11.08 Judgment and Restoration of the Natio

11 - The Judgment; Section 8 JUDGMENT AND RESTORATION OF NATIONS

There is a two-fold ministry of the sons of God: Judgment and mercy. On the one hand they shall exhibit His surpassing grace, while, on the other hand, they shall bring judgment in the earth. The more the spirit of revelation unfolds the truth, the more we see God’s judgments in proper perspective, that they are corrective in nature and used to bring forth a state of rightness in the earth. They shall not be executed in unholy vengeance, for mercy and grace shall balance the score. Judgments are desperately needed, but they are ever tempered with mercy, and when they have fulfilled their purpose, the judgments end, and the whole earth shall be full of His mercy, life, and glory. Mercy recognizes the need of justice. Mercy knows that every mountain and hill must be brought low, but mercy is there to FILL UP THE VALLEY once the subduing has taken place. As the Psalmist wrote, "Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face" (Psalms 89:14). And again, "I will sing of MERCY and JUDGMENT: unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing" (Psalms 101:1). With this thought of judgment and mercy in mind, let us consider some certain and indisputable promises of God to specific peoples and nations. We all know the awful magnitude of the sin and judgment which came upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Jude tells us that they are "set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal (Gr: age-during) fire" (Jude 1:7). The fire was not quenched until it had finished its work and these cities were so completely destroyed that today there is no remaining trace of them to be found. Archaeologists can only conjecture as to where they may have been located. One would think that after such a complete work of judgment you could just forget about Sodom and Gomorrah and "write them off." And yet, the Lord holds forth the promise of the eventual restoration of such an infamous city-state as Sodom! Not only that, but His engagement to do this is linked up with His promise to restore the people of JUDAH! Speaking to backslidden Jerusalem as to a harlot, God declares to her in His great mercy, "As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she or her daughters, as thou has done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou did multiply your abominations more than they, and has justified thy sisters in all your abominations which thou has done. When I shall bring again theircaptivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, THEN WILL I BRING AGAIN THE CAPTIVITY OF THY CAPTIVES IN THE MIDST OF THEM. When thy sisters, SODOM and her daughters ... SHALL RETURN TO THEIR FORMER ESTATE, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. For thus says the Lord God; I will deal with thee as thou has done ... nevertheless I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shall remember thy ways, and be ashamed, WHEN YOU SHALL RECEIVE THY SISTERS, your elder and thy younger ... and I will establish My covenant with thee; and thou shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 16:48-62). Has this wonderful thing been accomplished? History shouts aloud that it has not - not yet! But, fear not, dear ones, for the same God of faithfulness and omnipotence who declared, "And so ALL ISRAEL shall be saved," also promises, "SODOM shall return to her former estate." Not their former estate of wickedness, certainly, for then the long ages of judgment would prove fruitless. Jesus saw this coming restoration of Sodom when He announced to the people of Capernaum, "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works that have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, IT WOULD HAVE REMAINED UNTO THIS DAY. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee" (Matthew 11:23-24). When these two cities rise up in the day of judgment, under the ministry of the sons of God, it will be far easier to bring the people of Sodom into obedience to the Kingdom of Christ than the people of Capernaum. According to the estimation of Christ, although the people of Sodom were extremely wicked, yet, if the mighty works which were done in Capernaum had been done in Sodom THEY WOULD HAVE REPENTED. Capernaum, therefore, will have to be dealt with much more severely! These verses can have no other meaning. And if the judgment is the same for the people of both of these cities - eternal damnation in hell-fire - then Christ’s promise that it will be "more tolerable" for the people of Sodom in the day of judgment is meaningless. How unscriptural and ridiculous the ignorant traditions of men!

