#DailyDevotion Call On The Name Of The LORD Jesus Christ & Be Saved.
Joel 2 30I will put wonderful signs in the sky and on earth: blood, fire, and columns of smoke. 31The sun will turn dark and the moon bloody before the coming of the LORD’s great and terrible day. 32But then everyone who calls on the LORD’s name will be saved; there will be on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem those who escape as the LORD promised, and among those who escape will be the remnant whom the LORD calls.
There are a number of “Day of the LORD” in the Old Testament. They are always days of judgment. Now days of judgment are bad news for those who oppose the LORD and they are a day of salvation for those who trust in the LORD. These days are always marked by darkness. Jesus told us to look for these signs as a warning that His second coming was near.
Now remember, Peter in Acts 2 told us Pentecost is a fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy. Remember there was darkness for about 3 hours on the day Jesus Christ was crucified. This was not an eclipse. There was a full moon that night because of the Passover. The moon would be on the other side of the earth. This was a supernatural darkness because judgment was taking place upon our LORD Jesus Christ. The judgment of guilt, the penalty of death, was to be exacted upon Jesus. He was bearing the sin of the world and being judged for it. God’s wrath was being poured out upon Jesus for our sake. Now it is possible the moon looked like blood on the other side of the earth, but the New Testament witnesses would not have seen that.
There is coming another day of judgment by the LORD our God. It will be preceded like the darkness that covered Egypt and the darkness that covered the earth when Christ was crucified. It is foretold in Rev. 6:12, 8:12, and 16:10-11. These are not separate instances but three descriptions of the same thing from different parts of view. On this day of judgment, everyone who trusted in the LORD Jesus Christ will be saved. Those who rejected Jesus’ substitutionary punishment will receive exactly what they should based on what they did in the flesh up to that point. It will indeed be the great and terrible day of the LORD Jesus Christ for those who opposed His kingdom and rejected His gifts.
We have this promise, “everyone who calls on the LORD’s name will be saved.” Peter proclaims this in his Pentecost sermon. He then goes on to show that Jesus of Nazareth is that LORD, whom they crucified and killed. He is risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of God the Father. He is coming back in glory to judge the living and the dead. As those called by the LORD we will escape the judgment of Christ Jesus. He preserves those on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, which is His Bride, the Church. This is not to say we will not experience much of the tribulations of those end times. Indeed, as noted before, since Pentecost, we have been experiencing many of the signs of the end. But as those who have had the name of the LORD our God, placed on us in baptism, we shall not experience the spiritual tortues, plagues and judgments those who are not called will experience. We note this well in the plagues of Egypt where some affected everyone and some only affected the Egyptians who did not believe while the believing Israelites were preserved from them. We see it in Revelation where a number of times, those who bear the name of our LORD Jesus Christ do not experience a number of the plagues inflicted upon the world to bring them to repentance. We should not fear these spiritual plagues as we live repentant lives, calling upon the name of our LORD Jesus Christ.
Almighty God and Father, grant us continual repentance so we may escape the spiritual plagues and be preserved by Your grace on judgment day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.