A Revelation of Judgment

A foundational understanding of the judgment of God has been laid in "False Doctrine in the Church" and "Covenants | Law | Mercy | Judgment". I would encourage you to read these teachings for a foundation of God's judgment before reading this article. This teaching will expand on an unfolding revelation of judgment. It is extremely important to know the Lord as the Judge. Many choose not to know Him in this capacity, and it hinders the spiritual walk of many believers.

Jesus Coming as Judgment to the Jews

Jesus didn't come to judge the world, but by His very coming people were judged.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:16-19 NKJV)

Jesus' reason for coming was for the salvation of the world. However, because He came, everyone that does not believe in Him is condemned or damned. So judgment was released by His very coming. The Lord knew that many people would not believe in Him and would have to be damned before He came.

And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” (John 9:39 NKJV)

Jesus did not come into the world to judge the world, but for judgment He came into the world. He Himself wasn't judging anything while He was in the world. But He Himself was sent for judgment. So that those who do not see (the Gentiles) may see, and that those who see (the majority of the Jews) may be made blind. Jesus came for the judgment of the Jewish people.

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ (Matthew 13:10-15 NKJV)

Jesus spoke to the the Jewish people in parables so they would not understand Him. He and the Father did not want them to understand so they would not turn and be healed. Mark 4:12 states that Jesus didn't want the people to understand so they would not turn to God and be forgiven of their sins. God had determined it was time for the majority of the Jewish people to be judged. He had already given them time to turn to Him, but they refused. Then His mercy ran out. He actually spoke to the people in such a way so that they wouldn't understand Him and get saved. This is the severity of the Judge. The severity of God is something to fear. I'm not talking about simply a reverence. I'm talking about knowing the “terror” of the Lord.

The Watchman

The ministry of the watchman is an interesting call, and a foundational understanding of this call is found in Ezekiel 33:1-9. Watchmen are to see the sword (judgment) coming upon the land, and then blow the trumpet in order to warn the people. If the trumpet is sounded, the people who hear the trumpet have an important decision to make. The message of the watchman is not always the most popular message. Jeremiah had to listen to criticisms from the people.

The people wanted "peace...peace," when there was no peace. I can only imagine what Ezekiel's critics said about him. Probably something like: "Ezekiel doesn't have a revelation of the mercy and loving-kindness of God". The same thing goes on today in the church. People judge unjustly what they do not understand. Daniel type ministers speak against Ezekiel type ministers and criticize them, because they do not understand their call. This must stop. Daniels are called to a certain ministry and are necessary. However, the ministry of Daniel does not include telling Ezekiel that he cannot prophecy about coming judgment. The same goes for Ezekiel. He doesn't tell Daniel how to function before the king of Babylon. It is not right for the hand to say to the foot, "walk this way".

What would it be like for Daniel and Ezekiel to be friends and work together? What is the difference between Daniel and Ezekiel? Inwardly, I do not believe there is a difference between them. They both understand the goodness and severity of the Lord. Outwardly they appear different because their callings are different. Daniel releases a revelation of God's mercy, while Ezekiel releases a revelation of God's judgment. They each release a side of the many sided wisdom of God. Working together, they will release the many sided wisdom of God and a more complete understanding of who He is.

Drought and Judgment

The church will often quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 when speaking about revival or the country turning back to God. The context of this scripture (that is often left out) is very important:

"Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:12-14 NKJV)

The points I want to make are these: 1. The devil is not causing the drought, it is the Lord. 2. Our prayers alone will not cause the drought to cease. Only prayer combined with believers (His people) repenting of their sins will cause the drought to cease. Elijah stood before The Lord, heard His will, and then prayed for the judgment of God to come upon His nation. Elijah prayed that there would be drought in His nation, and there was drought in his nation for three and a half years (James 5:17).

In 1 Kings 17, Elijah did not try to decree that the drought would end or pray for it to end. He embraced the judgment of God and endured the length of time of God's judgment. Only when he heard from the Lord and the Lords judgment was complete did he pray for the drought to come to an end (1 Kings 18). It takes maturity to know the will of The Lord, embrace it, and pray only when He says to pray. The church must come to a place of maturity where we pray according to God’s will and timing as Elijah did. If we are out of timing with God then we are out of the will of God.

The Lord's perfect will is never judgment or drought, but it becomes His acceptable will when His church is out of His perfect will. If the Lord causes the drought then how can we pray against the drought? I believe that sometimes when we pray we are actually praying against the will of God. Most likely, the Lord will only cut His judgment short if the majority of believers in a city, state, or region turn from their sins. Only then will God cut the drought short and heal the land. Otherwise the drought must run its full course that the Lord's righteous judgment may be fulfilled, as in 1 Kings 17 and 18.