A. P. Adams has written a masterful monograph on the restoration of Sodom and I here share a portion of his scholarly wisdom: "I need not dwell upon the history of the destruction of Sodom, all are familiar with it, or may very easily make themselves so. We know that the city was so wicked that ten righteous persons could not be found within its walls and God destroyed them all by a horrible tempest (Psalms 11:6) of ’fire and brimstone.’ ’Terrible!’ you exclaim, ’what extraordinary sinners they must have been to have deserved such a fearful visitation as this!’ Why, no, ’they were not sinners above all men’ (Luke 13:4); in fact they were very ordinary sinners, not near as bad as many cities that are referred to in the Bible. Their sins were just the ordinary transgressions of all populous and wealthy cities, ancient and modern. What were they? ’Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom; pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy; and they were haughty, and committed abomination’ (Ezekiel 16:49-50). These are not extraordinary, unusual sins. What city ever existed, or does now exist, that could not be truthfully charged with every one of the sins enumerated above? Many a city has been far worse than this. The above language would not begin to describe the ’iniquity’ of Paris, London, or New York. But more surprising still, Sodom did not begin to be so bad as the so-called ’holy city of David,’ proud and magnificent Jerusalem. The sin of Sodom was ’a very little thing’ in comparison with the sin of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:47). Think of it! We know that the sin of Sodom was ’very grievous’ (Genesis 18:20). What then must have been the sin of highly favored Jerusalem, if in comparison therewith the sin of Sodom was ’a very little thing?’

"Suppose we take the orthodox view of this case and see how well it will stand investigation. The case of Sodom is clear-cut and unequivocal. We know that the Sodomites were exceedingly wicked sinners (Genesis 13:13). We know that when they were destroyed there were no righteous persons among them, ’no, not one’ (Romans 3:10), for if there had been the Lord would have saved him with Lot, and thus the Sodomites were a fitting type of the whole race. We know that they perished in their sins, and that none of them escaped, all were destroyed (Luke 17:29). Hence it is positive that these wicked sinners have all gone to an ENDLESS hell, if the orthodox view is correct. Is such a view in harmony with the Bible teaching in regard to Sodom? As we have already noticed, the sin of Sodom was comparatively ’a very little thing.’ If the doom of Sodom for this comparatively ’very little’ sin is endless torment WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE DOOM OF JERUSALEM? What ought to be the doom of Capernaum, and of the cities that reject the Gospel? for they also are worse than Sodom (Matthew 10:14-15; Matthew 11:23-24). Sodom did not sin against light; they knew nothing of the true God or of Jesus Christ the Saviour. I know that Lot was among them, a righteous man, but we have every reason to believe that he was more interested in his worldly prosperity than in the moral welfare of those around him. At any rate rejection of the truth is not mentioned in the enumeration of the sins of Sodom. Would their guilt have been any greater, if they had committed that sin? Certainly it would, for it is on that very account that other cities are spoken of as worse than Sodom. This was the very reason why Jerusalem was worse, - because it sinned against great light; this was the very reason why Capernaum was worse; and this was the very reason given by Jesus Christ Himself why it should be ’more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment’ than for those cities that rejected the Truth. How does the idea of its being ’more tolerable’ for one than for another in the future state of punishment, comport with the idea of endless torment for all? Not at all; it is arrogant nonsense to talk about more or less tolerable endless torment, and any one ought to be ashamed to believe or advocate any such absurdity. But graver still is the question, - how can we vindicate the justice of God in His dealing with Sodom if the orthodox view is correct? Jesus plainly tells us that if Sodom had had the light and advantages that other cities had, IT WOULD HAVE REPENTED; that light was withheld, through no fault of theirs, and they perished in their sins and are lost. Why did they not have that light? Why did not Sodom have as good a chance for salvation as any other class of human beings? That they did not, Christ plainly declares, and now their doom is sealed and they are hopelessly lost, according to the popular view, when if they had had as good an opportunity as others they would have been saved. You cannot reconcile this case with justice and equity on the ground of the prevailing theology. I will show presently how fully it harmonizes with the grand truth of probation after death, but it is certainly out of joint in every particular with the teaching of the nominal church.

"But now how easy to understand and how reasonable this declaration in regard to Sodom becomes in the light of the Word of God. The ’judgment day’ is the period of man’s probation. Within the scope of the judgment day every one receives according to his desserts ’few stripes or many’ (Luke 12:47-48). At that time it shall be more tolerable for those like Sodom, who in ignorance and mere animalism have only committed the crimes common to all mankind, than for those who, blessed with great light and large opportunities, have added to the ordinary sins of man the willful and persistent rejection of that light, and the ungrateful abuse of those favorable opportunities; highly favored Jerusalem, exalted Capernaum, and the cities blessed by the preaching of the apostles, shall be cast down into a deeper hell, than Sodom and Gomorrah, or Tyre and Sidon, though these latter cities were exceedingly wicked in their pride and cruelty, and intensely filthy with heathen corruptions and nameless abominations. It would be well if modem Jerusalems and Capernaums, in this most civilized, reformed, and intellectual of eras should take warning, remembering that, ’Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.’

