Judgments
Q: “I am confused about what is going on in this world. I hear where the weather, the fires and the Coronavirus are judgments on America. What is your take on it?”
A: The confusion rests with our idea of judgment. Judgment has to do with separation. Judgment comes in the form of testing, chastisement, and wrath. Testing separates believers from the dross for the purpose of refinement of our faith. Chastisement is for the purpose of separating us through means of correction from the unholy in order to be partakers of His holiness, and wrath is a complete separation from God to damnation (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Hebrews 12:6-14; 1 Peter 1:5-9).
There are three sources upon which judgment will be based: Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and the holy Law of God. Jesus made it clear that judgment would be greater for those of His unbelieving generation than what was leveled at Sodom, Tyre, and Nineveh because they would have repented at his preaching and believed Him because of the miracles He performed (Matthew 11:21-24; 12:41). The truth is whoever Jesus has been among, or has been presented to, but who refuses to believe, will face God’s wrath.
The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. To reject its truth is to come under the wrath of God and to add or subtract from it is to come under a curse (Romans 1:16-18; Galatians 1:6-9). As far as the Law of God, it is the bar or balance that will be used upon all unbelievers to confirm the judgment of death upon their souls; and it is only by being in Christ that we can be assured of not being subject to it because Christ satisfied it (Romans 8:2-4).
There will be three judgments that will take place. Judgment begins in the house of God according to 1 Peter 4:17 and we are told in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 that our works will be tested by fire, and for some their works will be burned up, but they will be saved. The second judgment the Bible talks about is the judgment on the nations in Matthew 25:32 and this judgment will be based on how nations treated Israel. The final judgment will be the Great White Throne Judgment where the unbelievers’ deeds will be judged by God’s holy Law. The Law was designed to show man that he is a sinner under the Law, incapable of keeping it, thereby, guilty of breaking it, clearly standing condemned and doomed to taste its final judgment of God’s wrath. The final indictment at the Great White Throne Judgment is the fact that the doomed sinner’s name cannot be found written in the book of Life (Romans 3:9, 19, 20; Revelation 20:11-15).
When we consider the Coronavirus, it is nothing new except it was infused with the contaminants of a bat. The virus is a test as to whether the whole world can be brought under control in light of establishing a one-world government. Sadly, the world-planners have their answer. It can, and the next time their plan will most likely include everyone receiving a chip that will allow them to monitor every movement, making it so no one will be able to do anything unless their soul belongs to the anti-Christ, godless system (Revelation 13:15-18). Satan summarized it best in Job 2:4, “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.”
Obviously, man can be controlled by the matter of health and the second way he can be controlled is with food. In John 6:26 Jesus told the crowd that they did not seek Him because of what He had done but because He provided them with bread. Man can easily sell his soul to have bread and still maintain his life as he knows it, but Jesus commanded us to deny ourselves of the life this world offers and pick up our cross and follow Him into abundant and eternal life (Matthew 16:24-26).
This virus is a test, a test inspired by Satan and put upon us by man, but our sovereign God permitted it. Such a test should give us cause to ponder the days we are living in and even though God put a high price on our soul by taking our place on the cross, we must avoid cheapening it like Esau by selling our birthright for a bowl of lentils. It is time we recognize who holds our life and well-being and it is not this world (Hebrews 12:16-17).
As to the elements such as droughts, floods, fires, storms, earthquakes, and I might add volcanos, they reveal the spiritual condition of a people. Droughts points to a spiritual drought of the Word due to lack of obedience, floods to the overwhelming presence of corruption, fires to the need for purging because the unholy has defiled all, while destructive storms warn that judgment is on the horizon due to unrepentance, earthquakes warn that our foundation is being shaken to see what will be left standing, and volcanos the need to flee the wrath that is coming. There is always chastisement (warning) delivered before the wrath comes. These signs are a type of chastisement to awaken people to the reality of the state of affairs we are in. Such judgment falls on the just and the unjust, but for believers it helps us to get our priorities right as a means to prepare and get our house in order.
The truth is, we as a nation deserve the bowels of the earth to open up and swallow us because we rightfully deserve to taste the wrath of God. We have sacrificed untold numbers of unborn (and born) babies on the altars of Moloch as a sacrifice to Satan and we are witnessing great corruption in government that is unbelievable and clearly demands judgment. We are also watching the so-called visible church becoming more worldly, secular in methods and heretical in teachings, as well as seeing such debauchery on display that it causes more than vexation of spirit. It makes one so sick in the soul you just want to gag from the stench of it.
We must remember that God is sovereign and nothing happens without his permission or approval. As Christians we must consider the times we live in as a test to our character, faith, and our foundation. My prayer is that each test forges integrity in God’s people, enlarges their faith, and strengthens their sure foundation of Jesus Christ.