Can we keep God’s judgment from America?

I just finished reading The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn http://www.theharbinger-jonathancahn.com/

It is a fascinating read and truly a wake up call for America. The book ties 9/11 into God’s judgment on the nation of Israel back when the Assyrians destroyed it. The author shows that 9/11 was a warning that America, a nation dedicated to God in its beginning, is now under judgment if we don’t turn back to Him. There is hope however – at least to delay judgment:

2 Chronicles 7:14 ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

The author says that God desires redemption much more then judgment. Judgment is out of necessity. So WAKE UP, America!

Read the book. Hopefully it will change your life!

Judgment Mark 13:24-27

Mark 13:24-27 ²⁴ “But in those days, following that distress, “‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light; ²⁵ the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

²⁶ “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

Christ is not just coming back. He’s coming back for His elect! And we need to be ready!

The darkness in this passage is judgment. Christ will condemn the rebels after the tribulation. And He will come with the power to make everything right. The sun, moon and stars darken in the face of the true light of the world. In the final Heaven there will be no day or night; Christ will be the light, and this event nods to that.

Another time it was dark all over the earth was when Jesus died on the cross. At that time condemnation for sin was coming from God onto His Son! Jesus was paying the penalty for our sins, which we couldn’t pay. One day Christ will come back in judgment and the lights will go out again.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. ⁶ God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷ and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. ⁸ He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might ¹⁰ on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

This passage tells five things about the judgment that will come against those who rebel.

1. God will repay with affliction those who afflicted us. (God doesn’t appreciate those who pick on His kids!) God doesn’t judge because he’s harsh, but because He cares. He cares about the indifference toward a suffering neighbor, about people who don’t hear the Gospel.
2. God will come with His mighty angels. They will be mighty, strong and flaming with fire.
3. God will deal out retribution to those who don’t know Him. God knows us! We should know Him! If we reject His offering, His love, His gift…we will face retribution.
4. Retribution against those who do not know the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. The Gospel is a command for us to repent and believe. The gift has expectations. Jesus has done everything necessary for us to be saved. We then need to turn from sins and trust in His provision alone! These warnings are a kindness to us. They are full of mercy and grace.
5. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction. People sometimes don’t want to turn to Christ right now because there’s a price to pay: dying to self, turning from sin, but the price is infinitely higher if we don’t turn to Him and all of a sudden it’s too late. A lot of people don’t believe in condemnation because they don’t think they are guilty. But we are. We all are! Everyone is going to see His return! For some it will be for the condemnation, for others for the deliverance. He will send out His angels to gather His believers together.

Romans 8:18-23 ¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

There are five promises of comfort in this passage:

1.      Glory will eclipse suffering.

2.      We’re all living in futile times. That’s why bad stuff keeps happening. Expect suffering – don’t be surprised. Because we live in a fallen world!

3.      Freedom is coming! Today is hard and difficult, but persevere! It’s not far away.

4.      Creation is suffering now too. That will also change. And our bodies will be redeemed and we will be adopted as sons and daughters.

5.      We have our hope and that hope allows us to persevere.

The first time Christ came, it was private. He was born in a stable. In His ministry He was misunderstood. The next time He comes everyone will see it happen and everything will be very clear! We need to be prepared!

2nd Thessalonians – Part 2

2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

11With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This section talks about God’s righteous judgment. Paul says that the believers were being prepared through their suffering for membership in the coming kingdom. He also leads us to believe we may never see justice in our lifetime, but we will when Christ returns. The reward for Christians will be eternal fellowship with the Lord and the punishment for the unbelievers will be eternal destruction, which is the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

Most Jews believed that problems were the result of some sin or lack of faith and occasionally they can be. And sometimes they are just a consequence of living in a fallen world. But Paul teaches us that they also may be part of God’s plan for believers. Our problems may help us look to God. Or at least beyond ourselves.

Philippians 3:13-14 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

They can build strong character.

Romans 5:3-4 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.

They can provide us with opportunities to comfort others who are also struggling.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

Our troubles may also be an indication that we are taking a stand for Christ.

I’m afraid that some people may hear this, see all the trouble so many people have and say, “It’s not worth it.” Or “I think I’ll just wait till I’m old to get saved.” But Paul tells us in all his letters it will be worth it! And in fact it already is because we are storing up treasures in heaven with our attitudes and actions and our faithfulness and obedience. He also says that someday can be too late. Christ will return unexpectedly and even if it’s not in our life time, who knows when our last day on earth will be?

In verse 11 it says our calling is to become like Christ, whatever it takes. When I think of His outstanding traits I always think of His compassion and humility. It’s hard to become compassionate or humble without going through some kind of trial. I also think of His strength and courage; there’s a saying, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”. Again – every time we come through a trial with the right attitude we are stronger people.

Noah's Ark - Part 1

The flood was the greatest catastrophe ever experienced by the earth and descendents of Adam since God created the world. The Bible gives the story more space then either creation or the fall of man. It marks the end of the old world and the beginning of the new. And the new earth was most likely a shadow of its former glory.

The flood was God’s judgment on a world that had rejected Him.

At the time there was only one man who worshipped God and took a stand against the evil and wickedness of his day. His example shows the power of one – because if he hadn’t done what he did, the entire human race would have been eradicated by the flood. This man was Noah.

(Genesis 6:1-10)

Man’s evilness seemed to have reached the point of no return, “the earth was filled with violence”, “all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.”

Doesn’t sound much different from us today! What was the world’s wickedness that was pushing the patience of God to the limit?