"The foregoing rational and Scriptural explanation of the case of Sodom, clears up all the difficulties of the orthodox view. Turn to the 16th chapter of Ezekiel’s prophecy and read it all through. You will notice that the first part of the chapter is highly figurative. The origin of Jerusalem is represented as that of a poor neglected female infant cast out as a low-born waif, friendless and ready to perish. God represents Himself as taking pity on the babe, caring for it, and rearing it for Himself. The figure moves on, growing more and more intense and striking. The child grows up to a beautiful womanhood, and the Lord says, ’I spread My skirt over thee (compare Ruth 3:9), and covered thy nakedness; yea I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, says the Lord God, and thou becomes Mine.’ Thus Jerusalem is represented as being married unto God. Then the figure goes on to represent the magnificence and beauty of the bride; ’Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, says the Lord God.’ But self-trust, pride, and unfaithfulness follow. In language most intensely significant the surpassing wickedness of Jerusalem is represented under the abhorrent figure of an unfaithful, corrupted wife, who not only plays the harlot herself, but teaches her children (vs. 20, etc.) to commit like abominations; ’Woe, woe, unto thee! says the Lord God;’ a terrible heap of corruption and crime is piled up against this shameless harlot, and then the Lord declares her punishment. ’Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord! because of thy filthiness and abominations I will bring shame upon thee before thy lovers, and I will judge thee as women that break wedlock, and destruction, and ruin, and shame, and war shall come upon thee, and thou shall be robbed of thy wealth of thy fair jewels and the beautiful raiment, and thou shall be stripped and stoned, and thrust through with the sword, and burned with fire; and I will pour out My fury and anger upon thee.’ Then the Lord goes on to declare that Jerusalem had followed the tendencies of her heathen origin, and, like the Amorite and the Hittite, and other Canaanitish nations, had wrought all manner of ’abominations.’ Samaria, the capital of the wicked kingdom of Israel (the ten tribes), and Sodom, the principal city of the plain, are her elder and younger or rather her greater and lesser (see margin) sisters. It is not the age of these cities that is referred to in the Hebrew terms rendered ’elder’ and ’younger,’ but their comparative guilt. Sodom, Samaria, and Jerusalem are represented as three sisters of one common, corrupt parentage. Sodom is called the ’lesser’ because the least guilty of the three, having had the least light and fewest privileges. Samaria is next in guilt, the greater or ’elder’ sister of Jerusalem, being next in favorable advantages; while Jerusalem is far worse than any of the others, having had the greatest blessings and opportunities. Therefore, God says to Jerusalem, ’Thine elder sister is Samaria, and thy lesser sister is Sodom. Yet has thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations; but as if that were a very little thing, thou was corrupted more than they in all thy ways. As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou has done, thou and thy daughters. As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou has done, thou and thy daughters ... thou also which has judged thy sisters, bear your own shame for thy sins which thou has committed more abominable than they; they are more righteous than thou.’ This is a most terrible charge. So great and overshadowing was the sin of Jerusalem that the sins of these other wicked cities sink into utter insignificance in comparison; the immensely greater iniquity of Jerusalem even seems to justify (excuse altogether) the comparatively trifling transgressions of Sodom and Samaria. When we think, again, of the great enormity in itself of the iniquity of these two exceedingly wicked cities, and yet are told that their sin was ’as a very little thing,’ and even ’justifiable’ in comparison to the far more enormous sin of Jerusalem, we can perhaps form some faint idea of the tremendous guilt and deep corruption of this latter city. Now then ... if there is MERCY and BLESSING in store for Jerusalem, ’the chief of sinners,’ SURELY WE NEED NOT BE SURPRISED OR INCREDULOUS WHEN WE ARE TOLD OF FUTURE MERCY AND BLESSING FOR THE LESS GUILTY CITIES OF SAMARIA AND SODOM!

