When the Judgments of the Lord are in the Earth

...the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:9) Which is why "end times" judgment prophecies from the church are wrong. It is not signs of the end. It is time to teach righteousness to the nations.

There is always a keen desire of "prophecy watchers" to catalogue all the disasters happening in the earth to look for the imminent "end" and the Second Coming of Christ and the rise of the Antichrist.

I want to prepare a new series on how the terrible signs of the times are a discipling process of the nations as in "Plagues on the gods of Egypt" But it is not signs of it is time to "exit from Egypt/Babylon" in the rapure to heaven but it is the time to teach the nation righteousness. (as in Isaiah 26:9).

And part of the good news story of our times I want to expand on is the Lord is giving us remarkable gifts and treasures for the coming great spread of righteousness in the earth.

Let me establish a few foundation facts.
You know that there is a 'Great White Throne Judgment" as described in Revelation 20:11-13...

11 Then I saw a great White Throne and Him who sat upon it; from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds 13 … and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

So all people will be judged. Books will be opened. One of which is the Book of Life. But there are other books which I will reveal. But let me first clear up who is seated on the great throne judging. It is not the Father as you might have been taught or thought.

Although the Judge is not named, it is Christ Himself, because Father God has delegated this authority to the Son. So we read in John 5:22, 23,
22 For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Paul says in Acts 17:31,
31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

Again, Paul affirms this in 2 Corinthians 5:10,
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Earlier, Revelation 17:14 has already presented Him as “King of kings.” He is the obvious Judge.
17 For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:5,
5 He will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts.

Hebrews 4:13 says,
13 There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare…

Earlier in Revelation 6:15, 16, we find a striking parallel.
15 Then the kings of the earth... hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne...”

Now this is important! Two important facts:
1)The rulers of nations and the nations are judged by Christ! Not just individuals at the end of their lives.
2) Christ has not waited to the end of the world to judge nations. The Old Testament is full of Christ judging nations through the prophetic messengers who has announced His judgments. For example just in the book of Isaiah:

Babylon: Isaiah prophesies the fall and total destruction of Babylon.
Philistia: A prophecy of judgment is directed against the Philistines.
Moab: The destruction and downfall of Moab are foretold due to their pride and hostility toward God's people.
Syria (Aram/Damascus): Isaiah prophesies the devastation of Damascus and the loss of the Aramean kingdom.
Israel (Ephraim/Samaria): The northern kingdom of Israel is also included in prophecies of judgment alongside Syria, citing idolatry as a root cause.
Egypt: God pronounces judgment against Egypt, including prophecies of civil war, economic collapse, and the failure of their idols and counsel.
Edom (Seir/Idumea): Isaiah 34 contains a distinct and severe prophecy of judgment against Edom, describing it as a place of lasting desolation.
Arabia: A prophecy is directed against the lands of Arabia.
Tyre: God pronounces judgment against the wealthy and prosperous city of Tyre because of their pride and reliance on their own abilities.
Jerusalem/Judah: Throughout the book, God also pronounces judgment upon His own people, Jerusalem and Judah, for their rebellion and refusal to obey Him.

Furthermore, Isaiah 34 emphasizes that God's anger and judgment extend to "all nations" and their armies, indicating a universal scope to His sovereign justice. That means because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever He is now King of kings judging nations and their people and governments.

Throughout Scripture, judges do not merely consult records of crimes. They judge according to the law. Deuteronomy 19:14-19 requires witnesses (people or pieces of evidence), thorough investigation, testimony, and cross-examination to uncover the truth. For this reason, the king was to “write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests” (Deuteronomy 17:18). By writing it word for word with the priests present, he was able to ask questions from a panel of experts who served as his teachers.

In Deuteronomy 31:24-26 we read,
24 It came about when Moses finished writing the words of this law until they were complete, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, 26 “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.”

