By George H. Warnock
It certainly appears to me that we are close to the Day of the Lord. - A 'Day' that is described in scripture as a time of gross darkness in the world about us...yet holds forth the promise of a glorious Light that will shine upon His people. The prophets spoke much of this "Great" yet "Terrible" Day - when great darkness shall engulf the earth, while His people walk in the Light of the Lord Jesus. God wants us to "walk in the Light" now lest we presumptuously think all is well because we have good doctrine, and attend a good church. We must have true faith, lest in our presumption we find that Day to be one of darkness... and we "stumble on the dark mountains", and look for the light that is not there. No matter how dark the night may be surrounding us, "the children of the Light" will walk in the Light of God. When gross darkness covered the whole land of Egypt...there was "Light" in the homes of the people of God.
As God's wrath is poured out on a world of iniquity, God has made every provision for the children of Light - and that provision is nothing less than the "whole Armor of God". (Eph. 6), described in Romans as "the Armor of Light" (Rom.13:12). The climatic battle of the ages is closing in upon us, and God will have a Gideon army whose only weapons were - a trumpet and a pitcher...with a lamp inside the pitcher. Right now they seem to be doing nothing for God--as they sit in the darkness on the hillside. But in that Day they will break their pitchers and hold their lamps high; and with trumpet blast (a sure, clear voice from God) they will declare their victory- with no other weapons than the Armor of God. Gideon's army shouted aloud, "The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon...!" -- and panic and fear griped the hearts of the enemy until they fled in terror. There were many volunteers in Gideon's army at first...32,000 of them... But God sent most of them home, choosing to use only 300, whom He knew would give Him all the glory.
I emphasize these things because it seems to me that God's people for the most part do not care to become involved with God's battle plan...but choosing to be mobilized by some outstanding church leader rather than knowing the voice of the Lord God for themselves. Some do not even want to be around on the Day of the Lord...because they read of the terror of that Day...and fail to see the Light that will engulf the darkness. They talk about God 'sparing' them from His wrath - yet fail to understand that God "spares" His people, by clothing them with "the whole Armor of God".
We have ample teaching from the Lord Jesus and His apostles, admonishing us concerning that Day. Be alert! Be awake! "Let us not sleep"...said the apostle, but "Let us watch and be sober"... Put on the whole Armor! This is God's provision for us in that Day: "The breastplate of faith and love." ..."and for an helmet the hope of salvation, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (See 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8)
Many just brush aside this teaching of the Day of the Lord, or view it as something too controversial to meddle with. Then there are many who remember the stories they heard from their parents or grandparents of how they anticipated the 'end-times'...60 -70 or 80 years ago. "But we're still here!" they say. True enough, but we are 60 - 70 - 80 years closer to it now that we were then.
Let's consider a possible scenario in the days of Noah. Here's a group of people taunting Noah for his folly. "Noah, you have been talking about God's judgments for 119 years. When are you going to forget that wild dream you had?" But the next year it happened! We are farther along in God's program that we were 80 years ago... and as Jesus predicted because of this lapse of time, there is now a generation in the "church" ...that has become careless, indifferent, insensitive to the times...and are saying (not verbally but with their actions), "My Lord delayed His coming".
