GOD PRONOUNCES JUDGMENT- Part 2

God pronounces judgment – Part 2. Here, we will continue to see related themes of God’s judgment against the wicked and those who rebel against God and disobeyed Him through His servants the prophets

JUDGMENT AS A THEME OF ISAIAH

God will always repay the evil and wicked things that we do against Him and against fellow brethren (Isa. 65:6). “Behold it is written before Me: I will not keep silence, but will repay- even repay into their bosom- your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,” Says the Lord, “Who have burned incense on the mountains and blasphemed Me on the hills; Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.” Because of the sins of His people, God is coming in judgment.  A “day of the Lord” awaits those who rebel; a time of sorrow is coming. God will use other nations as a tool of judgment, but He will also judge those same nations for their sin and wickedness because sin results in the inescapable judgment of God.

JERUSALEM’S LAST WARNING

This was prophet Jeremiah’s warning against the rebellious Judah and Jerusalem (Jer. 6:19), “Hear, O earth! Behold I will certainly bring calamity on this people- The fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it.”  Jeremiah’s main message to sinful was one of judgment and doom. A nation would come from the north to destroy completely the land and its people. This would result in a time of famine, mass death, the destruction of Jerusalem and seventy years of exile in Babylon. God’s anger against His people was so intense that He even instructed Jeremiah not to pray for them. But judgment did not come only to Judah, but to all the nations, such as Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom and Babylon. God cannot and will not leave sin unpunished; a day is coming in which we too will have to give an account to the Lord of what we have done. Beloved brethren, we therefore, MUST be careful on our walk with God.

GOD PRONOUNCED JUDGMENT AGAINST ISRAEL

The judgment against Israel and other nations by prophet Ezekiel (Eze. 24:21), “Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God: Behold I will profane My sanctuary, your arrogant boast, the desire of your eyes, the delight of your soul; and your sons and daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.” Sin and idolatry inevitably lead to judgment. What Jeremiah prophesied to the people in Judah, Ezekiel prophesied to the Exiles in Babylon; Jerusalem would fall, the temple would be desecrated, and the remaining people would either be destroyed or carried into exile. He reserved his harshest words for the leaders of the people. Ezekiel knew this judgment was imminent, and in (Eek. 33:30-33), “As for you son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come to hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. And when this comes to pass- surely it will come- then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”  Ezekiel received the news that all that he prophesied had indeed occurred. But he also had words of judgment against the nations of Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon and Egypt, and received a vision of God’s final judgment against Gog and Magog. God reigns supreme as King of kings and Lord of lords; all that happens is in His all-powerful, all-loving hands.

ASSYRIA AS GOD’S AGENT TO PUNISH THE REBELLIOUS ISRELITES

“Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and your judgments are like light that goes forth” (Hosea 6:5). Because of Israel’s spiritual adultery, Hosea prophesies the impending judgment on the northern kingdom through the militant attacks of Assyria. Shortly after the close of this book of Hosea, Assyria did destroy Samaria and carried the Israelites away into foreign countries. As we learn many of the prophets, God takes sin seriously and will not allow it to go unpunished my beloved brethren.

A SO CALLED SOCIAL JUSTICE

“The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of hosts says: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it” (Amos 6:8).As a result of Israel’s sins, Amos pronounced stern judgment from the Lord. He reminded them that their God was Lord over all creation and over all the nations. God would indeed judge the heathen nations for their cruelties, but Israel, who knew better, deserved harsher punishment. Judgments were already beginning- with crop failure, sickness and death; hostile invaders would soon be arriving to destroy the land and carry the people away. The most devastating judgment would be the Lord’s silence at the appeals for help (Amos 8:11), “Behold the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”  The day of the Lord would become a day of devastation and a time of wailing, not a day of salvation. Amos’s warning applies to any people who participate in sins of social injustice. While Hosea was prophesying against idolatry in Israel, Amos was prophesying against their social sins and crying out for social justice. The rich, busking in luxury, had gained their wealth by oppression of the poor, dishonest business practices, and bribery and injustice in the courts. What angered the prophet even more was the hypocrisy evident in doing all the “right” religious things. Amos condemns all who make themselves rich at the expense of others, especially when the exploiters claim to be God’s people (Amos 5:24), “But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

