CHAPTER 8 JUDGMENT

The fall of Lucifer
Prepare to meet God in Judgment
The situation without God and his commands
God heaps upon us the full penalty for all our sins
Our sins have cut us off from God
Each one will be judged in accordance with his deeds
God says, turn, turn, and live!

The fall of Lucifer
ISAIAH 14:12-21
How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground – mighty though you were against the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and rule the angels. I will take the highest throne. I will preside on the Mount of Assembly far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.”
But instead, you will be brought down to the pit of hell, down to its lowest depths. Everyone there will stare at you and ask, “Can this be the one who shook the earth and the kingdoms of the world? Can this be the one who destroyed the world and made it into a shambles (a chaotic state) and demolished its greatest cities and had no mercy on his prisoners?”
The kings of the nations lie in stately glory in their graves, but your body is thrown out like a broken branch; it lies in an open grave, covered with the dead bodies of those slain in battle. It lies as a carcass in the road, trampled and mangled by horses’ hoofs. No monument will be given you, for you have destroyed your nation and slain your people. Your son will not succeed you as the king. Slay the children of this sinner. Do not let them rise and conquer the land nor rebuild the cities of the world.

Prepare to meet God in Judgment
ZECHARIAH 11:10
And I took my staff called “Grace” and snapped it in two, showing that I had broken my contract to lead and protect them. That was the end of the agreement.
ZECHARIAH 11:14
Then I broke my other staff, “Union,” to show that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.
HOSEA 12:10
I sent my prophets to warn you with many a vision and many a parable and dream.
MICAH 2:7
The threats (of the Spirit of the Lord) are for your good, to get you on the path again.
ISAIAH 23:9
Disasters – The Commander of the armies of heaven has done it to destroy your pride and to show his contempt for all the greatness of mankind.
ISAIAH 57:1-2
The good men perish; the godly die before their time and no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to realize that God is taking them away from evil days ahead. For the godly who die shall rest in peace.
HOSEA 7:2
(adapted)
I recognize that God is watching me.
AMOS 4:12-13
(adapted)
“I prepare to meet my God in judgment…For I am dealing with the one who formed the mountains and made the winds, and knows my every thought; he turns the morning to darkness and crushes down the mountains underneath his feet: Jehovah, the Lord, the God of heaven’s armies, is his name.”
EZEKIEL 31:14
“…let no other nation exult (rejoice at a triumph) with pride for its own prosperity, though it be higher than the clouds, for all are doomed and they will land in hell, along with all the proud men of the world.”

The situation without God and his commands
EZEKIEL 22:7-12
Fathers and mothers are contemptuously ignored (regarded as utterly worthless): immigrants and visitors are forced to pay you for your ‘protection’; orphans and widows are wronged and oppressed. The things of God are all despised; my Sabbaths are ignored. Prisoners are falsely accused and sent to their death. Every mountain top is filled with idols; lewdness (crude and offensive sexual behavior) is everywhere. There are men who commit adultery with their fathers’ wives and lie with menstruating women. Adultery with a neighbor’s wife, a daughter-in-law, a half sister – this is common. Hired murderers, loan racketeers and extortioners are everywhere. You never even think of me and my commands, the Lord God says.

