Israel and Judgment

"And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel" (Num. 25:1-13). This powerful and sobering passage of scripture honestly does not need any interpretation. In fact there IS no interpretation. It is exactly what it appears to be. The problem with a lot of folks today is that they really believe that God has changed, and that he no longer judges sin in this way. He does and he will. The scriptures plainly tell us that God never changes (Mal. 4:6; Heb. 13:8; Jas. 1:17). God's people do not understand or believe his righteous judgment and wrath against defiant, arrogant sin which is not repented of. This problem has bedeviled God's people as long as the world has been here. I have to wonder how many people in the camp of Israel felt the way God felt about the righteous judgment that was carried out by Phinehas that day against the defiant wickedness being perpetrated in his presence.

The people of Malachi's day didn't believe God's judgment was against them, and God was not pleased about it: "Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?" (Mal. 2:17). Indeed, "Where is the God of judgment?" Truth is he is exactly where he's always been, and just in case you fail to see it, he still judges the affairs of men. Just because we may shut our eyes and stop our ears to oncoming judgment from God, that doesn't mean that it won't come; it just means it will take us unawares WHEN it comes. Jeremiah warned the people of his day of their blindness to impending judgment: "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord" (Jer. 8:7). Jeremiah continually warned of God's judgment that was headed for Jerusalem, but most of the people turned a deaf ear to it. Why? Because they were God's people and they thought that alone was their meal ticket. It wasn't. Because they refused to believe Jeremiah's report they were taken unawares and many were slaughtered just like God had said they would be (Jer. 16:3-7). I can tell you that judgment is on its way from heaven to the country I live in, as well as many nations upon the earth. The question is, Will we recognize it for what it is when it does come? God's people in Jeremiah's day did not, and they paid a very great price for their blind march to judgment. Jeremiah told them all to surrender to a heathen king that God was sending to judge them. That didn't go over to well with a people who were in effect betting the house against Jeremiah's warnings, because after all, they were God's people. We should learn from their disbelief like the apostle Paul said we should, and not repeat the same mistake (I Cor. 10:11). Judgment may come in a way that we think not, and we will only understand what it is if we know good from evil, and if we love good and hate evil. That really is the bottom line on recognizing the judgment of God against large scale, ongoing, stubborn sin. Amos was a mighty prophet of judgment, and this is how he warned the people to avoid being on the wrong end of God's wrath against wickedness: "Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph" (Amos 5:14,15).

God does not judge the righteous with the wicked, though the righteous may surely be effected in some way by the judgment of the wicked. For instance if God judges an entire nation for its continued wicked ways, the righteous in that nation will not be judged with the judgment of the wicked; but they will probably be effected in their lives in some way by that judgment simply because they are in the nation. The wicked never understand God's judgment because they are too proud to believe that they are worthy of it. Nonetheless judgment comes and God's purposes are done, regardless of who does or does not care to know why. The faithful always recognize the judgment of God against the wicked because they fear God and know that "his judgments are in all the earth" (Psm. 105:7). They are also confident that God will not bring the judgment of the wicked upon them, as Abraham said to God about his impending judgment on Sodom: "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25). If we "keep [our] hearts with all diligence" we can trust in God's mercy when judgment strikes: "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked" (Prov. 4:23; Psm. 91:7,8). And again; "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken" (Prov. 3:25,26). Make no mistake friend, judgment is on its way; and may we not make the mistake of God's people in Jeremiah's day, believing that we are righteous simply because we are God's people. If that were the case then we would not have the following admonition from the apostle Peter: "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (I Pet. 4:17). We are righteous only if we are staying filled with the righteousness of Jesus Christ that's in his Spirit, and showing forth clearly with our lives and our spirits that we are doing so: "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous" (I Jn. 3:6,7). That is the only way to recognize both that the judgment of God is coming, and how to avoid it when it does. May God be with us. Amen.