Judgment Day Will Surely Eventually Happen

The Lord continually warned the people of Judah and Jerusalem through the Prophet Jeremiah of the horrifying judgment which would come upon them for practically forsaking Him like they had done. Jeremiah prophesied for 40 years before that judgment occurred. There is even an instance recorded in Jeremiah chapter 26 where Jeremiah was nearly killed by a mob in the Temple for saying that the Temple would be destroyed and Jerusalem would become desolate. That was in the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim which was about 23 years before the judgment Jeremiah warned about happened.

The Prophet Ezekiel lived at the same time as Jeremiah. There were certain Jews who had already been sent captive to Babylon before the city as a whole and the Temple were destroyed. Ezekiel was among those of the earlier, smaller captivity. Ezekiel spoke to his fellow captives of the imminent, severe calamity yet coming upon Jerusalem and upon the Temple (the people hoped that Jerusalem would be saved from the Babylonians and that they would be able to go back to their native land soon). In Ezekiel 12:17-28 it was basically said that severe calamity would not be put off anymore in spite of the Jews saying that his vision thereof was concerning the distant future. It still took a few years from that point before the calamity happened. God had never stopped watching nor did He forget.

After there had been significant repentance and a significant degree of faithfulness among the Jews preceding and proceeding their return from their long exile in Babylon, they quickly reverted to their old ways. The Old Testament closes with a warning in Malachi chapter 4 that the Babylonian captivity was not the end of God’s wrath upon the Jews. He demands the fruit of righteousness and doesn’t accept counterfeits. Jesus warned of the coming judgment upon the Jewish nation as well in places such as Luke 19:41-44 and Luke 21:20-24. The Second Temple was indeed also destroyed by the Romans in AD 70- 40 years after the warnings which were just cited.

Don’t think that a delay in the judgment is a negation of the judgment. Judgment Day will also eventually happen according to the terms of the Almighty God who has wrought the previously mentioned judgments.

2 Peter 3:7-10: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store (my note- by the authority of the One who sent the flood in Noah’s time simply by calling for it), reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition (eternal damnation) of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward (toward us), not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”