Are you guilty?

No one I knew likes to be corrected or disciplined. Why would we look for anything painful at all? Yet throughout the prophetic literature of the Bible we find a recurring theme of correction or discipline. Actually it is more than correction or discipline. It is a sentence of judgment put down by a judge on a guilty party. This act of divine judgment is called “the day of the Lord.” Here is one of those texts: 

“Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.” (Isaiah 13:6)

The day of the Lord is a day of judgment. One of the ways that God executes judgment against nations is by amassing armies against the offending nation. The scenes described by Isaiah are not pleasant; the punishment brought on these nations would make for some R-rated movies. Why all this judgment? There is actually good news inside of judgment: evil is not rewarded. No one gets an out of jail card from God. We all stand in his courtroom and receive his word, “Guilty!” – Ron Friesen