Judgment and Discernment

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:1-9). All I can say about this powerful passage of scripture, is wow, wow, and WOW! It's evident that the first few verses here are talking about Jesus, who is also known as "the son of David," which David was the son of Jesse. We see here some of the blessed divine virtues of the Son of God outlined, and surely these are some very glorious traits indeed. I love the part about him being of "quick understanding," because this is speaking of the living, powerful spirit of divine revelation, which alone is true and actual knowledge and understanding. Jesus, by his death and resurrection, and his heavenly priesthood; has made this same kind of 'quick understanding available to those who believe on him, even as the scriptures tell us: "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him" (I Jn. 2:27).

Also outstanding is the fact that Jesus did not "judge after the sight of his eyes, [or] reprove after the hearing of his ears." He also instructed us to do likewise: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (Jn. 7:24). To "judge according to the appearance" would surely include judging a matter according to hearsay. It should be noted that Jesus did NOT say to not judge at all, but rather to "judge righteous judgment." The only way to judge righteous judgment would be to judge the way Jesus judged, that being according to "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." That is to say that we must be able to "hear what the Spirit is saying" to us in order to render righteous judgment on a matter (Rev. 2:7). Next in our passage we are told the manner in which Jesus will judge and rule the earth when he returns from heaven to set up his kingdom here. He will most assuredly not respect the persons of men, but rather he will take up the cause of the poor and the downtrodden, and will see to their needs with justice like no one before him. This part of the passage also is very clearly referring to the manner of his coming back from heaven, when he will certainly destroy the wicked who have totally refused his mercy. We are told of these things in like manner throughout the Bible, such as this passage from Revelation: "And the armies which were in heaven followed [Christ] upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God... And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh" (Rev. 19:14,15,19-21).

The remainder of this beautiful passage from Isaiah speaks of the wondrous peace that will cover the earth for a thousand years, while Christ and his saints rule the world according to the law of God. There will be no war, no crime, and no hurt, not even with the type of animals which are now very predatory, fierce and deadly. Micah wrote of these same things, saying specifically; "And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Mic. 4:3). Much of the reason for this great peace is shown clearly to us also in the book of Revelation: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season" (Rev. 20:1-3). The devil and his angels being shut up in the pit will relieve the world of so much of the instigation of evil that now besets the earth. The other major reason for the great splendor of peace that will be enjoyed in the earth during the reign of Christ and his saints, is that there will be one King who will govern the whole world by means of his immortalized, completely righteous saints; and God's perfect laws will be strictly enforced worldwide without fail. Cruelty, injustice and crime will simply have no space to operate during the reign of Christ. Jesus gave the promise of sharing that reign to those who will be faithful to him in their lifetimes here: "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father" (Rev. 2:26,27). He repeated the same promise shortly thereafter: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" (Rev. 3:21). So like I said, wow, wow, and WOW! Jesus has given us a lot to look forward to. God bless.

@[100000447953012:2048:Lary Hale]