I just have a feeling in my gut.
Can’t really say that I am a scholar on the last days, end times, prophecy, Revelation, or eschatological events.
However, I am the world’s leading expert on that sense I sometimes get in the pit of my stomach. Since much of creation is circular, East and West must meet somewhere. What may be viewed as opposites can actually be in perfect agreement. This is the reality rolling around in my soul.
Malachi said that a very strange “day” would come upon the earth and all living people. This “day,” is unlike any other because it is best identified by opposites. It is the “Great day of the Lord” and at the same time it is the “Dreadful day of the Lord.”
At the core of my being I am aware that a very dreadful “day” has come. Although I want to say that the worst is behind us, I know it isn’t. Darkness will increase. Death will increase. It will look like all is lost.
Surely, the Christians in the Middle East can shout “This is a dreadful day!”
With the past, present and future moving into the consummation of God’s revelation, today must also be identified as a great day.
One would think that the more “dreadful” increases the less “great” there can be. Sort of like the more rocks there are in the glass, the less water the glass can hold. This is not an accurate take on the great and dreadful day of the Lord. In fact, the more “dreadful” increases, the more “great” increases too. Both are growing at an exponential rate.
Is it going to get more dreadful or great? YES. Both will increase with mind-boggling speed.
Reading the news reconfirms this feeling in my soul. On every hand there are extremely dreadful things happening virtually every day. It is wise to feel the dread.
Yet everywhere I look I see the great hand of God at work in ways that inspire awe. Today is truly, in every way, the great day of the Lord. It is wise to feel the greatness.
Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Our response on this great and dreadful day of the Lord is to straighten up and raise our heads because God’s redemption for us is drawing very near.
I have this feeling in my gut that our redemption is nearer now than it has ever been.
(Graphic from www.jewelsofjudaism.com)