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“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace…” says the LORD Almighty.

You are walking along a beach on the northeastern corner of the Sea of Galilee. As you do, you come across a small set of ancient ruins not far from shore. The ruins have been around for a long time; they go back to around the days of King David. You wander through them to investigate. And it is there that you spot a well-preserved remnant from the past. It’s a common furnace. You can easily picture people in David’s time using it. They’d place fuel at the bottom and light it. The design of the furnace is such that it would channel oxygen straight into the flames. The result is that there would soon be a hot, intense blaze waiting to consume everything it receives.

Envision this furnace working at full capacity. Feel the waves of heat radiating from its core. Smell the smoke. Taste the soot. Peer inside to see the raging fire. All this came to mind for the Old Testament prophet Malachi when the Lord spoke of the final judgment of the world. All that is evil, all that is arrogant, all that is defiant before the perfect goodness of God—all this the Lord will consume on the day of judgment. As Malachi later recorded, “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”

On the other hand, this is a sobering thing. It reminds me that my every sinful failure, my every sinful thought, my every self-absorbed impulse is worthy of God’s righteous judgment, God’s consuming fire.

It also reminds me why God the Son came. He came to take my place. He came to be my substitute. He went to the cross to enter the furnace on my behalf. In doing so, he paid for my sins in full. Yours too.

All of which reminds us of one more thing. The evils of this broken world: horrors, abuse, injustice, hatred, atrocities, depravities, and lies—they do not have the last word. Jesus does. And eternal life in heaven awaits.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for absorbing the judgment on my behalf. In difficult moments, remind me that the evils of this world do not have the final say. You do. Amen.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.