MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Isaiah 5:20a, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness …”

By Joel Richardson – “The following post contains a handful of Biblical passages describing the nature of the Day of the Lord and the return of Jesus, emphasizing the wrath, judgment and violence that He will use as He executes justice against the wicked. I’ve also juxtaposed some comments by neo-liberal Brian Mclaren concerning his views on the return of Jesus. Mclaren’s comments are instructive. First, Mclaren’s derogatory comments about Jesus are deeply offensive to me as a follower, worshipper and lover of Jesus. Second, Mclaren’s arrogance, hubris and confrontational approach toward those who hold to a historical, conservative, literalist hermeneutic should be noted by all who care about preserving orthodoxy. And finally, it is the sharp contrast between Mclaren’s comments and the Scriptures that should be noted again, by all who desire to be men and woman of the Scriptures and not men and woman whose faith-system is dictated by the spirit of the age. As Paul so aptly warned (my paraphrase), ‘Do not allow yourself to be conformed to this world, rather be transformed [into the image of the living Word of God], by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.’ (Romans 12:2)

The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low, the LORD alone will be exalted in that day… The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted. And they will be humbled. —Isaiah 2:11,13

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”  The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion… The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. —Psalm 110:,1-2,4-6

Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. —Isaiah 63:1-4

Come near, you nations, and listen; 
pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!  The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter… My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood… For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom… Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat. For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. —Isaiah 34:9-12

I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land… Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done.— Joel 3;2, 4

Now consider the following comments made by Brian Mclaren:

“This eschatological understanding of a violent Second Coming leads us to believe that in the end, even God finds it impossible to fix the world apart from violence and coercion… If we remain charmed by this kind of eschatology, we will be forced to see the nonviolence of the Jesus of the Gospels as a kind of strategic fake-out, like a feigned retreat in war, to be followed up by a crushing blow of so-called redemptive violence in the end. The gentle Jesus of the First Coming becomes a kind of trick Jesus, a fake-me-out Messiah, to be replaced by the true jihadist Jesus of a violent Second Coming. This is why I believe that many of our current eschatologies, intoxicated by dubious interpretations of John’s Apocalypse, are not only ignorant and wrong, but dangerous and immoral.

The ‘jihadist Jesus of a violent second coming’. Lord have mercy on those who indict the Lord of evil. As for us, let us stand with the word of God and the good confession of the saints at the end of the age, who in glorified form, all in unison, declare the following:

You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were, for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve. And I heard the altar respond, “Yes Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments”.—Revelation 15:5-7

Source – Joels Trumpet.