My involvement in the prayer movement in the past 4 years has given me the opportunity to see different trends that develop while we all seek the knowledge of God. The Lord is teaching His body His heart and how to operate with prophetic understanding of the times and seasons He is bringing about in the world. With that, I'm finding that I have a bad taste in my mouth whenever people prophesy judgment. I have come to understand that Jesus will judge the earth, set up His Kingdom and reign. My point is not so much the idea that God is the Righteous Judge, but in declaring Him so I want to articulate the heart of mercy found in the Majesty on High.
On this day, my hopes are that some will seek the face of God and many turn to Him. The face of God is found in Jesus. He is the exact image of who God is, what God feels and what He is like. If that's the case, then I can know His heart regarding the judgment of the nations.
In Matthew 23, Jesus lays out harsh rebukes to the leaders of His day. I find that to be like a father with his children. At first, a gentle reminder, then more stern, and if the child continues to ignore that father's words, then very strong words before releasing the punishment to teach the child. I think that's how Jesus dealt with the Pharisees all through Matthew. He constantly was giving them the Scripture, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." His point was to get them to meditate on His heart so that they would turn.
Ultimately the Jewish people of that era did not heed Jesus' words. What did Jesus feel for them? "Jerusalem, Jerusalem,...how I long to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks....you were not willing...therefore your house shall be left desolate." Jesus wept over Jerusalem while issuing the decree of judgment. Did God hate them? Absolutely not. And I think that He cared a lot to see children fall in the streets, young and old terrified for their lives and driven from their homes. Jesus wept over the desolation of Jerusalem. He wept over the successive deaths of every generation since that refused to turn to Him. He took no pleasure in seeing the Holocaust take place and I think He takes no pleasure in releasing judgment in our nation.
We ought to be cautious in issuing words of judgment as psuedo-prophets of the End-Times, lest we offend the heart of God. He doesn't need us to condemn the world with our words. He needs us to bring understanding of the judgment He is releasing, while extending the invitation to receive mercy from Him.
If Jesus perfectly reflects the person of God in His life and actions, then His weeping over Jerusalem has to be how He feels over our nation and the nations of the earth. Christianity is not a relationship like a captive feels toward a captor, as if we had Stockholm Syndrome and fell in love with our captor. We are born again unto a living hope, not a dying judgment. Nor are we spared as Jesus' cronies who will help Him get the message across that He is coming. We are spared by mercy, we have been saved in this hope and we partner in intercession with Him to see mercy triumph over judgment that many would turn to Him.
On this day, I find no place for condemning judgment but the opportunity to turn to Jesus today, to find living hope today, to find resurrection today. The same Lord over all is rich to all who call on Him. May we find mercy and rest in Him and reach a dying world for Him. Amen.
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