Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: God's wrath is going to be poured out on a Christ-rejecting, sinful world. There's a lot of Christian churches that won't bring this up. They don't like talking about the fire and brimstone sermons, that God is still righteous and He will pour out His wrath on a Christ-rejecting, sinful world.

Guest (Male): In today's word, Pastor Brett Meador alerts us to the seriousness of sin and the urgency of repentance.

Brett Meador: If you don't know what's coming, you won't be thankful or appreciative of the glory of God's mercy and grace. That's my point.

Guest (Male): The prophet Zephaniah told of some bad news, first remarking how mankind will receive the just penalty for their rebellion against the Lord. But as Pastor Brett Meador said, that just makes the good news of the gospel all the more important. In a study of the book of Zephaniah in today's word, we'll learn of the certainty of God's judgment alongside His grace in our redemption.

And we're so glad you've joined us on today's word. We are on to the final four of the minor prophets in the Old Testament, this time in the book of Zephaniah. Pastor Brett has joined me. This book only has three chapters, but it has some really important truths for today, doesn't it?

Brett Meador: Absolutely. Zephaniah deals with the pending judgment of God on a nation that had really rejected Him, turned away from Him. But I love how it offers, in addition, that beautiful picture of restoration. What stands out is that God doesn't judge His people because He hates them. He judges them because it's the opposite. He loves them too much to let them stay in that destructive pattern of sin. Zephaniah warns, but he also comforts.

You mentioned just the three chapters. In chapter three, we see that God is going to rejoice over His people with singing. That little phrase in Zephaniah really tickles my heart. Think of that. The God who judges sin is also the God that sings over His children. That starts reaching into the New Testament. That's the heart of the gospel: justice and mercy meeting together.

So that's why for me, Zephaniah's message is incredibly relevant. We need both the wake-up call but also the reminder of God's deep love for us.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Brett, for that introduction. I can't wait to get started with this message in the book of Zephaniah. Here again is Pastor Brett Meador.

Brett Meador: How many of you have done a recent study with a pastor or church in the book of Zephaniah? Raise your hand. I don't see anyone, zero. Okay, let's make it easier. How many of you have ever done a study with a pastor through the book of Zephaniah? Now, why are you joking about that? Well, it's interesting because not only is Zephaniah a three-chapter minor prophet, which I've noticed people tend to avoid the minor prophets, which is unfortunate because the minor prophets are great.

But if there's any minor prophet people purposefully avoid, it might just be Zephaniah. The reason why: it's dark and gloomy and depressing. The good news is there's a little spot of light in the book of Zephaniah. I love how even the hardest of books point to Jesus, the Messiah. We'll see that. But I've got a gloomy scripture for you. Sometimes seeing the darker side is actually kind of important and helpful.

Churches that avoid the Old Testament because they say, "Well, the Old Testament... we like the God of the New Testament, not the God of the Old Testament." Can I just say he's the same God? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He doesn't change. God is the same, so to get the full picture of God, you have to see the darker side as well. Is there a darker side of God? Well, I'm not going to say that in the sense that God is light, of course.

But at the same time, love sometimes... there is a darker side of love. What do you mean? Well, it's an interesting thing when you're a Christian, you have to, in order to really appreciate the love and the light and the mercy and the grace, you also have to see kind of the darker side. I remember a story that kind of illustrates that. It was a late night in a suburban area in some little town in America. A child lay restless in her bed when suddenly a man comes into her room and the child cries.

The mother hears the cries and runs into the room, and there the man is holding the little girl, pulling her up out of the crib. But the mother grabs her and the little girl cries and grabs the mother. The man steps out and dials his cell phone and he's talking to someone, evidently an accomplice, and makes some sort of arrangement on the phone. Then he comes back and takes the girl, the little girl out of the mother's arms, and he runs down the stairs and jumps into a car and they speed down the highway street after street.

The little girl's crying and the man is hushing her and ripping through the streets. Finally, they come to this big, ominous, dark building where he pulls her out of the car, still screaming. Then there's a room with a light on and a lot of light in that room. The man pulls this little girl and hands her to probably the accomplice that he was on the phone with before, hands the little girl to him, and he takes her in. There's another woman in there and they take her and lay her on a table and they drug this little girl.

Then they take a sharp, shiny knife and they plunge it into her stomach. You're saying, "Brett, that's a horrible story." Well, I told you it's a dark, gloomy sermon today. But wait, is that a horrible story? Well, actually it's the most loving story I could ever tell. I just left out some key elements. For example, the man that took the little girl from the crib, that was her father. I didn't tell you that part. I also didn't tell you that the man that he called was the family doctor and that the building that he drove the little girl to was a hospital.

