"We are so not!"

Chapters 38 and 39 of Job are a couple of my favorite chapters in Scripture. (John 17, Romans 8, and Ephesians 1 are a few of the others.  Perhaps I will blog about them sometime too.)  Job 38 and 39 show us just how big, mighty, awesome, and wise God is and (I like your thoughts that come next from your recent post Kristen) how we are not.  These are two fantastic chapters to immerse yourself in, to keep the proper perspective on just how great and powerful God is and how we are so...not.   The Lord asks Job a series of questions which begin with the wording,  "Can you..?"  "Have you...?"  "Where were you...?"  If you want to enlarge your view of God, Job 38 and 39 is a great place to start! 

I always get excited when I see a reference to the day of the Lord.  I see one in Job 38.  In verses twenty-two and twenty-three, God asks this question to Job, "Have you entered the storehouses of snow, or have you seen the storehouses of hail, which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of war and battle?"

In Revelation 8:7, when the first trumpet sounds, hail and fire mixed with blood is thrown down to the earth and a third of the earth is burned up, and a third of the trees and all the green grass is burned up.

In Revelation 16:17.21, when the last or seventh bowl is poured out, one hundred pound hailstones come down from heaven.  One hundred pounds!  According to National Geographic News, the largest hailstone ever recorded in U.S. history fell from the sky in June of 2003 and landed in south-central Nebraska.  It was seven inches in diameter (roughly the size of a soccer ball!) and had a circumference of 18.75 inches.  The third largest hailstone ever recorded was believed to be one that fell in Potter, Nebraska, in 1928.  It had a diameter of seven inches and get this, weighed only 1.5 pounds.  How massively huge is a one hundred pound hailstone going to be?!   

During the day of the Lord, God is going to display to mankind just how great and mighty and powerful He is, and how mankind is not.  It is going to be a terrifying time, a time of distress.  Isaiah says "enter the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty."  Isaiah also says that during that time that the proud look of man will be abased and the loftiness of man will be humbled and the Lord alone will be exalted.  (Isaiah 2:10,11)  He is going to pour out His wrath on the earth because of the sinfulness of man and one of those supernatural judgments is going to be one hundred pound hailstones.

How thankful I am that John recorded seeing the church before the throne of God, delivered out of the great tribulation but prior to these terrifying events that will take place on the earth.  We are told we are not destined for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  (1 Th. 5:9)  The church, God's elect from every nation, clothed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands, will be crying out with a loud voice before the throne and before the Lamb,  "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb"...before the sounding of that first trumpet.  (Revelation 7:9,10; 8:7)

He is so mighty and powerful and we are so not!

Psalm 2:1-5 - "Why are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising a vain thing?  The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed:  "Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us!"  He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.  Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury..."