The kings and rulers of nations are judged by the Law of the Lord as revealed to Moses and written and that law was placed in the Ark of the Covenant as a witness. Any reading of the Torah you will find the Lord's guidelines for how a nation is to be organized, the laws of economy, of money, of property, of taxes, of poverty and prosperity, of social and labour laws, of marriage and many other guideline.

When you see the picture of heaven and the Great White Throne you will see that the Ark of the Lord is the Throne of God and His book of law is there by which nations are required to be faithful to. So much so that God required the kings of Israel to write it all out by hand to be totally familiar with the Law of the Lord.

Therefore nations are judged by the Lord for their actions. And it is our job to teach the nations the Law of the Lord to increase righteousness.

The Lake of Fire

In the jurisprudence of the great White Throne judgment, the books that are opened are first of all the Book of life and also the books of the law, for God will judge all things by the righteous standard of His own law, not the laws of men—not even the laws of churchmen.

The judgment of the Lord is described as fiery stream of fire that proceeds from the throne of God. The “lake of fire” is not hell, as many have pictured it. It is the judgment of God’s fiery law.

The “fire” is not literal. It is the application of the “fiery law” (Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV). "And the Lord came from Sinai...with ten thousands of his saints and from his right hand went forth a fiery law for them"
The law of the Lord is pictured as a stream of fire that refines and purges the nations.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:14, 15,
14 If any man’s work which he has built on it [the foundation of Christ] remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

In this case, the refining judgment is the “fire,” even as Jesus confirmed in Luke 12:49,
49 I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

This “lake of fire” in Revelation 20:14 starts as a “river of fire” (Daniel 7:10) that flows from the fiery throne of God. The fire flows upon those being raised from the dead who have been summoned to stand before His presence. Each one is judged according to his works recorded in one of the books.

The books of the law and works determine liability. The Book of Life determines citizenship. The two should not be confused. Both are necessary at the White Throne judgment, because both believers and unbelievers are summoned (John 5:28, 29). The overcomers, will be part of the court itself.

Recall from Revelation 20:4 that John “saw thrones and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them.” This affirms the vision in Daniel 7:10, where the prophet says, “I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat.” The overcomers sitting on thrones with Christ in heavenly places will play a role in the great judgment of the world. So Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3,
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?... 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels?...

That is not a judgment one day in the Millennium or in heaven. It is now because Christ is now judging the world and the nations

Now let me apply this to life and reality.
All things were made by Jesus Christ. He is the Word. He spoke the Word and created reality. All of reality operates according to His laws of reality when the Word was spoken into a physical reality.
Judgment in this world is not just in the spiritual realm.

The social and soul realm was also created by Christ and must conform to His reality laws.
The physical world was created by the Word of God and obeys His reality laws.

You cannot break the laws of God. When you go against the Law of the Lord then that law breaks you.
God's law reality has an inbuilt reaction when you ignore it or disobey it. It results in disaster.
Amos 3:6 says "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid? Shall there be disaster on a city and the Lord not caused it?"

If there is national or city wide disaster is it not time for people to realize this is a trumpet from God's created reality that something is wrong?

When you read our local news reports that say Johannesburg is days away from fiscal collapse...is this not trumpet of judgment that something is wrong?
If we have a national plague of murders, gender violence, failing infrastructure, children raped and molested, 40% unemployed, hunger and malnutrition....how many trumpets must blow for us to realize that the judgments of the Lord are upon the land.....

...and it is time for the nation to learn righteousness!
What does that mean practically. Righteousness means doing things God's way. There is a Law of the Lord for every level of reality we live in. When we are not living according to the Law of the Lord then judgments fill the land.

The job of God's saints is to teach the nation the laws of righteousness. That is why scripture says know you not we will judge the world. That is not just saying "You are wrong!" It also means we must teach what we must do to fulfil national righteousness.

When the Judgments of the Lord are in the earth it does not mean these signs we are about to he raptured out of the world ...it means it is time for us to teach the nation the righteous laws of the Lord.

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