Zephaniah 2:4-5 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. (5) Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
These are the opening verses of the judgments against the nations and people of the world. They continued to deny God, they railed against God, and they wanted nothing to do with God. Ultimately, God will give them their desire and they will spend eternity separated from Him. Look at the middle phrase of verse 5: the word of the LORD is against you. Consider what that means: the word of the LORD is against you. We know that the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), and we know from the Book of Revelation that Jesus Christ will speak and His enemies will fall down before Him. It was also the Word of God that spoke all of creation into being. It is by the Word of God that all things continue to exist today. It is the Word of God that says: John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
But the Word of God does not stop at verse 16: John 3:17-18 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. We cannot only focus telling about the Love of God without also declaring the Wrath of God. Both are real and everyone will fall under one or the other! Jesus Christ Himself spoke about the Wrath of God as well as the Love of God. It is the Word of God that will change people’s hearts. It is the Word of God that will transform lives to be more like Jesus Christ. The one thing we do not want to have happen is for the Word of God to be against us. But the Word of the Lord convicts us when we study it. The Word of the Lord shows us God’s Love and shows us why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be our Saviour. The Word of the Lord also shows us the Wrath of God and why judgment is coming. And the Word of Lord shows us how we can escape God’s Wrath through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Charles Spurgeon wrote: You will soon be dead, and you will pass into another world. You will come to the seat of judgment. You will want witnesses in your favour, and this book will be called to give its testimony. If the book could speak, it would say, “Great God, he never read me. I bear witness to his neglect of thee, for he never read me.” And many a text of Scripture would rise up in that last day and say, “I was preached to him. His mother quoted me to him. His sister wrote this in a letter. A friend sent him this verse and pleaded with him to take it to heart, but he heeded none of it.” If “the Word of the Lord is against you,” the law will say, “He knew me and he broke me.” The gospel will say, “He knew me and he refused me.” The Bible itself will say, “He understood something of me, but he ridiculed me.”
The Word of the Lord is used by the Holy Spirit to direct us. We cannot go by feelings when deciding to do something. Our heart will deceive us and sometimes we want to do something so badly that we do not wait upon God and we end up doing that thing badly. It is the Word of the Lord that is used to direct us because it speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. How often have we heard a missionary say that they read a particular Bible passage and that was when they knew where they were to go or what they were suppose to do? Personally, it was a passage from the Book of Ezra that told me to move back to New York State. It took a passage from Matthew that told us both to move back to New York State. How often has that happened in your life? If it does not happen, then maybe you are not waiting long enough on the Lord. Maybe the task is not suppose to be started at all. The Word of the Lord will speak to you, but let it talk, do not force it to talk – do not look for meaning that is not there.
A businessman had a framed photograph of the Leaning Tower of Pisa on his wall. For a long time he noticed that it persisted in hanging crooked despite the fact that he straightened it every morning. At last he asked the housekeeper if she was responsible for its lopsided position each morning that he came to his office. “Why, yes,” she said, “I have to hang it crooked to make the tower hang straight.” Does that sound strange? That is exactly how a lot of people read the Bible. Many people twist the Word of God in order to justify their own opinions or actions, or doctrine to make them all appear right. Let us not twist the Scriptures to suit our own fancy. Let us be sure to hang the picture right!
Please do not let the Word of the Lord be against you. Follow it and read it daily. I will close with this quote by Charles Spurgeon: Never be afraid of your Bibles. If there is a text of Scripture you dare not meet, humble yourself till you can. If your creed and Scripture do not agree, cut your creed to pieces, but make it agree with this book. If there be anything in the church to which you belong which is contrary to the inspired Word, leave that church. He that reads his Bible to find fault with it will soon discover that the Bible finds fault with him.