Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might, He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, And they will wither, And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
Isaiah 40:28, 23
People look at the World and what is happening around them and wonder, when is this World coming to an end? Can evil continue to flourish? When or what is the end of the age? Is it the end of the world as we know it or is it God’s judgement of evil? There is judgment on Earth, lies are exposed, justice is served in courts and the evil actions of men are condemned. The Bible tells us that judgment is more than decerning between good and bad, it is about separating what is evil from good and destroying that which destroys the good. This is never in the hands of humans. Our perception of what happens on Earth is never the same as the perception of the one who watches from above. Have you ever read the Bible and sometimes questioned God’s judgment?
I watched a documentary depiction of the life of Moses and at the end of the tenth plaque when God struck death upon the firstborn of all the Egyptians, the commentary that followed was of compassion and the silent question “Has God gone too far?”
This is not such an uncommon feeling amongst believers and non-believers. We desire justice and we hate evil, but when justice comes with finality, we are shocked. Death is shocking and evil is shocking especially when they are people we know and even love. How does the human mind reconcile this choice that only God can make?
The Lord said to Job:
“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?
Then adorn yourself with glory and splendour and clothe yourself in honour and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand.
Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave.
Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.
Excerpt Job 40
When we come to trust God, we have to trust His judgement, whether we understand it or not.
Abraham reasoned with God before Sodom was destroyed. He asked God, if there were at least ten people worth saving, would God really destroy the whole place?
When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake., even for the sake of ten…
Genesis 18
Why then did The Lord destroy the city of Sodom, why did he reveal his plans to Abraham when his mind was already made up? Abraham’s concern was not so much for the City, as it was for the people. “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city?” Abraham knew some people who lived in Sodom, he knew Lot and his family. But why would he cry out for mercy for a people that were so wicked that God would say “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me.” If the world were not that wicked, God would not have sent his only son to save the world, we would have listened to his servants and prophets, we would have learned from the ancient past, seen the errors of our ways, and questioned God as Job and Abraham did.
Lot and his family were saved from Sodom, but the city of Sodom and all that was in it was destroyed. God was merciful to Lot and his family, but even Lot was willing to compromise with a wicked nation. He was willing to give his virgin daughters to a mob who demanded sexual perversion with the angels or servant men sent by God to the city.
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
Genesis 19
Lot tried to do the right thing by protecting God’s angels, and offering them his daughters as a compromise, but you cannot compromise with an evil heart. Using the example of Sodom, it is like saying to the “gay men” in Sodom if you would just sleep with a virgin woman, you may change your heart. Their answer to Lot was this,
“Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.”
We are no different from Lot or Abraham, we would like everyone to be saved and hope remains that there is a seed of love in everyone, but “God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.” We don’t always see the wicked intentions of people and how no amount of compromise will change that. We cannot change the hearts of the wicked, only Jesus who gives us his Spirit of Truth can.
Whoever has ears let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
excerpt from Revelations 2, 3
Just like God has said to Abraham, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do in Sodom.” So, God has not hidden from us what he will do at the end of the age. There will be a separation of wheat from the chaff. Righteous from the unrighteous. Evil must be destroyed, it’s not a fair compromise. Weeds will grow up to eventually “put pressure on the wheat.” God is a righteous and loving judge, he knows when is the right time to harvest and he knows the hearts of all men.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Matthew 25:31
If we want to know who is the righteous? We must ask The Lord to answer that question, not people. In the parable of the Sower (see Matthew 13) Jesus explains,
“The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Matthew 13:38
We can’t accept that evil must exist forever without hope of complete salvation from it. As much as people who believe in reincarnation would like to believe that evil people or good people come back better without having learned a lesson, the fact is for change to happen there must be understanding so that one can truly repent. If we understood what God was trying to teach us, we would accept his teaching and change would naturally follow. Jesus said, ‘we must be born again’, we cannot remain unchanged. The old has passed, a new is needed.
God has also promised us a New Heaven and a New Earth, where there are ‘no weeds’, no evil or evil seed remaining, no tears, no struggles, no pain. This World is not our promised land for evil and destruction, pain and death are still here. Evil is still trying to force its way into the kingdom, but like Lot, God will strike them with blindness and lead us to safety before he destroys their city.
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
Revelations 22:13