judgment – Page 3 – Be Still…

Amos 2:1-8 – A Wake-Up Call

For the Israelites hearing Amos’ words, was this the wake-up call that would finally work in bringing repentance? Amos saved the “best” for last. What were the Israelites thinking when they heard judgment against themselves? They had likely been thinking all this talk of judgment was only to the surrounding nations. But Israel and Judah were not immune to God’s raging anger.

In case you’d like to connect some dots like I did and realize who all the players are in this prophecy God gave Amos, let’s dig in a little bit. Some of these nations have ancestral connections to the Israelites. Edom and Israel are both descendants from Isaac: Edom from Esau, and Israel from his twin, Jacob. The Ammonites had descended from an incestuous relationship between Lot and his younger daughter. And finally, from this reading, the Moabites descended from an incestuous relationship between Lot and his older daughter. Lot was the nephew of Abraham.

Isaiah 65:1-16 – God’s Decision Not Ours

Read Isaiah 65:1-16

quote: you're always one decision away from a totally different life — What kind of life do you want to be living?

Our opening line makes me think about God from a marketing perspective. “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’” In our marketing classes, we tell our students to be looking for those people who are looking for them. That’s the whole idea of attraction marketing. You want to be attractive and provide the goods or services to those who need them and want them. The image of God I have here is that he is waving his hands trying to get our attention.

How frustrating it must be for God to have given us the keys to the kingdom (in Jesus) only for us to leave them sitting on the table. It’s not just us. These prophetic words were originally directed to the Israelites, a people who was lost. That is, they were separated from God. What do we know of them? They rebelled. They were selfish. They followed other gods. Hmmm. That could be our society.

Isaiah 24:1-23 – Total Judgment

Read Isaiah 24:1-23

The next few chapters (24-27) will be what are known as “Isaiah’s Apocalypse.” You can see why from the doom and gloom described. Yet, there are some technical things missing to truly be apocalyptic in nature. For instance, we are missing the words calling this out as a “vision.” There are also scholars who question if Isaiah wrote this, and if he did, shouldn’t it be at the end? These are details I share with you, but let’s not let them keep us from hearing God’s message to us today. After all, the purpose of this is to “reflect” not figure out the who, what, where, and how!

I have to admit this wasn’t the most uplifting of readings today. There was the glimmer of hope in verses 14-16. We’ll come back to that. But what this reading says to me overall is that God is in control. If he wants to bring destruction to the world, he will. We saw what he did with the flood in Noah’s day. He promised he would never do that again. In the descriptions were read in Isaiah, there is no mention of water covering the earth.

Revelation 6:1-17 – The Six Seals

Read Revelation 6:1-17

Have you heard reference of the Four Apocalyptic Horsemen before? We met them up close and personal today. Our readings in Revelation thus far have set up the beautiful scene of heaven complete with its worship and splendor. As the scroll’s seals are opened by the Lamb, we are going to unleash the vision of God’s judgment on earth. It’s not a pretty sight (although I am generally a fan of horses)!

No matter what, it’s important to remember the victory belongs to Christ. That should be our focus when we see unfairness in the world, suffering, famine, wars, etc. God didn’t intend for us to have to endure such things. Yet, it didn’t take long for sin to enter the world and corrupt the beauty of God’s creation.

Matthew 7:1-6 – How Do You Handle Criticism?

Read Matthew 7:1-6

Jesus’ words are harsh at first — do not judge others, and you will not be judged. I’m sure we have all done it. Judge others that is. We may have thought “boy her dress is too short” or “why doesn’t he close his eyes when he prays?” or “what were they thinking?” or “why did they spend their money on that instead of giving to the church?” I could go on and on. You are probably already feeling a little guilty about something you thought about someone. We judge. We’re not supposed to.

Why not? Jesus says that we’ll be judged in the same manner. We certainly aren’t perfect. The standards we apply to others will be applied to us. God is the only one who should be judging. When we catch ourselves doing it, we should remember this passage. Jesus said, “do NOT judge!”