Judgment is Coming! (2)
The certainty of God's judgment!
Judgment may be delayed but never dismissed!
The Holy Spirit tells us through Paul, about some wayward ministers of the gospel thus:
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. (Philippians 3:18-19, NKJV)
The certainty of the destruction of these wayward preachers is not in contention, but we are not told when that would happen. The delay in their judgment is to allow them to repent, but would they? In 2 Peter, the Holy Spirit tells us that:
there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. (2 Peter 2:1-3, NKJV)
The Holy Spirit thus confirms that God’s judgment will be executed on all who walk contrary to God in the church. We should not be overly concerned that the judgment of certain people is slow in coming; it will certainly be carried out in no too distant future. Our concern should be that those condemned individuals do not mislead the gullible who think they can continue to do evil because the judgment on the condemned is being delayed!
Judgment will begin in the house of God!
Through Ezekiel, we see how God executed judgment on the nation of Judah.
Then He [that is, God][1] called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, "Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand." And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer's inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's inkhorn at his side; and the LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it." [God was talking about people who were interceding and mourning for the iniquity that was rife in the city.][2] To the others He said in my hearing, "Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the temple. Then He said to them, "Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!" And they went out and killed in the city. So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?" Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!' And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head." Just then, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn at his side, reported back and said, "I have done as You commanded me." (Ezekiel 9:1-11, NKJV)
Some crucial take-aways from Ezekiel's revelation of God's judgment on Judah, relevant for us today are:
1. There are principalities—angels of God—who are charged with every city on earth. They know what goes on in there and await God's instruction.
2. When called upon by God, these principalities stood by the bronze altar at the temple entrance. By this, we know that these principalities are at the entering in of the house of God, which could be every church gathering in every city or indeed every Christian (1 Corinthians 6:19)!
3. Ezekiel noted that the glory of God lifted from the cherub, signifying the commencement of judgment. It is the glory of God that protects and preserves the church. If it lifts, judgment will follow. Most times, we are oblivious of the lifting of the glory of God, but when we see the absence of the fear of God and impunity in the church, we should know that the glory of God has lifted, and judgment is imminent!
For instance, when the ark of God was 'captured' by the Philistines, it was a sign to Eli's daughter-in-law that it was "Ichabod"—the glory of God had departed (1 Samuel 4:18-21)! It was a sign of God's judgment—Eli's two sons, along with Eli and the wife of one of his sons, all died on the same day! Thus, Israel was without God's presence.
Below is the account of what happens when God is absent from a nation, community, church, or an individual's life:
in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity. (2 Chronicles 15:5-6, NKJV)
When we see upheavals, destruction, and turmoil in the church and in an individual's life, we can tell that the glory of God has departed, and judgment will follow! Ephesians 2:12 tells us that a person without Christ is without hope in this world. Without God in our lives, we come under His judgment!
4. Before judgment begins, those who lived for God and interceded for others are sealed and spared from God’s judgment. If anyone is not marked, they will not be spared. We would, therefore, do well to live righteously and daily intercede for God's mercy for others.
5. “Anyone not marked” means everyone else (young or old, male, female, or unspecified—as we now have in some cultures) will not be spared! Hear God's word:
"Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity."
6. God specifically told the principalities to begin in the house of God. And when they commenced, they started with the elders! When judgment begins, it will begin at the church, and it will start with church leaders—pastors, bishops, and overseers!
Ezekiel interceded, but God was not dissuaded. God said, "No, their iniquity is much. They say that I do not see, so right now, I am shutting my eyes so that I will not see the judgment that has come upon them. They have been doing wrong for a long time, and now they are no longer getting away with it."
The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand: That I will break the Assyrian in My land, And on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, And his burden removed from their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, And who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, And who will turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:24-27, NKJV)
The above Scripture passage tells us that what God has decided to do cannot be annulled by anyone! No one can pull back God's hand when it is stretched out in judgment. As God has decreed, so shall it be!
7. In no time, the angel who went to mark the foreheads of those to be spared returned. It simply means that there were few righteous people in that city. You will recall that God assured Abraham that if He found ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, He would spare the cities. And we are talking of two city-states and their outlying towns and villages! Only Lot was found righteous—imagine the population and only one righteous person?
In 1 Timothy 5:24, the Bible tells us that some people's sins are evident for all to see; hence, their judgment will not be a surprise. But there are those whose sins are hidden—these are the hypocrites—though shocking, yet their judgment will certainly come. Today, many people are mouthing “Jesus”, but God knows those who truly shun unrighteousness (2 Timothy 2:19). Like the saying goes: “There will be surprises in heaven!” and might I add “… and also in hell!”
8. Ezekiel's intercession reminds one of how Abraham stood with God in intercession, as the angels went into Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy it. Although Abraham continued to intercede, it did not stop God's judgment. We must come to terms with the fact that when God has made up his mind to execute judgment, no amount of pleading will alter it! He will save the few righteous ones, but no amount of begging is going to change His decision to destroy those earmarked for destruction. Although God did not stop the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, He nonetheless hearkened to Abraham and saved Lot and his family!
In Ezekiel 14:12-23, God said to Ezekiel that when He is determined to execute judgment on a community, city, or country, even if the world's intercessors were present, they alone would be rescued, and no other! This is very sobering, particularly for those who pride themselves on the intercessory capabilities of their spouses, pastors, or even parents, thinking that it would bring them salvation from God's judgment! Beloved, God's judgment is an everyone-for-himself affair! Let us, therefore, walk righteously and be mindful when we hear that God's judgment is coming.
9. Finally, let us note God's command to the principalities and how they carried out that command:
"… and begin at My sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the temple. (Ezekiel 9:6, NKJV)
The Holy Spirit through Peter warns us that:
the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Peter 4:17-18, NKJV)
God's judgment begins in the house of God and with the hierarchy thereat!
God's judgment is coming!
God's judgment is coming, and it shall begin from the top—the hypocritical leaders in the church and the church as a whole! Indeed, if you are spiritually discerning, you would know that God's judgment has already begun, though in trickles now. Why the trickles? He is giving many people one last opportunity to repent before the avalanche.
But why is God so adamant on the matter of judgment? We shall discuss this in the next instalment.
footnotes:
[1] Writers’ clarification of who “He” refers to
[2] Writer’s explanation of “sigh and cry.”