dave & janet horsman ::: keepin’ it real since 1998

I wanted to throw a curve ball into this discussion about God’s mercy vs. His judgement.  (Although, granted, this hasn’t really been much of a discussion.  It’s been pretty one-sided.  Don’t be afraid to leave comments if you disagree with me.  You can even tell me I’m completely out of my mind…I won’t take it personally.    Just don’t be like the generation of Jesus’ day:  ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.’   Matt. 11:17.  Apathy is never a good place to hang out.)

Here’s why I believe the idea of the Lord being the Righteous Judge of the earth is so very offensive to our minds:  right now, the subject of justice is fueled largely by human sentiment and political platforms.  For instance, when we approach the issue of justice with this question:  “Why does God allow so much injustice to happen on the earth?” we are missing the more pertinent question of, “Why does God allow anyone to live?” for we are all guilty of injustice.  Much of the present justice movement has a theology that is fueled by humanism, which starts with the plight of humans rather than the plight of the Godhead. 

So, with these thoughts in mind, I want to look at judgement from God’s point of view.  I feel like God has given me just a little bit of revelation into this lately, and I wanted to share it with you.

A very normal response to the book of Revelation is to conclude that God is just a big ol’ meanie, some kind of cosmic Father with a serious rage “issue” that could definitely benifit from some anger management classes!  It seems that He’s finally flown off the handle and is now just pummelling the human race with what ever He can come up with.  I was struck, though, lately, with this verse found in Revelation:  “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.”   (10:1)  Did you catch the bit about the rainbow?  Doesn’t that strike you as a bit odd, that in the middle of God’s wrath being poured out on earth, we are reminded of God’s covenant with Noah?  Take a second to the read the Noahic Covenant found in Genesis 9: 13-16:

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Wow…that’s no small covenant!  God, in promising to never again destroy the entire earth with a flood, is establishing a covenant that, no matter how evil the earth becomes, no matter how much human kind rebels against Him, He will show mercy from here on out. 

So, what’s with the rainbow over the angels head?  Why is God reminding us of His promise to show mercy when He’s sending a bunch of really, really severe judgements to earth.  Here’s something for you to chew on…something to consider:  God’s end-time judgements are  His mercy. 

“Huh?  Wha’?” you ask. 

Think about it.  God has every right to just obliterate the entire human race right now in human history.  Sin and evil are escalating at an ever increasing rate.  We’ve legalized killing our babies.  Pornography is now a totally acceptable form of entertainment.  Theft is on the rise.  These things are now even polluting the church.  If we don’t mirror what was happening in Noah’s day, then we’re pretty close.  God could, in complete justice, say “That’s it!  I’ve had enough!”  But no, our God is a covenant keeping God.  He will honour every covenant He has made with humankind 

So, God, honouring his covenant to show mercy, starts shaking things up at the end of the age.  He starts “kicking the props away.”  The props that lead us to humanism, to hedonism, to atheism and agnosticism.  One of the most terrifying of the end-time judgements, in my opinion, is the demonic plague of locusts that come out of the bottomless pit (Rev. 9:1-11).  They are given permission to torment whomever does not have the seal of God upon them for five months.  Wow.  Seems a bit much, doesn’t it?  “How is that merciful?” you might be thinking. 

Here’s how I’ve come to understand it:  In the last hours of human history the earth will be filled with demon worship. (Rev. 9:21)  People will actually be openly worshiping demons, probably mostly because the Antichrist will be directing them to do so, I think.  Many, many people will succumb to the deception that demonic worship is to their benefit.  But God, in His mercy, lifts the veil to the spiritual realm, and allows humanity to see exactly what they’re worshiping:  demons whose only desire is to destroy and torment human beings.  He does this, obviously, to give men and women a chance to turn and repent.

