“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence:a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him” (Psa. 50:3).
“Behold, it is written before me:I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom” (Isa. 65:6).
“Our God shall come”. Precious thought and hope for the believer. Although this coming is in reference to the Lord’s coming to set up His kingdom on the earth, it is still an event to be eagerly anticipated by the believer. What a wonderful day it will be when the Lord judges the nations and, having eradicated all that is dishonoring to His name, begins his thousand year reign on the earth. It will, however, be a sad day, to be sure. Many will be judged. In order to maintain His own holy standards, the Lord MUST judge.
What a sobering thought it is that the Lord will judge and not keep silence. While it may seem that the Lord is relatively silent now, the day is coming in which He will not keep silence any longer. He will judge. He will judge without mercy. He will judge without grace. His judgment will be harsh, but fair. How can any stand before Him and dispute with Him when He speaks from His throne? His own righteousness will be evidenced by His piercing judgments. How it saddens the Lord to judge. Isaiah refers to judgment as being God’s “strange work” (28:21). God is love and He desires, yes demands, that all men everywhere repent (Acts 17:30). Without repentance, there is nothing left but for God to judge … and to judge completely. We find the Lord saying, “Say unto them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live:turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die?” (Ezek. 33:11). There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. There is no joy in executing judgment on the wicked. There is not the slightest notion that God delights in punishing the sinner. However, judgment must come and the day is approaching when the Lord no longer will keep His silence.
When the Lord Jesus first came to the earth, He kept His silence in relation to judging. “He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets” (Matt. 12:19). There is a time for silence (Eccl. 3:7), but that time is soon over. It will be time for the Lord’s silence to end. He refuses to be silent any longer. Sin must be dealt with in harshness and without prejudice.
Thankfully, the believer will never experience the judging hand of God. Being in Christ, we are free from condemnation. Never will the harsh hand of God be raised against us. We are His, precious thought! However, we are surrounded by precious souls who are in danger of facing the Lord in His wrath against sin … where He will not keep silence. He will speak in complete and fiery condemnation against the rejecters of His grace. Brethren, if the day is coming in which the Lord will not keep silence, then it must be that the day is here in which we must not keep silence. “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night:you who make mention of the LORD, keep not silence” (Isa. 62:6). Shout it, fellow believer. Proclaim the name of the Lord from the rooftops, in the streets, in the factories and businesses. Speak His name in the schoolyards, in the malls, in the highways and byways. We have been silent for too long. There is a time to keep silence, but that time is not now … not when it concerns the proclamation of the gospel of salvation. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14). What a grand privilege and responsibility we have.
Without a doubt, we live in a day of apathy. People care very little about one another. People do not want to be bothered with the problems of their neighbors. This is indicative of the Laodicean age in which we live. “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would you were cold or hot” (Rev. 3:15). This is a true characteristic not only in the professing Church, but in the real Church as well. How important is it to you that your friend is saved? How concerned are you that your neighbor is destined for hell? How much will you go out of your way to tell a lost, precious soul that salvation is a free gift from God through faith in Christ Jesus? Will you risk being ridiculed or rejected to tell someone that God loves them? Consider Paul’s earnest, soul-wrenching longing for the salvation of Israel, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3). Can you believe that? Paul said, in effect, that he would give up his salvation for the salvation of Israel. Sometimes, I won’t even give up one of my free afternoons for the opportunity to tell someone of God’s saving grace, and that is to my own shame.
There is an old saying that says, “Silence is golden.” I was once told by a dear, older brother that sometimes silence is not golden, it is just plain yellow. May the Lord give us the resolve to commit ourselves to doing the work of an evangelist. May our battle cry be, “I will not keep silent.” May the Lord give us such a burden for the lost that we cannot ignore it. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14).