Doom and gloom rhyme with tomb, I am sure this is just coincidence. There is a point in time when a person or a nation believes they are doomed. The struggle is over. The battle has been lost. The buzzer has sounded, and you are two points short of a win. The monitor indicates a flat line. You go down for the third time with no kick left. Here is how Hosea puts it: “Hear this, you priests, and all Israel’s leaders! Listen, all you men of the royal family! These words of judgment are for you: You are doomed! For you have led people into a snare by worshipping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor. You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia. But never forget-I will settle with all of you for what you have done.” (Hosea 5:1-2) Later he adds, “When your day of punishment comes, you will become a heap of rubble.” (Hosea 5:9) One more: “I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will sap Judah’s strength as dry rot weakens wood.” (Hosea 5:12)
Doom, snare, deep pit, heap of rubble, moth eaten wool, and dry-rotted wood. This is not a pretty picture. This is God talking. This is not some opposing team talking smack. This is no blustering saber-rattling dictator spouting out hollow challenges like Goliath did with David. Unless God reverses His decision or relents Israel and her leaders, even Judah, are trapped, stuck in a deep pit, consumed, and rotted. Once the moth has eaten the wool you will not be able to make mittens. Once the wood is rotten it will not hold a nail. This is a message of despair. This is a message that can only be accepted. It is time to face the music. It is time for the drinkers and partiers to sober up.
This presents two contrasting pictures of final outcomes. One is a marriage celebration, my marriage to the Lamb. The other is a funeral, my funeral. Which one will it be? God is not playing. There is a dire consequence to unrepentant sin. You might be counting on a last-minute reprieve. You might think the phone on the wall will ring right before the lethal injection. You might think that Zorro will ride in and save you. But there will be a day when all options are exhausted. There will be a moment when a person realizes it is too late. For too many there is a sad day coming. For others there will be a day when victory will be shouted, joy will be unspeakable, and the struggle will be over. One is a day of death, and the other is a day of life. Most people these days do not believe in DOOM. They have watched too many movies where the day is saved by some Marvel hero who will swoop in to save the world from the bad guy. Let me tell you that you don’t have to worry about the bad guy. He is doomed too. You must be concerned about the Good Guy. He is the one who will take vengeance of those who do not know Him and do not obey the gospel. (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8) Who should we fear except the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell? (Matthew 10:28) Jesus said this. This is the Jesus that many think is too nice to be mean. The reality is He is nice enough to be truthful. Paul wrote, “Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow.” (Galatians 6:7)
This is not your warm and fuzzy message. It is a prophetic message of reality. Before you are too far gone, let God get out the paddles and shock you back to life; let Him throw out the lifeline before you sink never to rise again; let Him lower a rope into the pit to pull you out; let Him squash the moth before he eats you up; let Him paint your wood before it rots. Otherwise, nature will take its course and the end will be DOOM.
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