GOD PRONOUNCES JUDGMENT AGAINST EDOM

“The house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; but the house of Esau shall be stubble; they shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau.” For the Lord has spoken. The South shall possess the mountains of Esau, and the lowland shall possess Philistia. They shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria” (Obad. 18-19). Obadiah prophesies judgment against the people of Edom, who were the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob (Israel).  God would destroy them because of their violence against Israel, their delight over the destruction of Jerusalem, and their involvement in plundering the city (v. 2-8), “Behold I will make you small among the nations; you shall be greatly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, “who will bring me down to the ground?” Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. “If thieves had come to you, if robbers by night- Oh, how you will be cut off!-Would they not have stolen till they had enough? If grape-gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some gleanings?  Oh, how Esau would be searched out! How hidden treasures shall be sought after! All the men in your confederacy shall force you to the border; the men at peace with you shall deceive you and prevail against you. Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you, no one is aware of it. “Will I not in that day,” says the Lord, “Even destroy the wise men from Edom, and understanding from the mountains of Esau? He continues (v.15-16), “For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; as you have done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head. For as you drunk in My holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually, yes, they shall drink, and swallow and they shall be as though they had never been (Oba.15-16).  The “last laugh” belongs to God’s people, for God would restore them when He once again revealed His reign on Mount Zion. This book reminds us how much God wants brotherly love, not only between blood brothers but among all peoples, for we are all offspring of God.

GRIEF OVER SAMARIA AND JERUSALEM

Micah predicted the fall of Samaria (Micah 1:6),”Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, Places for planting vineyard; I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will uncover her foundations.” His primary concern however, was the growing wickedness in the southern kingdom of Judah priors to Hezekiah’s reforms. His message combined judgment for sin and hope for the future. Micah sees the Lord of all the earth coming in judgment, against both Samaria (Israel) and especially Jerusalem (Judah). Micah reviewed the sins that were leading to judgment; idolatry, greed, selfishness, exploitation of the people, religious hypocrisy and forgetting God’s great love for them in the past. But Micah’s message of judgment was accompanied by his call at a lifestyle of justice, mercy and walking humbly with God- a lifestyle that God wants us to adopt as well.

THE PROPHETIC JUDGMENT AGAINST NINEVEH

“It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her? Where shall I seek comforters for you?” (Nahum 3:7). Nahum utters a series of prophetic oracles of judgment against one of the greatest yet cruelest cities of the ancient world, Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Though Assyria had held power for centuries, God in his righteous anger was finally about to judge her with total annihilation because of her sins. Nahum acknowledged Israel’s God to be judge of the nations and Lord of history; this we confess yet today.

THE POPHECY OF GLOOM AND DOOM

Zephaniah, a descendant of King Hezekiah, saw the judgment of God, the day of the Lord, coming because of the sins of the nation of Judah. But he also made it clear that God would show mercy towards His people, thus ending on a note of hope (Zeph. 1:4), “I will stretch out My hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, the names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests.” Zephaniah prophesied the judgment of God against Judah and Jerusalem, especially the rulers, prophets and priest, for idolatry and complacency. More than any other prophet he spoke of the coming “day of the Lord,” and included the surrounding nations in his warnings. The coming judgment would be universal; that means, we will not escape it either.

MY PARTING SHORT

“Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous Oh Lord, The one who is and who was and who is to be, because You have judged these things” (Rev. 16:5).Christ as King will carry out judgment on the enemies of God. Some judgments take place within history, in order to move humanity to repentance; others take pace in eternity. The angel with eternal gospel announces judgment, the “Son of Man” presides over it, and the angel with their sickles and with bowls of God’s wrath carry it out on Babylon, the great prostitute, the beast and the false prophet, and Satan himself. Every human being will someday appear before the throne of judgment, and anyone whose name is not found in the Book of Life will be thrown into the eternal lake of fire. Such a message of judgment reminds us of our urgent need to confess whatever it is that separates us from God and, having experienced his love and acceptance, to commit ourselves to live for Him.

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”