everlasting torments of hell; but those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation will, according to both body and soul, dwell with Christ forever, enjoying the blessings of heaven.

The Bible says: “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day” (2 Thess. 1:6-10; cf. John 5:29; Matt. 10:28; Luke 16:23-24; Isa. 66:24; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 John 3:2; John 3:36; 17:24).

On that Day, those who trusted in the perfect atonement of Christ Jesus will not be condemned but receive everlasting life, as Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

Jesus also said: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3). The Bible also says of heaven: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).

Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Though many have, over the ages, attempted to determine the Day of Christ’s return and judgment of the living and the dead, the Bible teaches that the Day of Christ’s return is known only to God and not to man. Christians believe Jesus’ words: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Mat. 24:36; cf. v.29-42; Mark 13:32; 2 Pet. 3:10).

Some would separate Christ’s return from the Day of Judgment, saying that Christ will secretly return and rapture away believers before a period of severe tribulation and an earthly millennial kingdom, however, Jesus’ own word refute this lie of Satan.

Before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:29-31).

The Word of God is clear. Notice that Jesus will come visibly – every eye will see Him (Rev. 1:7) – and with the sound of a trumpet and gather His elect from the four winds “after the tribulation of those days.” Note in 1 Thess. 4:13-18 (quoted above) Jesus coming with the sound of the trumpet. Jesus’ coming for His elect marks the end of tribulation in this world and Jesus’ final judgment of the living and the dead.

In regard to the millennial reign of Christ in Revelation 20, read it carefully and you will note it is not on earth. Rather it is the reign of the souls of believers with their Savior in heaven until the Last Day when Christ returns and brings them with Him (1 Thess. 4:13ff.), the dead are raised up and judged, and all believers – those who have fallen asleep in Jesus and those who are alive and remain at His coming – will be forever with the Lord Jesus in the mansions of His Father’s House.

And true believers and students of God’s inspired Word will reject as false all contrary doctrines, such as purgatory and limbo, a secret rapture, an earthly millennial kingdom and any attempts to predict the day or hour of Christ’s return.

Pastor Randy Moll

What does the Bible teach? Sad to say, most people have not read the Bible in its entirety and many have no idea what it really teaches. Though much more detail could be provided, what follows is a brief summary of the Bible’s teaching.

What does the Bible teach?

1) That the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – created all things good, including man, as described in Genesis 1-2, and that He still preserves all things. It is as the Bible says in Nehemiah 9:6: “You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.”

2) Though God created man to honor and respect God as his Maker, to love Him and to trust Him, the first man and woman fell into sin as described in Genesis 3 and, as a result, all of mankind is fallen and no longer loves, trusts and honors God above all things. Instead, people are born into this world turned in upon themselves and seeking their own will and ways which are selfish and sinful. People do not and cannot keep all of God’s commandments as God requires. It is as the Bible says in Genesis 8:21 and Jeremiah 17:9: “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” and “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Ecclesiastes 7:20 says: “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.”

3) In order to redeem and save mankind from the just and eternal punishment we all deserve on account of our sinfulness and disobedience to God and to restore us to fellowship with Him, God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, a true man, that He might fulfill all that God’s holy law requires of us and bear our sin and suffer our punishment by dying on the cross to atone for the sins of the world. This God did through the incarnation, birth, life, sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed ahead to the promised Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) who would make atonement for the sins of all and undo the work of the devil when he tempted Adam and Eve and brought sin and God’s curse upon God’s creation.
John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 says: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures … He was buried … He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Hebrews 2:14-17 says: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

4) The forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God which Christ Jesus won for all when he suffered and died upon the cross and then rose again on the third day becomes ours through faith in Jesus Christ and not by our own works or merits. Ephesians 2:8-9 says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Romans 3:21-26 says: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” And, Romans 5:1-2 says: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

5) God desires all people to repent of their sinful and rebellious ways and trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and life everlasting. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). For that reason, He commands that His Word be preached to all people (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47), and His Holy Spirit works through the Word and Baptism to create saving faith in the hearts of hearers and to regenerate them, giving them new life in fellowship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people (Acts 2:38-39): “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Titus 3:3-7 says: “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

6) As Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, we are saved by God’s grace alone and through faith alone in Jesus Christ, and even that faith is the gracious working of God the Holy Spirit in us, but God also desires that we amend our ways and live for Him: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). 2 Corinthians 5:15 says: “And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” And, since the fruit of true faith in Christ is the desire to live for God and be pleasing to Him, those who refuse to amend their lives and willfully continue on in their sinful ways demonstrate their unbelief and lack of saving faith in Christ.

7) Christ Jesus will return to this world on the Last Day and carry out God’s just judgment upon all. Those who believe in Christ and are baptized into His name will be saved and those who do not believe will be damned (Mark 16:16). John 3:36 says: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Conclusion

Yes, much more can be said. And, indeed, it is said in the Bible. The Bible reveals the sad results of man’s sinfulness and how God judges sin even now, in this world. It tells how God carried out His plan to send His Son to be our Savior, and it reveals how God continually calls us to repent of our sinful and erring ways and look to Christ Jesus in faith. It points out the terrible judgment of God which will come upon all who remain impenitent, and it offers a glimpse of the glories of heaven which await all who believe. The Bible warns the impenitent and unbelieving and gives comfort to those who acknowledge their sins and look to Christ and His cross.

Some parts are difficult for our sin-darkened minds to understand, but other parts are so simple the smallest child can, by God’s grace, grasp its message. So, don’t be discouraged. Pick it up and read it. The Bible is a book of books (66 books and letters) and doesn’t have to be read in chronological order from Genesis to Revelation. I usually recommend reading the first chapters of Genesis and reading in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) before studying the sections on Old Testament worship. It’s a book to study for a lifetime, and there is always more to learn and to understand, so keep reading.

Writing to Timothy, a young minister, the apostle Paul said (2 Timothy 3:14-17): “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The Bible was given us to teach us the way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and to guide us in living for Him. As such, reading and studying its message is the most important reading a person can ever do — indeed, your eternal destiny depends upon heeding the Bible’s message! I hope and pray you’ll read it.

— Pastor Randy Moll

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]