A time is coming very soon when the Lord's witness (the two lamp-stands) will be released to bring God's judgment on the ungodly. The Lord will entrust them with the authority to release drought and famine as often as they desire (Revelation 11:3-6). These witnesses will be trusted with this authority because they love, and because they are walking in agreement with the judgment and timing of the Lord. To endure what's coming we must love His ways more than our own comfort. We must have the heart maturity of Job when he said, "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity, affliction, and calamity?”  (Job 2:10)

Only with repentance, will we have the authority to call upon Heaven through prayer for the ending of judgment and drought. Let us come into agreement with His righteous judgments.

Agreeing With God's Judgments

Abraham petitioned the Lord to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah on behalf of the righteous. However, the Lord had a different way of dealing with this situation. It was known by God from the foundation of the world that Sodom and Gomorrah would burn with fire on account of the wickedness. The Lord heard Abraham's prayer and removed the righteous from the city before He destroyed it. But the Lord responded in a different way than Abraham had prayed, because it was His determination that the cities were to be destroyed. It's interesting to note that God knew there wasn't ten righteous people in the city. He also knew that Abraham would only go down to ten people in his intercession. I will also add that this judgment did not take place under the old covenant; it happened before. The law had not yet been given. The Lord has always been a righteous judge, and He always will be. He never stopped being a judge after Jesus died on the cross. The cross didn't change God, it was supposed to change us.

When God told Noah of the destruction that was coming to the earth, why didn't Noah intercede and ask God to stop the flood? Could it be that Noah knew God as the righteous Judge and trusted His decision? Could it be that Noah knew He was making this decision based on love?  When the Lord revealed the seven year famine to Joseph, why didn't he petition God for the famine to be averted? Joseph understood the counsel of God.  He understood that the famine was "established by God" (Genesis 41:32). To know that the Lord has made a righteous decision, and then to ask Him to change that decision is not righteousness.

True righteousness is agreeing with the Lord, even if we don't understand. It is about trust.  The Lord always desires mercy over judgment. But when He has decreed judgment we must not go against the will of the Lord and ask for there not to be judgment. To ask for mercy when the Lord has decided on judgment, might make us look very "loving" and "merciful," but it is actually a deep form of pride. By disagreeing with His judgment and asking for mercy, we are actually saying that we are more merciful than God. Unsanctioned mercy is not mercy at all. It is humanism and deception.

There is a time to pray to God for mercy. If we pray according to His will, we will have whatever we ask. However if it is a time for judgment and we are praying for mercy, we are not praying according to His will; and we will not be granted our prayer request. On a few occasions the Lord told Jeremiah to no longer pray for the people, because He would not hear Jeremiah's prayer (Jeremiah 7:16). We must be before the Lord and know what He wants us to pray. We can't simply continue to pray what we think is best.

The following is a revelation released to Rick Joyner through a vision. The Lord allowed Rick to speak to Elijah, and Rick records it in his book "The Path."  Elijah is speaking to Rick and says, "The next task may be the most difficult of all. You must pray for the judgments of God to come on your nation when they are needed, just as I did."

"To do all of these things, you must always keep the interests of God above the interests of men. The Lord does prefer mercy over judgment, as we all should, but when mercy does not work, then His judgment is mercy. You must understand this, because to be His prophet in these times you must be in agreement with Him and His purposes at all times, even when it is time for judgment."

"Can you call for the judgment of God to come upon your nation? The whole world is about to experience the kinds of judgments that came upon Egypt, and for the same purpose; to set God's people free. The time for judgment is at hand, and this will begin with His own household. Can you be in agreement with Him for this?"

I am not suggesting that we do not pray for mercy. We should be interceding according to the Lord's counsel, in order to lessen judgment and save the eternal lives of people. The Lord is loving and desires all men to be saved. No one wants calamities to come upon the earth and destroy lives. This is definitely not the Lord's perfect will, and it should never be ours. Yet the Lord does release judgment as the Bible indicates. If He has made a decision to judge, then His decision is just. God is love, and every decision He makes is based on who He is. The Lord is right, even if we judge His judgment is wrong or unloving. We must trust His judgement over our judgment. Our judgment comes from our self-life and limited understanding. He knows much better than us.