We see this same principle at work in the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt (a story that gives a tremendous amount of insight into the book of Revelation).  I mean, why didn’t God just cut straight to the death of the firstborn?  Why the ten plagues that grow in severity from one to the next? …Because He wanted to give the Egyptians a chance to repent!  He wanted to give them clear, indisputable evidence that He alone was the One, True God; the only God worthy of worship.  And do you know what?  The Bible tells us that many other people, besides the Israelites, left Egypt at the time of the exodus.  (Exodus 12:38)  The end-time judgements will produce the same!  Many people will choose the God of heaven, as they see with clarity that He is real.  (And I might add that it will be the the Church at the end of the age who will lead many into understanding of what is happening!  That is why it’s so essential for us to gain insight into the things to come.)

So, my point is this:  the book of Revelation may seem pretty severe, and it may not make perfect sense to us on this side of eternity, but we can be assured that it’s not just an account of God flying off into a blind, murderous rage at the end of the age.  The book of Revelation is as much a story about God’s mercy as it is about His judgement. 

Who is a God like you,
       who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
       of the remnant of his inheritance?
       You do not stay angry forever
       but delight to show mercy.

       You will again have compassion on us;
       you will tread our sins underfoot
       and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

Micah 7:18-19

Wow, is that not incredible?!  God delights in showing mercy!  It’s not just some requirement that He needs to check off the “How to be a God of Love List,” but He actually delights  in it.  This is just absolutely stunning to me.  I like to imagine the scene around God’s throne:  as He points out to the 24 elders, and four seraphim sitting around Him that He’s once again lavishing forgiveness, mercy and grace on a human, He has a big, beaming smile on His face!   

There’s just one small glitch in this system.  God has given the human race tremendous dignity in that we have a free will.  He has given us the right to choose either mercy or judgement.  He will not overstep our human free will, and He cannot  show us mercy unless we ask for it. 

And so, now we find ourselves face to face, again, with a God of justice…with the reality that, although God is aching to show mercy, many, many people will reject it.  And there’s only one other option.

Judgement.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I accept the entire Bible as the divinely inspired and infallible Word of God.  Not one word found in it’s pages is untrue.  Isaiah 55:11 says that the Lord’s words will not return to Him empty, meaning that the words He has spoken will  come to pass.  Actually, many of His words have already come to pass; for instance every single prophecy concerning Jesus’ first coming was fulfilled.  Amazing, isn’t it?  (Which is why it’s so perplexing to me that many people are so apathetic towards the study of His second  coming! …But that’s a subject for an entirely different post, one which I hope to write soon.)

So, that final book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, no matter how unpalatable it may be to us, will  happen, along with many other end-time prophecies.   A time is coming when God will judge the the nations of the earth.  Many of us may be tempted to avoid it altogether, to take the “pan-millennial” position – meaning “It’ll all ‘pan out’ in the end anyway, what difference does it make to me?”  But the question is not whether or not it will pan out – for it certainly will – the question is, “Will it pan out well for you?…For your neighbor?…For your children?”

The book of Joel is an amazing little book.  Three chapters jam-packed with a ton of information for the end-time church.  I love it.  I’ve been hanging out there for a while.  (Read it through some time soon, it only takes about 30 minutes.)  Joel wonders whether it’ll all “pan out” in some different language:  “The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful.  Who can endure it?”   (2:11b)  The peoples of the earth ask this question again in Rev. 6:17 – The great day of wrath has come, and who is able to stand? - as they realize that it is the Lord who is pouring out judgement on the earth.   

This is a question that has been gnawing at me for quite some time.  Will I be able to stand?  Yes, by the grace of God I believe I will be.  But what about my children?  Or the multitude of unbelievers and nominal Christians who will be in utter confusion when the “great day of wrath” comes?  These are sobering questions.