’I will bring again their captivity, the captivity of SODOM,’ says the Lord. ’Thy sister SODOM and her daughters shall return to their former estate.’ What does the personal, plural pronoun their refer to? the city or the people? The people, of course. So all through the latter part of this chapter, the most cursory reading will show that by the term Sodom, is meant in every case the inhabitants of that ancient city. The pronouns ’their,’ ’they,’ and ’them’ in verses 47-55 cannot refer to the city nor to the land but to the people. This prophecy may be fulfilled, though neither the land nor the city ever be restored, as it has nothing to do with either, but applies entirely to the inhabitants of Sodom.

"I will conclude with noticing one more thought. A future probation for Sodom such as is taught in this prophecy would not be a second probation, or another chance, as some say, but the only probation, the only chance that the people of Sodom ever had! Probation is the period of education, breaking, training, enlightenment, and development through correction; we cannot have such probation until we have the true light of God; Sodom was destitute of all such light, hence has had no probation. Thus this prophecy of Sodom stands as a bulwark against error and for the protection of the truth. It is a most remarkable prophecy, utterly out of joint with all the denominational creeds, and all other beliefs that would narrow down the plan of God for man’s redemption to the present life and the present age. But it is in full harmony with the views of those who see that the present life for the vast majority of the race is not their period of probation or trial for eternal life, but that such probation will come ’after death;’ and that the present age, and all the ages past, are but the preparatory stages to the great work in ’the ages to come,’ even the ’ages of the ages,’ of creating man, the entire race, in the image and likeness of God. This latter view is in harmony with ALL Scripture, and is thus marked as the truth of God" - end quote.

Another striking example of God’s dealings with nations and His future plans for them is found in the ancient nation of Assyria. It was once one of the six great empires that have ruled the civilized world, preceding Babylon. In Zephaniah 2:13-15 the Lord pronounced His judgment against Assyria, saying, "And He will stretch out His hand against the north, and DESTROY ASSYRIA; and will make NINEVAH (the capital of Assyria) a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passes by her shall hiss, and wag his hand." Today there are only some dirt mounds covering the site of Ninevah, nor does the kingdom of Assyria exist any more at all! How thoroughly does God execute His word! But now, hear this! "And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day ... yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. And the Lord shall smite Egypt: He shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord. In that day shall there be an highway OUT OF EGYPT TO ASSYRIA, and the ASSYRIAN shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall ISRAEL be the third with EGYPT and with ASSYRIA, even a blessing in the midst of the land: WHOM THE LORD OF HOSTS SHALL BLESS, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and ASSYRIA THE WORK OF MY HANDS, and Israel Mine inheritance" (Isaiah 19:21-25). To say that there will not be a restoration of the nation of Assyria and that God will not save that nation would be a blatant repudiation of the Word of God. And notice, too, that today EGYPT is a MOSLEM NATION, but, according to the above prophecy Egypt also shall come to know the Lord and shall SERVE HIM AS A NATION along with Israel and Assyria. What anticipation this stirs in our hearts! Glory to God!

Now hear the words of the Lord against two other peoples, Moab and Ammon: "Therefore as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation" (Zephaniah 2:9). This judgment would seem to be final, and would be IF THE JUDGMENT OF SODOM IS FOR EVER SEALED IN ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, but it is only final till the judgment is completed. For God says of Moab in Jeremiah 48:47, "YET will I bring again the captivity of Moab IN THE LATTER DAYS;" and in Jeremiah 49:6, of Ammon He promises, "And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, says the Lord." If one reads only a portion of God’s word, the facts are too few to calculate rightly the curve of God’s purposes. May the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God enable us to see beyond the weeping of the night that we may behold the JOY THAT COMES IN THE MORNING; when every judgment shall have fulfilled its purpose, the judgments end, and ALL NATIONS are filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. "And He will destroy in this mountain (the Kingdom of God) the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil (of blindness) that is spread over all nations. And he will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord will wipe away tears from off all faces. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in HIS SALVATION" (Isaiah 25:7-9).

"The Lord is King! Lift up your voice, O earth; and all ye heavens, rejoice: From world to world the joy shall ring, The Lord Omnipotent is King!

"The Lord is King! who then shall dare Resist His will, distrust His care, Or murmur at His wise decrees, Or doubt His royal promises?

"The Lord is King! Child of the dust, The Judge of all the earth is just;

Holy and true are all His ways:

Let every creature speak His praise.

"One Lord, one empire, all secures;

He reigns, and life and death are yours:

Thro’ earth and heav’n one song shall ring, The Lord Omnipotent is King!"