Isaiah 66:14 And when you see this, your hearts shall rejoice and your bones shall flourish like an herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants and His indignation to His enemies.
Isaiah 66:16 For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord will be many.
We must teach and preach some fire if the fear of the Lord is to be instilled into our children. We live in a “politically correct” world. A world in which an off-colored word will get you fired and dismissed from your livelihood. Yet we tolerate mass-media productions (television series, movies, and news) that promotes sorcery, demeans God and are in-your-face to those that love the Lord. A movie can be cancelled because there is a scene where a dog is tossed into raging water, but we openly tolerate, even invite, promotion of violence, war, mass murder through abortion, and life styles that are an abomination to God. Mass hypocrisy! We will not tolerate animal cruelty but have no problem with mass-media programs that destroy the souls of our children? Where are the watchmen?
From the pulpit we preach the blessings of the Lord, the mercy and grace of God; all of which are true for the repentant believer. But, we do not preach with fire the wrath of God that should and will strike fear and respect in our children and even ourselves. They need to hear “For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord will be many (Isaiah 66:16) and they (the believers) shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh (Isaiah 66:24). The Truth is, there is an eternal Heaven but there is an eternal Hell as well. Hear O children and fear the Lord.
Phil Dougherty
This truth needs to be proclaimed so that people in our society understand that the Lord is to be held in fear and reverence as mentioned in Proverbs 2:5 and gain Wisdom. As Proverbs discusses, Fear and Reverence of the Lord are be beginning of Wisdom and give many blessings.
Humanity abhors that which is offensive, that which comes against our pride. Our “politically correct” culture defines love as non-offensive, for we selfishly have twisted the golden rule: “I don’t like to be offended, therefore I will not offend others.” But the Gospel is incredibly offensive, because before you can embrace the forgiveness and love of God, you have to accept that you are more than just a good person who has made mistakes. You have to admit you are an enemy of a perfect and holy God… you are evil, and you deserve an eternity in hell.
But who wants to swallow that pill?
Thanks be to God for His mighty works in our salvation!