Part of being able to stand, I believe, will be in coming into alignment with God’s heart and His will.  Rev. 19:2 is quite a remarkable verse.  It tells of the great multitude in heaven (us) saying, “Salvation and glory and power to our God, for His judgements are true and just.“  Wow.  In the presence of God, when all the information is disclosed, we will all say that God’s judgements were true and just.  Again…wow.  I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to say that now.  Not in a “Ha! You-got-what-you-deserved” way, but in a way that mirrors God’s heart.  In a way that mirrors His ache to show mercy, but His need to act justly.  This is only possible, I believe, inasmuch as we draw near to His heart, feed ourselves on His word, and ask for wisdom and revelation into the time of history that we are entering.

Joel 2:12-14 reads,

“Even now,” declares the LORD,
       “return to me with all your heart,
       with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

 Rend your heart
       and not your garments.
       Return to the LORD your God,
       for he is gracious and compassionate,
       slow to anger and abounding in love,
       and he relents from sending calamity. 

 Who knows? He may turn and have pity
       and leave behind a blessing—
       grain offerings and drink offerings
       for the LORD your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
       declare a holy fast,
       call a sacred assembly.

During a locust plague and a coming military invasion God leaves no mystery as to what he requires from His people.  In the midst of crisis we are to gather in sacred assemblies and fast and pray with broken hearts.  This  is the Lord’s wisdom for this hour of history and this is what the church’s message needs to be in the hour of crisis:  that the Righteous Judge is very kind, that He wants to relent…that He delights in mercy.  But we need to ask for it.  And don’t let the “Who knows?” trip you up.  That’s just to ensure that we don’t reduce repentance to some sort of a formula.  God wants a response from our hearts, not our intellectual minds.

This is what the prayer movement is all about.  It’s not a fad.  It’s not some gimmick-y way of making prayer cool.  It’s about gathering together in sacred assemblies and rending our hearts before the Merciful, Righteous Judge so that He can, in a way that lines up with His justice, relent from sending judgement and leave a blessing in it’s place.  The Lord is raising up houses of prayer all over the globe so that whole geographical regions will be covered by His mercy during the end-time judgements.  The city of Goshen in the story of the Isrealites’ exodus from Egypt is an Old Testament picture of this biblical principle.  It was a “pocket of mercy” or a “city of refuge” in the middle of Egypt that was spared some of the ten plagues that God sent as a judgement upon Phaoroh and his nation. 

The prayer movement is also about declaring the Lord to be Right and True and Good even when our unrenewed minds may not be able to fully comprehend this.  As I mentioned in part 1, it’s going to be essential for the Church to be clear, prophetic voices in the time of crisis.  We will need to know and proclaim that it is our God, the Righteous Judge, who is “shaking everything that can be shaken,” but that He delights in showing mercy, and a repentant heart is what is needed to receive it.  Wow.  I’m game if you are. 

Hey all, take 20 minutes and listen to some encouraging words from Mike Bickle and Allen Hood the day after the election.  Follow this link, scroll down to the bottom of the post, and press play on the picture.  It’s so good!  It includes the little story from Allen Hood that I wrote about in the previous post too.

As well as this being some incredible prophetic words for the Church, this little 20 minute clip may help you understand what exactly this “prayer movement thing” is that Dave and I are so sold out on (and why we may seem so crazy-radical ).  It gives quite a bit of insight into it, I think.

I’m not quite ready to move on to part II yet.    I have some thoughts on this post-election Thursday that I’d like to share, and, actually, they are in perfect keeping with the Righteous Judge theme.

I’ve had a lot of peace all along about the outcome of this election.  I’ve really felt that who ever the Lord wanted in the White House would be there.  He sees the bigger picture, and I trust Him.  I’m also very excited to be alive to see a black man as president of the United States.  Yesterday, while I listened to the live IHOP-KC prayer room on line feed Allen Hood (love Allen Hood) shared his memories of going to a school where black children couldn’t drink from the white children’s drinking fountain…and he’s only in his late thirties!  (I think)  So, I think the fact that Barack Obama is our new president is a wonderful testimony of how racism and prejudice are fast becoming a thing of the past.  Awesome!  

