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September 2001
J-U-D-G-M-E-N-T
IS NOT A DIRTY WORD!
Some believers in this critical hour are either quietly but pointedly, or loudly and fanatically, decrying any association between the recent terrorism in America and Divine Judgment! Christ is commissioning me to clarify this confusion in His Body. He calls to mind Rudyard Kipling’s tale “The Jungle Book” in which a fierce tiger terrorizes all the other jungle animals until a young hero learns of the tiger’s only fear of fire! The boy manages to secure a blazing torch to his tail and the terrified beast runs off shrieking and screeching as his tail swishes the flambeau against his body! The poor animal punishes himself with every move.
This well illustrates how apostate religious systems have terrorized their congregations with a fear of fiery Judgment by means of unenlightened Scriptural interpretations! In recent centuries [but surely not in the early faith-filled church] the term, Divine Judgment, has become Satan’s primary pitchfork to fill the churches with much hay and straw of doctrinal error! It is sad to see the RIGHTEOUS REASONINGS OF GOD perverted into a supposed hellish holocaust that oneday will erupt from heaven’s cauldrons like a volcano of vengeance upon a hated and damned people! What an abominable distortion of a beauteous Truth! Such perceptions- or actually misperceptions- of Scripture provide a mirror to a man’s concept of God!
Truth is not a theoretical notion, but the living, breathing reality of God’s Being! It is not uncovered by prideful, prying, unbelieving hearts, but is revealed to humble, repentant hearts by the Spirit of Holiness! In essence, TRUTH IS DISPENSED BY RATIONAL JUDGMENT! Both Hebrew and Greek offer multiple definitions of the word, judgment for believers to carefully- and prayerfully- search out. Behold!
Heb 4941 (8199) “To judge, to pronounce sentence for or against;
to vindicate or punish; to govern, rule or litigate as a judge, and to
execute (judgment); to avenge; condemn, contend, to defend, plead,
reason.” 8201 (8196) “Judicial sentence, infliction, punishment.”
Heb 4055 “Extent, height, measure, carpet, vesture, and judgment,
armor, clothes, garment, raiment, stature.” (4058)“To stretch, or
to measure (as if by stretching out a line); mete, and to stretch self.”
[By application, there are indeed judgments that require a stretch of
one’s imagination! We also see here that one is actually clothed and
armored with his judgments!]
Heb 6485 “To VISIT (with friendly or hostile intent); oversee, muster,
charge; commit, count, deliver to keep, be empty, enjoin, go see, hurt,
do judgment, lay up, look, miss, number, be an officer, have oversight,
reckon, punish, set over, CALL TO REMEMBRANCE!”
Heb 1777 (1778, 1779, 1780) “To rule or judge (as umpire), to strive
(as at law); contend, execute or minister judgment; plead the cause.”
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Gk 2917 krima [this root produces the word, “CRIME”!] “A decision,
(its function or effect) for or against a crime; avenge or condemn; also
condemnation, damnation, go to law, or judgment.”
Gk 2920 krisis [this root produces our word, “CRISIS”!] “A decision;
for or against; a tribunal; justice, divine law, accusation, condemnation,
damnation or judgment.”
Gk 1349 (also 1341, 1342, 1344, 1345; and these are all taken from 1166)
“JUSTIFY, DECLARE FREE, INNOCENT, HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS!”
Carnal minds ascribe evil thinking to God and good thinking to men; but the Mind of Christ attributes good thinking to God and evil thinking to men! Only the dark reasonings of flesh minds hatch murderous plot against humanity- such as the recent terrorism in America; but let us hear the Word of the Lord even on such shocking events as these:
“THE LORD HAS MADE ALL THINGS FOR HIMSELF-
EVEN THE WICKED FOR THE DAY OF EVIL!” (Pr 16:4)
[And this “wicked” includes: Cain, the whole earth at the time of Noah;
Goliath, the Sodomites (and all other Biblical “-ites”; Judas Iscariot,
Ivan the terrible, Attila the Hun, Stalin, Lenin, Marx, Mussolini, Hitler,
and all the terrorists in the world today!] But we are sure of one thing,
“JESUS SAID (on the Cross),
FATHER, FORGIVE THEM,
FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW
WHAT THEY ARE DOING!”
Jesus forgave and took away all sin because He knew that,
“ALTHOUGH A MAN’S HEART MAY DEVISE HIS WAY;
IT IS THE LORD THAT DIRECTS HIS STEPS!” (Pr 16:9)
God’s Thoughts and Ways are higher than ours! (Isa 55:9) Natural minds cannot discern Divine Reasoning because it is spiritual and “Natural man cannot receive the things of Spirit!!” (1 Co 2:14) One Gk translation for Judgment was the same used as condemnation in Jn 3:17-19 where Jesus Christ says, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world; but for the world to be saved through Him! Whoever believes in the Son is not condemned; but whoever does not believe is already condemned for he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation: that the LIGHT (Himself) has come into the world, and men loved their darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil!” (Jn 3:18-19)
SO MAN’S OWN UNBELIEF IN CHRIST CONDEMNS HIM!
And yet Ro 11:32 says,
“GOD SHUT UP ALL MEN IN UNBELIEF SO
HE COULD HAVE MERCY ON THEM ALL!”
Since all Divine Reasoning originates in Perfect Love, the hallmark of Divine Judgment is surely Mercy! Jesus Christ is, in fact, the Personification of the Mercyseat on Moses’ Tabernacle. Therefore, IT IS NOT WRONG TO SAY THAT JUDGMENT IS NOW UPON THE EARTH; it is only wrong to misunderstand what is meant by that Judgment. The secondary definition given for this word is DECISION! God is exercising His Decision-making power to bring about a global CRISIS (krisis) designed to correct its global CRIME (krima) of UNBELIEF by bringing LIGHT into their darkened hearts! Isaiah prophesied of these present times saying, “Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness will cover the people therein!” Then he prophesied to God’s sons, “Arise, shine, for your LIGHT is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you...the Lord will arise upon you and His glory will be seen upon you! And (unbelievers) will come to your LIGHT; and kings will come to the brightness of your rising!” (Isa 60:1-3) Hallelujah!
The unfolding of these grossly dark events in our world is a sure sign of Good News in the realm of spirit because it portends the near revelation of the LIGHT OF CHRIST in the Manchild!
God’s Truth may be misunderstood by those who have not yet been caught up into this higher way of Divine Reasoning but I tell you this, in the halls of heaven, JUDGMENT IS A HOLY WORD!
Amen and Amen
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