Psalm 97:1-6 (NIV)
The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.
Have you seen God’s glory? According to the Apostle Paul, God’s existence is like the 800-lb. gorilla in the room (my words, obviously): Everybody knows it’s there. As a result, you can be confident that there is actually no such thing as an atheist. People that claim to be atheists don’t know what to do with the eternal “800-lb. gorilla” in the room, but they certainly know it is there, even if they refuse to admit it. Every human that has ever existed—or ever will exist—knows that God is real because He has not only made it plain for them to see (Rom. 1:19), but He has also placed an eternal spark in their hearts (Ecc. 3:11). Add this to the reality that most everyone in our nation is well aware of Jesus Christ (see yesterday’s Daily Dose), and you will see that not only is God that 800-lb gorilla, so to speak, but people react towards Him in the same way they reacted to the Emperor that had no clothes in that old children’s story—they refused to admit that which they absolutely knew to be true.
The LORD does reign, and all of creation is glad about that (v. 1), and all of mankind should be, too. Why? Because God’s existence gives our lives meaning. We are not the result of some sort of “cosmic accident” that produced total chaos that eventually organized itself into living beings who eventually advanced to the point where they could think and communicate and invent and master and create and perform and enjoy and relate and…the list goes on and on. No! We are the Creator’s Special Creation, made in His image, and given amazing abilities and potential from Day One. We are not just “crude matter” as Yoda once said, but much, much more than that. Every human being is the apple of God’s eye, and His deep desire is that none of us should perish eternally but find eternal life with Him through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:9)!
Of course, only those who bend the knee and confess with the mouth—before Christ’s return—are able to rejoice in these facts. When the great and final Day of the Lord arrives, every single person will be raised from the dead to face the God they always knew was there. For some of us, the “clouds and thick darkness” (v. 2) will be awe-inspiring and even comforting, but for most others, “fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side” (v. 3). That is why that Day of Judgment is also called “terrible” (Joel 2:31). The winning team will all at once shout for joy AND weep and mourn. God’s final judgment is no laughing matter, and all the fury and power and vengeance alluded to in today’s psalm will come crashing down on the heads of everyone who has chosen to reject the grace and mercy of their Creator. It is a terrible and final judgment that only begins on that day but lasts forever.
As Christians, we obviously believe in God, but I’m not sure how much we actually believe in the Final Judgment. Sure, we give it our intellectual ascent, but do we really believe it deep down in our bones? If you see your neighbor’s house catch fire in the middle of the night, will you drop to your knees in prayer…or will you pray as you dial 9-1-1 while you run out the door to yell at the top of your lungs to warn them about their impending doom? The immediacy of the threat drives the intensity of our response. Have a bad diet? That will catch up to you, eventually. Refuse to exercise? That’s going to come back to haunt you. Choose not to work within a budget when your funds are limited? Sooner or later that’s going to bury you in debt. Don’t have an interest in hearing the Gospel? There’s always next Sunday, right? Wrong. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow and your life can end just as easily as a vapor disappears (Jas. 4:14), and when it does, you won’t RIP unless you have been forgiven by HIM.
