#158: The Terror of the Lord
For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses – the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact – their tents, their horses, and their donkeys – and they fled for their lives.
II Kings 7:6-7 NKJV
It seems for the last 15-20 years, Hollywood has been fixated on movies and shows about pandemics, population destroying diseases, and apocalyptic fantasies about aliens, zombies, or some other variation of the theme. Now a pandemic has struck – millions have died, and hundreds of millions more are living in terror of dying from a mysterious disease that few understand. Isolating as much as possible, we are not living in the terror of the imaginations of Hollywood but living through the terror of the Lord that is assuredly upon us because of our sin. How often do you consider the terror of the Lord?
In Isaiah 2 the Lord tells us that as the wicked see the wrath of God coming, they will throw away their worthless idols and flee from “the terror of the Lord.”
Consider the example of the Syrian army. In many ways the Syrians were the last group around Samaria that should have been afraid. The Syrians had been camped against Samaria for some time as the famine inside the city was very great. They knew life was not good in Samaria and victory should have been just a matter of time. Nevertheless, they clearly had a great sense of impending danger. The Syrians came up with fears that would seem to be beyond reason – Samaria, which could not even smuggle food in to feed its starving population, would somehow hire Egypt and the Hittites to conduct a surprise attack against Syria. As unreasonable as these fears seemed, they were present and the Lord used their dread of attack against them when He supernaturally caused a great noise to be heard in the camp. It was the noise of a great army – perhaps the noise of the army of the Lord. When the Syrians heard it, all their fears seemed to be realized and they abandoned everything “and fled for their lives.”
This is the end of the wicked – they come face to face with the terror of the Lord and flee in fear from His just wrath against them for their sins. The Syrians assumed their fears were being realized and fled for their lives. They not only abandoned their tents, but also their food, money, livestock, and all their possessions.
Abandoning all worldly possessions will not enable the escape from the hands of God whose anger is kindled against the wicked. As the terror of the Lord has gone out in the past, it goes out in the present, and it will certainly go out in the future.
This picture into the terror of the Syrians is a picture for the present day. I have read many accounts of unbelievers dying in the hospital at a young age FaceTiming their children and pouring out their life’s regrets with many fears and tears. They realize at a moment too late that what they focused on was of little value in the end. Many are driven to great dread and fear as the last breaths pass from their bodies.
Fear is upon all men apart from Christ and someday soon those fears will be manifest in the judgment of God. While the wicked may now look confident and nearly victorious as they surround the righteous, yet they soon will be fleeing and destroyed by the victorious King of kings!
And, now, what about you? How do you respond personally to this devotional? Will you be like those Syrians who fled when God pursued them with the noise of a great army? Will you be like those who hid in the clefts of the rocks because of the terror of the Lord? Will you be in fear and anguish at the hour of your death or the Lord’s return because you only have the wrath of God and the fires of Hell as your future? Or, will you observe the terror of the wicked and the wrath of God today and turn from your wickedness in repentance, believe in the Savior Jesus Christ who delivers us from the wrath of God by suffering the cursed death on the cross for us, and be saved?
If you will trust Christ today, may you also call out to sinners and warn them of the terror of the Lord, calling them to the Savior of Sinners who is Jesus Christ the Lord!
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Copyright ©, LikeTheGreatMountains.com, 2020
4 Comments
William Duncan · August 18, 2021 at 11:31 am
” assuredly upon us because of our sin.” ?
Ben Stahl · August 18, 2021 at 6:58 pm
William, thank you for the comment.
The phrase is meant in the following way. Sickness came into the world as a result of the fall of Adam and all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation. As a result, all sickness and death is a result of sin in a general sense but may not be the result of a particular sin of a particular person. Sometimes sickness is the result of a particular sin of a particular person or people (Ten plagues on Egypt are in mind here or the leprosy on Elisha’s servant after lying to Naaman and Elisha) but not always (Hezekiah comes to mind as well as Peter’s mother-in-law).
While we rarely have insight into the mind of the Lord around disease and plagues today, I believe we can say it is a result of sin at least in a general sense. With that, sickness is always an opportunity to cry out to the Lord for help, forgiveness, and mercy. My hope is that the great destruction we are seeing around the world would lead many people and even whole countries to fall on their knees before God, confess their many sins, repent, and look to Him again for help. The Lord gives great promises to us around removing plagues if we would listen to Him and repent (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).
Does this help address your good question?
Ben
William Duncan · August 19, 2021 at 1:14 am
Covid-19 has been an example of divine favor to me. It has shown me how important it is to hate the world, desire the consummation of all things, and be prepared to die well should an actual threat to my life come. Also we have learned how easy it is for church leaders to fall into the trap of fear of men rather than God. The Black Death wiped out half of the civilized world, but from its evidencing that this world is not our home, the survivors began to challenge the state church, their over realized eschatology of the earthly reign of the Church, and sew the seeds of rebellion. Safety is over rated. So, no I can’t see that the that this little virus is the penal judgement of God. Rather, it has given many in the church a stiffer spine.
Ben Stahl · August 19, 2021 at 1:20 am
Thank you William. The Lord certainly works all things together for good for those that love Him!