We also, now, as the body of Christ, need to pray for our new president.  Not just quote a few Bible verses about how we’re supposed to, but really  pray for him.  That he would be filled with wisdom and truth and that the spirit of revelation would be upon him.  Wow, wouldn’t it be awesome if he was convicted of his position on abortion?!

But now…for a different perspective, and you may think that these thoughts are in contradiction to what I’ve written above.  I am of a different opinion.  More often that naught, when God gave someone prophetic words in the Old Testament, they also functioned as an intercessor.  And, lest you fear I’m suffering from some allusions of grandeur, we are all  called to be prophetic voices for God.  The apostle Paul tells us to “eagerly desire” the gift of prophecy above every other gift.  (1 Cor. 14:1)  But God is not a communist in this area.  If we want more of Him, then we have to give Him more of us!

So, here goes…(oh dear, I don’t think your gonna like this).  Something else I’ve noticed in the Old Testament is that many times, as a judgement, God gave the people of Israel a king after their own hearts.  The story of how King Saul came into power is a good picture of this.  (1 Samuel 8)  The people of Israel begin to cry out for a king like the other nations, and God basically says, “Okay, you want a king like the other nations…I’ll give you a king like the other nations.”  And King Saul was a very destructive and evil king. 

The ultimate expression of this will be the Antichrist.  The first seal that Jesus removes from the scroll in Rev. 6 is the first judgement that is given to planet earth.  I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.  (v.2)  As a judgement, God removes His restraining hand (for, what we may not realize, is that throughout history, when things seemed very bad, it could have been a lot worse, if not for God’s restraining hand) and allows an evil man to come into power.  Note that he is given a bow, but not an arrow, indicating that he will rise to power without bloodshed, although what happens in the wake of his “arrival” is absolutely terrifying.  In the next three judgements we read of wars, famine, pestilence…a fourth of the earths population will perish.  Wow…all this because God chooses to step back, and basically says, “Okay, have at it.  You think you can govern yourselves…go ahead.” 

So, while I am at peace that God’s man will be in the White House, I am troubled that we have put him there.  God has given us a king after our own hearts.  Yes, I said “We.”  Many of us may not have voted for and supported a man who will make it easier for a woman to have an abortion, but we make choices every day that support his position.  We’ve grown apathetic and tired of hearing about abortion.  We gorge ourselves on entertainment, and feed our covetousness, thereby dulling our spirits so that we don’t feel the need to cry out to the Lord about an end to abortion.  We choose not to let our hearts be broken about an issue that just seems too big, too far away, and “not our fault.”  Lord, have mercy on us!

I don’t believe many of us realize the gravity of the evil of abortion, of having the innocent blood of 50 million babies on our hands.  Do we know that the Lord, in His justice, demands a reckoning for the shedding of innocent blood?  (Gen. 9:5-8, Num. 35:33)  President Lincoln believed that the Civil War was a day of reckoning for the injustice of slavery and the shedding of innocent blood done in the name of economic gain and racial oppression.   He said this about the civil war,

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

If what Lincoln came to conclude was true and if 600,000 men died on the battlefields of the Civil War to pay for the bloodshed of slavery, what will it mean if God brings a day of reckoning for the shed blood of conservatively 48 million aborted babies since 1973?  I fear that this day of reckoning will come upon our children, that my sons will be fighting in bloody war in order to appease the Lord’s justice.  For this is another Old Testament principle:  an individual can have a vibrant and deep relationship with the Lord, and he can be in right-standing with Him, but the Lord’s dealings with a nation are different altogether.  Think of how Daniel, although he was a righteous man, entered into Israel’s judgement as Babylon besieged their city. 