The room with lights on was a surgery room and the knife was a scalpel that removed a problem within her abdomen that was making her uncomfortable. I left out the story. The reason that's important for you to understand is that's what everybody does today, especially when you're watching news and stories about people. They just leave stuff out and make things sound however they want them to sound. You can make a story sound horrifying. Some of you were like, "Death penalty! That person needs it!"

But then you hear the details. Oh, maybe he needs a commendation. That poor father helped his little daughter and saved her life. You might say in some ways that's the darker side of love. Love does have some heavy moments. Debbie and I had to go through that with Joey when he was two weeks old. We had to race him down to the hospital because he wasn't holding down food and he was getting dehydrated. They didn't know what to do.

They scanned him and they tried to figure out what was going on, but they had to cut him open for exploratory surgery at two weeks old. That was brutal enough. But then they stitched him all back up and we got to go home with our little boy. At two weeks old, he was in ICU for a week at that time. Four months later, we went through the whole thing over again. It was hard because at two weeks, he's just this spacey little newborn and doesn't really have a personality yet.

But you parents know, at four months, that little personality's kicked in. He's no longer this little newborn; he's your little guy. He went through the whole same thing. Then this was the worst part. I remember as they were doing work on him, the nurses and doctors asked me to hold him and comfort him while they were poking tubes and stuff in him. I remember just his little eyes looking up at me like, "Daddy, what's going on? What are you doing?"

But I was holding him down not because I was being torturous and mean; it was wanting to save his life. That's sometimes what love does. Love has a darker side. But it also is an expression of the greatest love in many ways. When you read the Old Testament and you see the blood and the guts, don't dismiss it. Don't say, "I don't really like those stories. I like reading about the good stuff." No, you've got to take the whole thing because it's a beautiful picture of God's love for humanity—even the wrath, the destruction, the doom and the gloom.

It's all part of the deal. That leads us to our text: Zephaniah chapter one. Just to give you a sneak preview of coming attractions, here it is, Zephaniah chapter one, verses 14 and 15. It says, "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness."

Wow. This is one of those heavy scriptures, and it's talking about a specific time that's yet to come. It's called here "The Day of the Lord." The great day of the Lord is near. Now, I want to remind you of something we learned back in the book of Joel if you were with us. There's specific days in the Bible. When I say days, I'm not talking about a specific singular day, but they're time periods. Like when an old-timer says, "Well, back in my day," was he talking about June 7th, 1966? No.

He's saying, "Back in my day," in other words, when I was younger there was a time period when we used to do things this way. It's a figure of speech. Well, the Bible uses it the same way when it's talking about the days in the Bible, and there's four specific "days" that you should know about. The first day in the Bible is right here: "The Day of Man." Number one. It's sort of defined, by the way, in Genesis chapter two, as it turns out.

But all that to say, it's when the Lord gave humanity the title deed to Planet Earth. That was the day of man. Genesis chapter 2:15, when the Lord says, "Subdue the earth, I'm going to give you stewardship over the earth." He hands the title deed to man, and then suddenly man just totally royally messes it up. The day of man is an unmitigated disaster, characterized by famine, starvation, disease, war—all that stuff is the day of man. Guess what period we're still in?

We're in the day of man. That should explain why things are bad. Well, if God is love, then why are bad things happening? It's because this is called the day of man. It's all our fault. It's because we sinned. We messed up. We tweaked this earth out. It's our fault. It's the day of man. The next day you should know about in the Bible is "The Day of Christ." This is a fun one. I love this one, the day of Christ.

I could give you tons of scriptures on this one. The phrase "Day of Christ" is used several times in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 1:8, 1 Corinthians 5:5, 2 Corinthians 1:14, Philippians 1:6. There's a lot of mentions of this day of Christ. But it's referring to what's happening in the main scripture you should jot down: 1 Thessalonians 4:17. When you read about the day of Christ, that is of the four days we're talking about here, it is actually a single day that's going to happen.

And that is the rapture of the church. Whenever you read about the day of Christ in the Bible, in the New Testament, you're going to realize that he's talking about when he comes to get his church and take us up out of here. Like in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, those who are alive and remain will be caught up. Greek word harpazo. Latin Vulgate translation rapturo, which is where we get our word rapture. The Bible says the Lord's going to take us up. That's called the day of Christ in the Bible.

The third day that you should know about in the scriptures is "The Day of the Lord." The day of the Lord is defined when God steps in and intervenes after the day of man. These days are chronological. The first day of man, that's where we're living right now. The thing that sort of ends the day of man is the rapture of the church. That's the day of Christ. And then after the day of Christ ushers in the next season called the day of the Lord.

That is when God says, "Time's up." That's when God says, "I am going to intervene in the condition of humanity." Now, the thing that's confusing about the day of the Lord to a lot of people is what is the time period defined as, because there are two distinct periods that you might confuse. The first part of the day of the Lord is the tribulation period. After the rapture of the church, you have the seven-year period called the tribulation where God pours out His wrath on a Christ-rejecting, sinful world.

