Judgment and Truth

"The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace... And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" (Isa. 59:8,14-19). It's really sad, but in the quest for 'peace' among men, those who have the ability to do something for that cause, are actually doing what they are doing, and failing to do what they should, ignorantly AGAINST peace. All we see in the world today at the top levels, is compromise, lies, and at best the failure to speak straightly about what is. And in reality the failure to speak straightly about what is, is actually compromise itself. Nobody knows how to judge evil, and no one is willing to do so. God's mind on judgment among men is simple, and he made it clear in his law: "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked" (Deut. 25:1).

Man has gone so far in the opposite direction of God's mind and Spirit, that he has fulfilled just the opposite, even as our text passage states. God made it clear exactly how he feels about that as well: "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 17:15). As our text passage also states, because those in power refuse to judge the evil among men, and refuse to justify the righteous and condemn the wicked; God himself will take matters into his own hands, and he will judge these things himself. Our text was written some 2700 years ago, but it doesn't matter because God never changes and neither does the way he feels or what he does about what he feels. With that in mind, and considering the abject failure of those who are in power today to judge righteously in matters that are in their jurisdiction to judge; allow me to copy again part of the above passage: "For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence." I hope you feel the godly fear in those words, because if you do not you may be ignorantly on the wrong side of things right now. Let me say what I've already said again, and think about this very soberly if you will. What we have read in the text from Isaiah is that those who were responsible to do something about judging the evil in their realm of authority, were not doing so. Instead they were "making a prey" of those who were following after righteousness and truth. Okay, what we see after that is that God was seriously displeased with that dilemma, and that he was going to take action himself to judge both the wicked, and those who could have judged the wicked but refused to do so. I also see in God's message through Isaiah words like 'vengeance,' 'zeal,' 'fury,' and 'recompense.' If you don't find that fearful then I don't know quite what to say for you.

With all the "crooked paths" that men have forged today by means of their lies, compromises, and indirect speech, God is greatly displeased; and he is about to do something about these things. Men think that because they comfortably "condemn the just," and "justify the wicked;" that things will just continue to go their way while they build their little ice castles. They are wrong. The "enemy has come in like a flood," and we are about to see "the Spirit of the Lord raise up a standard against him." If that isn't the case then God is no longer God, and he is God; so it is the case. The saddest part of it all is that it's all so needless. God said in Jeremiah, "For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men" (Lam. 3:33). God is longsuffering, but he is also just and true in his judgment. He has waited and waited to see judgment and justice among men, while man has continued to wax more and more perverse against the same. So being just himself he would have to deny himself in order to continue to bear with it all. He will not, even as it is written: "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself" (II Tim. 2:13). So we may as well buckle up and hold on tight [to Jesus], because it's apparent that there's a rough ride ahead. Nonetheless, God being just as he is, does not judge the righteous with the wicked (Gen. 18:25). So though a rough ride may be ahead, those who love Jesus, and know how to rely heavily on him, need to remember some other scriptures as well: "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh" (Prov. 3:25). Here is another powerful passage to keep in mind, and I feel it will prove very relevant in the time to come: "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee" (Psm. 91:5-7). Those are powerfully reassuring words, but we must be certain that we are following the admonition of the beloved apostle, who told us, "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:3). Amen, for now.