The Judgments of God

We started talking about judgment in our last lesson, and about whether or not we are living in the last of the last days. We discovered that we won't be able to answer that question for sure, since Jesus said that God isn't willing to reveal His timing for that to us (in Matthew 24:36).

We looked at two theories about God's timing for "the end" of this world. Many people believe that God has a predetermined time table, and nothing that man can do will change God's timing on this. This theory holds that God doesn't want to tell us precisely when that is, because He wants us to focus on serving/obeying Him and advancing His kingdom right up to the very end.

Others believe that God isn't working off of a time-table at all, but that the second coming and subsequent end-time destruction is based on the condition of man's heart towards Him. E.g., there will come a time when mankind becomes so evil and hardened that He can't win the lost anymore--and when that happens, God will give up on the lost and then the end will come. I gave you a bible example to support this in our last lesson: Noah and the flood, and how the wickedness of men's hearts was what drove God to destroy humanity and start over.

Let me give you another bible example of how the condition of man's heart drives the judgment of God. That example is Sodom and Gomorrah. We know that God destroyed these cities because of their wickedness, but I would like to draw your attention to a few key things the bible says about this. First, look at what God said to Abraham in Genesis 18:20-21: "And the Lord said, 'Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.'"

What do you think God is saying here? Do you think that all-knowing God was clueless about what was going on in these cities? Do you think He had to send His angels to go check out some rumors that He heard from assorted folks as they died and went to heaven? Of course not!

We know that God knows all things, and it is impossible to surprise Him. In fact, if we look at earlier verses, we will see that God already knew about these cities. Look at Genesis 13:13, which takes place chronologically a long time before God sent His angels to "check out" Sodom and Gomorrah: "But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord." In short, God already knew what they were doing a long before He sent his angels to visit them.

In fact, God allowed bad things happen to them that we might interpret as less "severe judgments" that preceded the "final judgment" and destruction of those two cities. For example, the cities were defeated in war and their people carried away captive. Perhaps this defeat and ensuing captivity was a judgment of God; where He hoped to and shake them out of their wickedness and get them to repent.

We find that captivity story in Genesis 14. There was a war, and both Sodom and Gomorrah were defeated, raided, and all of their citizens and goods were carried away captive. Since Lot (Abraham's relative) lived there when that happened, he was carried away too. The chapter goes on to tell how Abraham sent his own fighting men to rescue his nephew, and how he managed to rescue all of the captives instead of just his nephew. The people returned shaken up from their horrible ordeal, but they did not repent and turn their hearts to God.

Then we come to Genesis 18. The Lord came down from Heaven to visit Abraham, accompanied by two of His angels. God promised that it was time for the son to be born. Then God began to tell Abraham about what He was going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, starting with verse 18: "Then the men [e.g., angels] rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?'"

God already knew that there was sin and wickedness in Sodom and Gomorrah. He did not send His angels there to discover whether or not that was true, He sent them to evaluate their hearts. He wanted to see if they could be redeemed, or if it was time to completely write them off. That "evaluation" process is the "judgment of God."

Many people equate the word "judgment" to "punishment," but they are not the same thing at all. Punishment is one possible outcome of judgment, but it is only a small part of what God's judgment is about.

The "judgment of God" is where God looks at both the behavior that we do, and the attitude of our heart towards Him. In short, He examines and evaluates us, then He comes up with a plan of action based on what He finds, then He executes His plan.

If God finds people with hearts after Him who are trying to please Him, then the result of His judgment is reward. If He finds people with hearts after Him who have fallen into a sin, then the result of His judgment is correction intended to get them back on the right path, so they can be fully restored in their walk with Him.

If God finds people whose hearts are neutral towards Him, He is more interested in winning their hearts than in punishing their deeds. In that case, the results of His judgment are usually things designed to draw them to Himself, to reveal His love to them, and to get them to commit to serve and obey Him.

If God finds people who have hearts set against Him and who are living in sin, then the results of His judgment will look more like punishment. He will do things designed to discourage the bad behavior/attitudes, in hopes of getting them to repent and change.

Most of the time, God will do a series of judgments instead of just one. He usually starts relatively mild, hoping to shake people awake and get them to repent, to change their attitude towards Him as well as changing their behavior. Then God examines them again to see what their reaction was. If they do repent, then the judgment is over and God will begin moving on to drawing them close to Himself and building relationship with them.

But if they resist, then His next action will be more severe. This cycle can go on for a while. If, at some point, God finds that their hearts are so reprobate that they cannot be won back at all, then the result of God's judgment is usually to wipe them out. And that is the place that Sodom and Gomorrah had gotten to...the place where the people would not respond to God and repent no matter what He did. That is why He choose to destroy them.

God's judgments do not automatically lead to punishment and destruction--the results of those judgments depend on a combination of our behavior and of our heart attitude towards God.

We will talk about this a bit more in our next lesson.