The Righteous Judge Part I

As a bit of a prologue, I want to say that I’ve been chewing on and digesting these things that I am about to share with you for quite some time now.  Read away…

As many of you know, I’ve been spending a lot of time reading the Bible lately.  It has really been amazing.  The word of God is  alive!  The four gospels have been the main source of my delight, and I’ve fallen in love with the person of Jesus all over again.  And the Psalms…wow, so incredible!  (By the way, did you know that many of the Psalms were written in a 24/7 house of prayer?!  Yep, King David actually payed singers and musicians to minister to the Lord day and night around the Ark of the Covenant during his reign.  (1 Chr. 15:16-21) Cool, eh?) 

It’s been troubling too, though, I have to say.  The Old Testament stories, the Prophets…they seem to paint a picture of a God that is in complete contradiction to the God of the rest of the Bible.  He just seems so angry.  For the most part the Old Testament is avoided, reduced to a couple dozen stories suitable only for children’s church, and we’ve missed the overarching theme of the whole book.  God’s message is this:  “I WILL have a people for myself.  And if I can’t have you NO. ONE. WILL.”  At best, most of us just skim this portion of scripture and then breathe a sigh of relief… “Gee, I’m glad God isn’t like that  anymore.” 

I don’t know though…are we to believe that God has somehow morphed from a God who once burned with holy anger against sin and unrighteousness into one who now winks at it?  I personally don’t believe so.  The God of the Old Testament is as real today as He was back then.  This does not negate the fact that He is slow to anger, long-suffering and rich in love.  We are experiencing this side of His character right now in human history.  However, God is not  tolerant.  He is holy and just…and His justice will not sleep forever.  And as Jesus’ second coming draws neigh God will once again begin to operate as Righteous Judge of the earth in order to cleanse it and prepare it for His arrival. 

Much more troubling than this, though, is the fact that the Church at large has no comprehension of God as this Righteous Judge.  Never-mind the fact that the idea of God sending a natural disaster or military invasion – sending…not just allowing, but sending – as we read of in the book of Joel, is offensive to non-believers, it’s incredibly offensive to us as well.  Remember when hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast?  And when a certain televangelist spoke out that it was the judgement of God?  He was immediately shot down.  I myself remember thinking, “Oh my, what a dork.  It’s people like him who make other Christians look like losers.”  And just a couple weeks ago I found myself in a conversation with a friend about this topic and she said, with absolute certainty, “Oh, God doesn’t do stuff like that.” 

But… doesn’t he?  Now, don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not saying that Katrina was in fact a judgement from the Lord, but I am  saying that this is very much within the realm of possibility.  Even an ameteur reading of the Old Testament, as I’ve been doing, is proof that God sending a natural disaster as a judgement against sin is not  in contradiction to his character.  We think of God mostly in terms of Jesus, the meek and tender lamb, and indeed Jesus himself said that he was the likeness of the Father (John 14 :7-11), but we forget that the wrath of God which was poured out on Jesus is also very much a part of his character.  And hear this:  if Jesus does not bear the wrath of God for a person – or nation! - he will  dispense it upon them.  Isaiah 63:1-6 gives us a chilling picture of this.  As well, it is Jesus who opens the seals on the scroll in Revelation 6, thereby releasing the first set of judgements on the earth. 

So…I don’t know where you are with all of this.  Maybe (you think) you have this all figured out (if so, please share!).  Maybe you’ve wrestled with these issues in the past and have given up.  Or maybe you think I’m completely off my rocker!  Where ever you are, I encourage you to go on your own journey into this.  Prove me wrong, if you can.  I believe, just as the apostle John did in the book of Revelation, we should “eat the scroll.”  (Rev. 10:9)  We are meant to wrestle with these issues, draw near to the heart of God, and ask for wisdom and revelation into them. 

“Why?” you ask, “Why does any of this matter to me?”  It really, really does.  In the years and decades to come I believe it’s going to be absolutely essential for the Church to have clarity on this issue.  As crisis and calamity continue to esscalate (and they will) the Church will need to arise with an unclouded, prophetic voice in the midst of it.  I love the picture we are given in Isaiah 24.   This prophetic scripture obviously has an end time fulfillment (since it hasn’t happened yet) and it describes the earth as the judgements of the Lord come upon it.  And in the midst of the devestation a voice arises:

They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
         They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD. 
    Therefore glorify the LORD in the east,
         The name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
         In the coastlands of the sea. 
    From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One.”

We are going to need to be that voice.  In Part II of “The Righteous Judge” I will share more of what the Bible says the Church’s message should be in the hour of crisis.