PRÉCIS ON THINGS TO COME-I: JUST RECOMPENSE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE CHOSEN VANITY OVER VIRTUE

SCRIPTURE. “But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in justice, and God, the Holy One, will show Himself holy in righteousness [through His righteous judgments].” ― ISAIAH 5:16, AMP

KEY TERM: “JUSTICE.” ‘Mishpat’ [מִשְׁפָט]: “A verdict, sentence or decree (based on Divine Law); includes the specific act, the place, the crime and the penalty [from the Grand Adjudicator]; a legal decision in relation to rectitude; the execution of punishment.” N. WEBSTER (1828): “The virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due; practical conformity to the laws and to principles of rectitude in the dealings of men with each other; honesty; integrity in commerce or mutual intercourse.”

QUOTATION. “‘In keeping Silent about Evil,’ in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and ‘it will rise up a thousand fold in the future.’ When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the Foundations of Justice from beneath new generations.” ― ALEKSANDR I. SOLZHENITSYN, The Gulag Archipelago, 1973; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Here is a Woe to those who set their hearts on the Wealth of the World.’ Not that it is sinful for those who have a house and a field to purchase another; but the fault is, that they never know when they have enough. Covetousness is idolatry; and while many envy the prosperous, wretched man, the Lord denounces awful woes upon him.

‘How applicable to many among us!’ God has many ways to empty the most populous cities. Those who set their hearts upon the World, will justly be disappointed. Here is Woe to those who dote upon the pleasures and the delights of sense. The use of music is lawful; but when it draws away the heart from God, then it becomes a sin to us. God’s Judgments have seized them, but they will not disturb themselves in their pleasures. The Judgments are declared. ‘Let a man be ever so High, death will bring him Low; ever so Mean, death will bring him Lower.’ The fruit of these Judgments shall be, that God will be glorified as a God of power. Also, as a God that is holy; He shall be owned and declared to be so, in the righteous punishment of proud men.

Those are in a woeful condition who set up sin, and who exert themselves to gratify their base lusts. They are daring in sin and walk after their own lusts; it is in scorn that they call God the Holy One of Israel. ‘They confound and overthrow Distinctions between Good and Evil.’ They prefer their own reasonings to Divine Revelations, their own devices to the Counsels and Commands of God. They deem it prudent and politic to continue profitable sins, and to neglect self-denying duties. ‘Also, how light soever men make of Drunkenness, it is a sin which lays open to the Wrath and Curse of God.’ Their judges perverted Justice. Every sin needs some other to conceal it.” ― MATTHEW HENRY, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK. As is often the case, I wrestled a bit with the Lord about posting still another severe Word but was clearly rebuffed. That said, a thought came to me that in this unique Hour of Judgment starting with God’s House (1 Peter 4:17), that there is still Mercy, but with Reprimand. Perhaps this is the Transitional Moment that might be best called: ‘The Age of Grace, with Severity.’

There is ‘Grace’ because God does not wish even His errant children to suffer needlessly and very possibly end up in Perdition. There is ‘Severity’ exercised since at this late point, He has chosen to use extreme measures to offset extreme disobedience. ‘Love is His Divine Hallmark, even in Judgment.’