But the day of the Lord continues after the tribulation when Christ returns, the second coming of Christ, where he will then... read it, Revelation 19. He'll come with ten thousands of his saints and he'll rule and reign from Jerusalem. That brings in the Millennial Kingdom is what the Bible calls it, the thousand-year rule of our Lord over the earth for a thousand years. That's what the Bible says. Then the Millennial Kingdom's going to be an interesting time.

It's going to be like the antediluvian world according to the Bible, that is the pre-flood conditions where people will live to almost a thousand years and stuff like that. The Bible says it'll kind of go back to that condition and there'll be peace and blessing. So, the day of the Lord is the tribulation period. That's the gloomy beginning. And then you've got the Millennial Kingdom, which is a glorious time of Christ ruling and reigning. But then after the Millennial Kingdom, then you have the final day talked about in the Bible. It's "The Day of God."

And that is mentioned... I'll show you where here a little bit later. But 2 Peter chapter three, you can jot that down next to the day of God. That's where, after the Millennial Kingdom, remember if you know your Bibles, Satan is loosed for a short season at the end of the Millennial Kingdom to deceive again the people on the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. But there Michael the Archangel will eventually bind up Satan. Keep that in mind, Christian people.

It's not God versus Satan, hopefully God wins. Satan is a created being. And the one who's actually going to subdue Satan is not Jesus, and it's not God, it's just another angel, who I shouldn't say it that way. Michael the Archangel is hardly just another angel, but he is the angel that's going to bind up Satan and eventually throw him into Gehenna or the place we call hell, lake of fire. That's going to happen at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.

So what happens after that? Well, the Bible says the day of God as defined by 2 Peter 3 is when God puts away this heaven and this earth and creates a new heaven and a new earth. Well, what happens then? We don't know much. The Bible just says new heaven and a new earth. The idea is we'll all live happily ever after after that. And that's the idea. So the day of God speaks of the new heaven and the new earth. And that's the four big days that the Bible talks about.

Let's break this down about the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is number one: grim. We read that in our text. Let's review just for a second. The day of the Lord is grim. If you look at this phrase by phrase, it gets more and more depressing as you read it. It says that "the mighty man shall cry there bitterly." There's something about seeing a mighty man, a man of battle, a hardened readiness, to see that guy cry? You know things are tough.

And it says it's a day of wrath. By the way, the tribulation period is called the time of wrath, the wrath of the Lamb. Some of you are like, "Brett, I'm not really scared of the wrath of the Lamb. Like, why should we be afraid of a lamb? It's like 'meh'." Well, you've got to remember the Lamb is Jesus in His first coming. Remember John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the whole world."

He came to be a sacrificial lamb in His first coming. In His second coming, Jesus is going to come as a conquering King, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But you have to understand there's a correlation that Jesus is the Lamb that was slain on the cross for the sins of the world. But the first time he came as the one to save the world, but for those who reject that work of the Lamb of God, they're going to find the wrath of the Lamb is no joke.

We'll show you that as well here in a minute. But the idea is it's going to be a time called the wrath. Keep that in mind. Verse 15 also says it's a day of trouble. In fact, the Bible says it's called the time, the tribulation period, the time of Jacob's trouble. And Jacob is the name of Israel when they're in trouble. Like the Lord calls Israel "Israel" when they're good, calls them "Jacob" when they're bad. God uses the name Jacob oftentimes when they're in trouble and it's called the time of Jacob's trouble, the tribulation period.

So it's a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness, desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess. That's going to be literally the case according to the Bible. In fact, why don't you keep your finger here and flip over, I want to show you the beginning of the tribulation period in the book of Revelation. Would you turn with me to Revelation chapter six and let's do a quick review of that. Revelation, people get kind of freaked out about studying the book of Revelation, but it's really an easy book if you just follow its outline that is given to us in Revelation 1:19.

Talks about John write the things which are past, the past; things that are present, and things that are future. And that's exactly what John does. Chapter one talks about Jesus, the glorified Jesus in chapter one, the things which were past. The second part is chapter two and three, the seven churches of Asia Minor where the present age of the church age. But then after that it starts talking about the things that are hereafter. Meta tauta is the Greek word.

And he starts talking about the tribulation period. And by the way, Revelation 6 through 19 is talking about the tribulation period. So chapter six of Revelation is where the whole thing is kind of kicked off. So what you have in the book of Revelation is you have these six seals starting to be broken open, which are seals of judgment upon the world. Remember the title deed I told you that was given to man in Genesis? Man, when they sinned in the garden, they gave the title deed over to Satan.