It is not righteousness for us to argue with the Lord over what He is saying and what He is going to do. We really do not know the Lord if we think He wants to simply destroy cities, and it's our job to talk Him out of it because we are more loving and merciful. The Lord never desires people to be destroyed and He is mercy. If the Lord is showing us that a city is going to be destroyed, there must be a good reason for it. We can ask the Lord if the judgment can be lessened, or averted. If it can, then we pray accordingly. However, if the Lord shows us that there is no stopping the judgment, we must be in agreement with Him. Unless we are at this level of maturity with Him, He will not even speak to us about these things, or reveal His will in these matters to us. He only reveals His will to His friends who will be in agreement with Him; not those who will rebel against Him in their self-will.

Judgment as a Nation

The Lord judges individuals and nations on a different level. For example, even though Ezekiel was a righteous man, he still found himself captive in a foreign land. My point is this: the righteousness of a remnant will not stop our judgment as a nation. There was a righteous praying remnant in Israel before the Babylon captivity, but they could not stop the judgment that was coming. When the majority of a nation turns away from God and practices lawlessness, the Lord will judge that nation. Currently, the majority of America has turned away from God.  

Jesus prophesied judgment over cities in Israel because they saw His miracles and did not repent. Then came the severe judgment in 70 A.D. for rejecting Christ. The Jewish people have gone through judgment ever since. The reason that Israel was judged so severely is because they were given such a great light; and they rejected that light. America has also been given a great light. The first great awakening, the second great awakening, Azusa Street, the 40's and 50's healing revivals, the charismatic move, Brownsville revival, Lakeland revival, millions of books, Christian television, and millions of churches. But yet as a nation, we continue to fall away from Christ.

It scares me to think of the light that we have rejected as a nation. Jesus said that if the miracles that were done in cities in Israel (or cities of America) would have been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Meaning Sodom would have repented if she had received the level of light that we have received. America is more wicked than Sodom, because we haven't repented! America has only stiffened her neck harder in pride, and pride comes before a fall. It is certain that the Lord will "break the pride of our power" if we continue on the same course (Leviticus 26:19).

The Judgment of the Lamb

Jesus told the church in Ephesus that if they did not return to their first love (Himself); that He would remove their candlestick. The candlestick is the entire city church (Revelation 1:20). Even though the church in Ephesus did many things well and had an abundance of works; Jesus would rather there be no church in a city, than to have a church in a city who does not put Him first. Jesus will remove a whole city church before He will tolerate ministry taking His place. There may be some cities and regions in America that will learn this the hard way in the days ahead. 

We are getting extremely close to the time when the Lamb of God will break open the seals of Revelation chapter 6. We should note that Jesus Himself is releasing this severe judgment upon the earth by opening the seals. We shall also note that believers will still be on the earth during this time. Please refer to the teaching on "The Rapture". The times in which we are living are serious.

A Time for Judgment

The Judgment of the Lord will increase in the days leading up to His return. The scripture is very clear about what time it is: For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (I Peter 4:17-18 NKJV)

The Lord spoke to Rick Joyner and released an understanding of His judgment, and the late hour in which we are living in. This revelation is written in Rick's book, "The Call". The following is a account of the Lord speaking to Rick:

“Because of the difficulty of the times in which you are called to walk, I have given you the experience of beholding my judgment seat before the appointed time of your judgment. Now your prayer has been answered.  What you did not understand was that during the time when you were waiting for Me to answer this prayer, I was answering it every day through all that I allowed to happen in your life. It is better to learn of My ways and My judgments through the experience of life than to learn of them in this way. I have given you this experience because you are a messenger and the time is short. I will use many of My messengers to teach My people to live in righteous judgment so that they do not perish when My judgments come upon the earth. You must hear My messengers and obey their words that are from Me without delay, for the time is now short. To hear them without obeying will only bring a more severe judgment upon you.  This is righteous judgment. To whom much is given, much is required.” 

“These are the times when knowledge increases. Knowledge of My ways is also increasing with My people. Your generation has been given more understanding than any other generation, but few are living by their understanding. The time has come when I will no longer tolerate those who say they believe Me, but do not obey Me. The lukewarm are about to be removed from among My people. Those who do not obey Me do not really believe in Me. By their lives, they teach My people that disobedience is acceptable. As Solomon wrote, ‘Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.’ This has happened to many of My own people, and their love has been growing cold. My judgments are going to come more swiftly as grace to keep My people’s hearts from giving themselves fully to evil. They are about to know that the wages of sin is death. They cannot continue to call on Me to deliver them from their troubles when they still love sin. I will give a little more time to judge yourself so that I will not have to judge you, but that time is short.”

- Ty Unruh (2015)