I would like to believe that the many Christians that voted Obama into power did so believing that somehow he would stem the tide of abortions in our country (although this is beyond my comprehension).  I don’t think this is the case at all though.  Human sentiment, and not the fear of the Lord was the motivating factor for most, I fear.  (By the way, if you do have a Biblical argument for supporting Obama I would love to hear it.  I’ve yet to hear a good one)  Jesus says seven times in Revelation, “Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”  Does the church really think that the Spirit is speaking about our economy, a war, education, ect., when a reckoning for millions of babies’ blood is required?  Oh dear, if our nation does not repent, stop abortion and ask the Lord for mercy for the shedding of innocent blood, a day of reckoning  will surely come.  For He is just…and his justice will not sleep forever.

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. 

Here are some things that I’ve been ruminating on as we find ourselves in the throngs of this election season…

To me, this hard-fought political battle we’re in is indicative of something far greater. Like it or not, this planet is steadily being propelled into the End Times, and the battle lines for the hearts of humanity are already being drawn…and in this country alone, there is a huge number of people who actually want a leader who represents nothing more than the pinnacle of human achievement.  We are so poised and ready to follow a charismatic, humanistic leader that it’s not even funny. 

Yes…I did just mention the End Times and eluded to the Antichrist in that last paragraph.  To many, I know, the End Times are a topic studied only by some fringe groups of Christians – the general sentiment being that it’s a waste of time – and the Antichrist, for the most part, is just regarded as some exotic, Disney-like, evil-guy who’ll do…uh, evil stuff.  Let me assure you, they are both very real – the Bible includes a goodly amount of neglected information about both – and they’re coming. 

This Antichrist-guy is most likely going to be incredibly smart, 1000 times more winsome than Obama or McCain could ever be (although, you might agree that calling McCain “winsome” would be a bit of a stretch ) and he’s probably not going to look like Jafar off of Aladdin.  Add to all this that his humanistic message will be accompanied with demonic signs and wonders.  (Rev. 13, 2 Thessalonians 2)  Wow.  And as he assends to power, and decieved people sing his praises, his unspoken message will be something like, “Oh yeah, and that group of obnoxious people who are saying you shouldn’t follow me, you won’t mind if I just annihilate them, will you?  They’re really messing my plans up,” and thousands of believers will be martyred.  Much of the world will turn a blind eye.  This is ominously foreshadowed by the fact that many, many people – pro-life, believers even! – are totally willing to ignore the fact that Barack Obama has the most liberal and atrocious views on abortion because his ideas on social action sound “good.”  …But here is my contention:  as believers, we don’t have to feel that we can be “tricked” into following a leader like this; this election can act as a barometer of sorts for us.  Let me explain…

We need to get settled in our hearts now  who our Savior is. We need to have clarity about what this earth really  needs in order to be made new.  It is certainly our duty to vote in these coming elections, although I don’t believe that our hope, as Christians, should lie in their results.  I truly believe that “Change you can believe in,” will only come through the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus’ cross and a whole lot of prayer, not  through a human man.  The idea that, “Hey, we’re not so bad.  We just need the right leader in the White House and everything will be fine,” is pure and unadulterated humanism.  To borrow and reverse Obama’s little tagline… “No, we can’t.”  We’ve never been able to.  Ever.  The past 6000 years of history are a testament to this… and if we really think that, “Yes we can,” it’s as if we’re saying, “Well, thanks Jesus.  Your shed blood is very much appreciated, but…um, we can set up righteous government here in America without it’s transforming power.  It was a nice thought, but…”  

I’m not just trying to be cheeky here.  I’m very serious.  Many of us may not articulate our thoughts like this, but if we are hoping in either man winning this upcoming election to “fix” our nation, our hearts are very much in the wrong place.  I love what it says about Jesus in John 2:24-25:  But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.  He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.  Mmmm…smart guy.

No, planet-saving - nation-saving – is way out of our league.  What we need is a Deliverer who transcends our sinful, putrid squalor.  And, by the grace of God, we have One.