But there in the book of Revelation when they cry, "Who's worthy to open up the seals of the scroll?" What scroll are we talking about? It's talking about the title deed to Planet Earth. And there's only one who would be worthy to open up and satisfy the requirements to take over that title deed back of Planet Earth. And that's what that whole scroll thing is about. But he starts breaking open these seals, and those are all bad situations.

The first seal is Antichrist coming on a horse to rule. The second seal is war. The third seal is famine. The fourth seal is death. In fact, let's read that one, verses seven and eight of chapter six. It says here in Revelation 6:7, "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard a voice of the fourth beast say, 'Come and see.' And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with them. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

And then the fifth seal is persecution of the tribulation saints. You said, "Brett, I thought we were raptured before the tribulation." We are. Well, then why are there Christians in the tribulation? Easy. We call them the tribulation saints. They're the people who accept Christ during the tribulation period. After the rapture of the church, there's a bunch of people that are going to be saved. And I wonder if maybe some of your family members who think you're a little cuckoo right now because you're a Christian and you believe in the rapture of the church?

But can you imagine the people that you've told about that who think you're a little wacky now, but when you are taken up to be with the Lord, they'll think, "Man, where'd everybody go?" And hopefully our website will still be up and they can go back and listen to our teachings and go, "Oh, okay. Got it." But I believe there's going to be a bunch of people saved during the tribulation. They're going to be slain, it says, for their word of God and the testimony which they hold in verse nine.

That's going to be a bad day for the people who believe in Jesus in the tribulation. They will be slain for their faith. Some of you might say, "Well, Brett, I'll tell you what. I'll wait and see if you guys are raptured and see if this stuff is real. And then if it is, I'll become a Christian then." Two problems with that. One, if you can't be a Christian now when things are easy, what makes you think you're going to be able to be a Christian when it'll cost you your head in the tribulation period?

The second problem I have with that is what happens if you get run over by a truck on the way home from church today? Then it's too late at that point, and you should be safe. Today is the day for salvation, and it's a better way to go anyway. Ask anybody who's saved; they'll tell you it's a good way to roll. Well, chapter six, this is where Revelation chapter six starts to match Zephaniah's description of the day of the Lord. In verse 12 specifically, let's read verse 12.

It says, "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell into earth even as a fig tree cast her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men"—remember the mighty man that was crying in Zephaniah?

Says the mighty man, "every bondman, every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?'" God's wrath is going to be poured out on a Christ-rejecting, sinful world. And there's a lot of Christian churches that won't bring this up.

They don't like talking about the fire and brimstone sermons, that God is still righteous and He will pour out His wrath on a Christ-rejecting, sinful world. And yet people like to just talk, "Oh, it's just going to be wonderful, everything... you're going to live victoriously and it's all about this happiness and you being healthy, happy, and all this stuff." That's part of it. God does care about our happiness and God is merciful and gracious and we love talking about that. But you also have to see the darker side as well.

That's my point. If you don't know what's coming, you won't be thankful or appreciative of the glory of God's mercy and grace. It gets worse, in fact. Since we're in the book of Revelation, turn to chapter 16. This is the end of the tribulation period now. But in chapter 16, check this out, verse 20. "Every island fled away and the mountains were not found. And it says and there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent."

100-pound hailstones. Man, if that hailstone hits your head, that's an Advil moment right there if you ask me. 100-pound hailstones smashing into your head. That's what's going to happen in the tribulation. And men blaspheme God because the plague of hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Isn't it amazing that during the tribulation when God's wrath is being poured out upon a Christ-rejecting, sinful world, when that stuff happens, some people will be saved, but most of humanity will still shake their puny fists at God.

And like we read in chapter six, instead of repenting they'll say, "Rocks, fall on us!" They'll pray to rocks that they would crush them before they'll repent and turn to God. And then the hailstones hit and instead of saying, "Lord, have mercy on us," they'll say, "blankety-blank God." They'll curse God and blaspheme God when the hailstones come down because of this exceeding great hailstone plague. That's the nature of the tribulation period. And the reason I share this with you is the day of the Lord is grim and it is coming. That's an important thing. And we see that in Zephaniah. The book of Zephaniah mentions "the day of the Lord" by name seven times in this three-chapter book. So really the theme of the book of Zephaniah is "the day of the Lord."

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador turning to the book of Zephaniah in today's word, depicting a vivid picture of God's promised judgment occurring both in Old Testament times and the day of the Lord yet to come. And there's more to learn that you'll want to be along for next time as well. Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athy Creek Church, just outside of Portland in West Linn, Oregon.

We invite you to find out more about Pastor Brett and Athy Creek Church by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. Also want to mention that in addition to the main Athy Creek campus in West Linn, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "Locations." Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link "Locations."

Well, next time Pastor Brett Meador will continue in the book of Zephaniah as this prophet confronts us with the reality of God's judgment yet also pointing us toward the hope of the gospel. Today's word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athy Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.