God's judgment is never arbitrary, and it never appears, unannounced. Even as God is sovereign, and all judgment and power is in His hands; yet, He has chosen to enlist His faithful servants in the business of announcing and of executing heaven's judgments. So saith the Holy Ghost.
There is a familiar (to some) passage of Scripture which states: "Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear..." (Isaiah 59:1). But let that single verse be examined in its proper context (as follows), for what it has to say about judgment ~ and why it is often the case that God will not save and will not hear:
"Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled...; and, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; ...their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings.... Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us."In stark contrast to Isaiah's lamentation, above: wherein he revealed that no one was crying out to God for judgment and truth ~ and, thus, neither judgment nor salvation was forthcoming. Hear, instead, the following prayer of king Jehoshaphat (one of David's descendants) ~ who, together with the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, all humbled themselves and sought the LORD to deliver them from their enemies:
"Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children" (2 Chronicles 20:11-13).Now, hear the answer of God, to Jehoshaphat's prayer:
"Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. To morrow go ye down against them.... Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you" (vv 15-17).Let us consider, too, (one of) the prayers of David himself ~ which, in Scripture, many of David's prayers prefigure, or prophetically reveal the nature of, the mind of the pre-Incarnate Christ; as follows:
"Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?" (Psalm 35:1-10)God said, concerning David, that he was "a man after mine own heart" (Acts 13:22). Was David's prayer (above), then, displeasing to the Lord? In fact, just the opposite was/is true. Yet, today, I seriously doubt whether such prayers as David prayed are often heard in heaven ~ not, at least, from many American church-goers. But do not misunderstand me; I don't mean to suggest that God wants Christians to go around praying for the destruction of their own, personal enemies. (Such prayers almost always carnal.) Rather, I mean ~ because, the Bible means ~ that God's people ought to so "love righteousness, and hate iniquity," that we should plead with God for His judgments to be effectual in our own selves first of all. Then, we should intercede in prayer for the judgments of God to be effectual in an ever-wider circle ~ extending, in fact, to include the whole world.
Most Christians today (I suspect) spend their mental energies doing a lot of metaphysical handwringing, worrying and fretting about the world's or their own situations, instead of giving themselves to pray about those many needs. And how would I know that, except, that I myself am too often guilty of the same. Most of the time ~ I'm sure it is usually the case, we don't really get down to business with God in prayer, until that the enemy's legions are beating down our own little door. It reminds me of the story of the three little pigs....only one of whom had enough good sense to foresee the threat ~ and then take the necessary (though more costly and time-consuming) action to prepare himself against the potential danger confronting him.
Yet, we Christians act as if we have no real enemy, other than perhaps some ill-tempered mortal. Meanwhile, the real enemy of every Christian ~ that is to say, the supernatural demon powers ~ well, those made for some very dramatic stories in the Bible, long ago....
I'm preaching to myself, folks. Believe me. No one gets to write in truth about calling for judgment from God, and for the sake of His holiness ~ who does not himself have to stand in the burning light of that fire! Ouch! Ouch!! OUCH!!!
But how else are we going to be healed? How else shall that ~ ummmm!!! ~ MUCH NEEDED REVIVAL! come? Are we really ready for the Rapture? Come one, Church! I don't mean, Are we ready to get on the boat and get the heck out of here? What person in his or her right mind would want to remain any longer in a world gone stark-raving mad...and getting madder by the day? Of course, we're all "ready," in that sense. But I mean, Are we ready to be ushered ~ by angels ~ with high honor and well-deserved praise ~ into the gates of that Celestial City, above?
Yeah. I didn't think so. Else, if we were truly ready for the Rapture ~ I tell you, that America would feel the earth shake beneath her filthy feet!! Things would be different, much different, than they are now.
Noah called for judgment; so says Scripture. He called for it every day, for well more than a hundred years. In fact, Noah was calling for judgment even before God spoke to him about building the Ark.
And (the Spirit of God says, within me) ~ Not in the world, only...nor even primarily, is judgment needful; but the judgment of God is most needful in the Church! When the Church of the living God will repent and be humbled before her God, then Revival will surely come: and with repentance and humility, cleansing; and with cleansing, faith; and with faith, healing; and with healing, joy; and with joy, strength (spiritual and physical); and with strength, power; and with power, fire from on high.
Who would dare lift up on high the sound of the shofar, with unclean lips?
America needs redemption; she needs righteous judgment.
Thank you brother for your, and the Holy Ghosts' Words.
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