First, it may have been a dilution of God’s principals.

Some scholars think the “sons of God” mentioned here were the sons of Seth, the remnant who had placed their faith in God and were now marrying the “daughters of men” – or the daughters of Cain.

We are told, when we marry, to be equally yoked. Believers shouldn’t marry unbelievers. The Israelites were told not to marry pagans. This was because God knew the strong influence the ungodly have – that faith gets diluted in the next generation. That compromise would have to be made to preserve the marriage. And compromises would inevitably lead to the neglect of God’s Word.

What other wickedness was pushing God’s limit? Well, Jesus talked about the flood in Matthew and said the root of wickedness in Noah’s day was indifference to God.

(Matthew 24:38-39) “ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Nothing was really wrong with any of these activities Jesus described…except apparently God was left out of them. We can apply this to our lives by asking what we are leaving God out of: our discussions - our business – our home – our marriage – our plans and activities? And then make sure God isn’t neglected by our family. As Christians, our families should be in church every Sunday, there should be family prayer and Bible reading. We should be instructing our children and grandchildren on God’s principles and the world should see something different in us. Something good!

There’s another thought about the wickedness of Noah’s day and that’s a form of demon possession. Some Bible scholars think the Sons of God mentioned here were actually fallen angels (demons). Maybe/maybe not. But, if you remember the story of Jesus calling a demon to come out of a man and the demon said its name was legion because there were so many and it begged Jesus not to kill them and He sent it into a herd of pigs, who then jumped off a cliff – totally getting rid of them seemed to be the only way to deal with them – which does fit in with the story of the flood.

But, whether this was the reason or not, even in today’s world we need to be aware of demonic activity. Many Christian writers and preachers have pointed out that; “slasher movies, pornography and heavy metal music are all designed to arouse the human emotions to violence and destruction. We should also stay away from: witchcraft, channeling, satanic cults, tarot cards, oujia boards, séances and even horoscopes. A few of these things may sound harmless, like horoscopes – we all know what sign we are, but Satan is subtle and an expert at sucking people in– all he needs is a tiny crack. And the Bible prophesies that demonic activity will increase in the days preceding God’s final judgment on the earth.

We’re not to be afraid though because we’re told that the one in us is stronger then the one in the world. And besides, we’ve read the end of the book – we know how it’s all going to turn out. But, we do need to be aware and on guard.

Where the passage said that, “every inclination and the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Can you picture a world like that?

A world of no goodness or kindness?
No humbleness? No thoughtfulness?
Road rage all the time? School shootings? Abortions as common as getting your teeth cleaned? Lawsuits all over the place?

Maybe we can imagine it…

It’s possible that God’s final judgment is nearer then the world thinks. We as Christians need to study Noah’s story and follow his example to be prepared, obedient and to warn our generation that God will not be mocked. And we can choose right now to live as if the message of God is of no importance – or as if it is the most important thing in the world!

Well, the world back then may have been ignoring God, but it had His undivided attention! God saw their sin. He saw it all and it grieved Him. Grieve is a love word. This is like saying it broke His heart. And since He never changes we can assume that our sin grieves Him too.

The time was ripe for judgment. God will only put up with so much. Through the flood God would exterminate a corrupt race. This was justice. But, God also showed His grace because He would preserve the race through the seed of the righteous Noah. And if anyone had listened to Noah they would have been saved too.

God gave them 120 years to change their ways. That’s how long it took for Noah to build the ark. So far God has given us about 2000 years.

He’s very patient.

But, don’t mix up patience with tolerance. Keep in mind in Noah’s day – time did run out. There will come a time of no more bargaining for more time for us too. And even if our world doesn’t end in our lifetime, when we die we will still face judgment. Hebrews tells us it is appointed that each will die one death and after that judgment.

So whether Christ comes back tonight or we personally die in 40, 50 60 years – we need to be ready. God warned the world back then and He warns us today.

In Old Testament times He would sometimes warn them through natural or national disasters; plagues, invading armies…

Some people think that’s happening today with events like 911…maybe…..

He does for sure though warn us through our conscience and through Godly people, who take a bold stand for Him. Who will say, “Judgment is coming – listen and repent.”

You know, one of the ways Noah may have pleased God was that he listened! He apparently was the only one back then listening to God. Noah was right with God when everyone else was wrong.

That must have been hard, when you stop and think about it, no one would understand you, they probably wouldn’t want to be around you because you made them look bad. You made that little neglected and ignored conscience flare up.

But, Noah got his strength from listening to God. From walking with God. Since he may not have had anyone else to really talk to, he probably talked to God about everything. And this is part of his example to us too.

Instead of working so hard to get in step with a world that is out of step with God, we need to just walk with God. Spend time with Him. There’s loneliness in the human spirit that only God can satisfy. He made us that way! So we’d come looking for Him.

Do you ever feel like no one really understands you?

They don’t!

But, God does. He knows everything about you. He “gets” you when no one else does. There’s a Christian song I like where one of the lines is “God sees your heart when the world just sees you crying.” He knows why we act the way we do. What happened to us that morning or 20 years ago that makes us react to something the way we do…He gets us….

It pleases God to have us walk with Him, just as it says Noah pleased God. Why do we care what this world thinks as long as we know God is pleased?

The more time we spend with God, the more He will reveal our work to us; how He wants us to be involved in bringing people to Him.

And so, while Noah and God were walking together, God told Noah what He was going to do and what He wanted Noah to do. God doesn’t want us to be just listeners of the Word, but doers.