God heaps upon us the full penalty for all our sins
EZEKIEL 22:24-31
“Son of dust, say to the people of Israel: In the day of my indignation you shall be like an uncleared wilderness, or a desert without rain. Your prophets have plotted against you like lions stalking prey. They devour many lives; they seize treasures and extort wealth (that is by force or threats or other unfair means); they multiply the widows in the land. Your priests have violated my laws and defiled my Temple and my holiness. To them the things of God are no more important then any daily task. They have not taught my people the difference between right and wrong, and they disregard my Sabbaths, so my holy name is greatly defiled (polluted) among them. Your leaders are like wolves, who tear apart their victims, and they destroy lives for profit. Your ‘prophets’ describe false visions and speak false messages they claim are from God, when he hasn’t spoken one word to them at all. Thus they repair the walls with whitewash! Even the common people oppress and rob the poor and needy and cruelly extort from aliens (foreigners) (that is by force or threats or other unfair means).”
“I looked in vain for anyone who would build again the wall of righteousness that guards the land, who could stand in the gap and defend you from my just attacks, but I found not one. And so the Lord God says: I will pour out my anger upon you; I will consume you with the fire of my wrath. I have heaped upon you the full penalty for all your sins.”
DANIEL 4:27
“O King Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon), listen to me – stop sinning (stop disobeying God); do what you know is right; be merciful to the poor. Perhaps even yet God will spare you,”
EZEKIEL 34:4
You haven’t taken care of the weak nor tended the sick nor bound up the broken bones nor gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead you have ruled them with force and cruelty.
JEREMIAH 22:13
By not paying wages you are building injustice into its walls and oppression into its door-frames and ceilings.
JEREMIAH 5:5
(adapted)
I know the ways of the Lord and the judgment that follows sin (disobedience of God’s Laws).
AMOS 3:2
The Lord says, “How can we walk together with your sins between us?”

Our sins have cut us off from God
ISAIAH 59:1-21
Listen now! The Lord isn’t too weak to save you. And he isn’t getting deaf! He can hear you when you call! But the trouble is that your sins have cut you off from God. Because of sin (disobedience of God’s Laws) he has turned his face away from you and will not listen any more. For your hands are those of murderers and your fingers are filthy with sin. You lie and grumble and oppose the good. No one cares about being fair and true. Your law suits are based on lies; you spend your time plotting evil deeds and doing them. You spend your time and energy in spinning evil plans which end up in deadly actions. You cheat and shortchange everyone. Everything you do is filled with sin; violence is your trademark. Your feet run to do evil and rush to murder; your thoughts are only of sinning, and wherever you go you leave behind a trail of misery and death. You don’t know what true peace is, nor what it means to be just and good; you continually do wrong and those who follow you won’t experience any peace, either.
It is because of all this evil that you aren’t finding God’s blessings; that’s why he doesn’t punish those who injure you. No wonder you are in darkness when you expected light. No wonder you are walking in the gloom. No wonder you grope like blind men and stumble along in broad daylight, yes, even at brightest noontime, as though it were the darkest night! No wonder you are like corpses when compared with vigorous young men! You roar like hungry bears; you moan with mournful cries like doves. You look for God to keep you, but he doesn’t. He has turned away. For your sins keep piling up before the righteous God, and testify against you.
Yes, we know what sinners we are. We know our disobedience; we have denied the Lord our God. We know what rebels we are and how unfair we are, for we carefully plan our lies. Our courts oppose the righteous man; fairness is unknown. Truth falls dead in the streets, and justice is outlawed.
Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who tries a better life is soon attacked. The Lord saw all the evil and was displeased to find no steps taken against sin. He saw no one was helping you, and wondered that no one intervened. Therefore he himself stepped in to save you through his mighty power and justice. He put on righteousness as armor and the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with robes of vengeance and of godly fury. He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds – fury for his foes in distant lands. Then at last they will reverence and glorify (and honor) the name of God from west to east. For he will come like a flood-tide driven by Jehovah’s breath. He will come as a Redeemer to those in Zion who have turned away from sin.
“As for me, this is my promise to them,” says the Lord: “My Holy Spirit shall not leave them, and they shall want the good and hate the wrong – they and their children and their children’s children forever.”
EZEKIEL 23:35
Because you have forgotten me and turned your backs upon me, therefore you must bear the consequence of all your sin (your disobedience of God’s Laws).
AMOS 6:3
Jehovah, the Lord God of heaven’s armies says, “You push away all thought of punishment awaiting you, but by your deeds you bring the Day of Judgment near.”
HOSEA 12:14
(adapted)
The Lord will sentence me to death as payment for my sins (my disobedience of God’s Laws).
ISAIAH 48:22
But there is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.
ISAIAH 3:11
I (the Lord) say to the wicked people, “Your doom (your death) is sure. You too shall get your just deserts. Your well earned punishment is on its way.”
HOSEA 5:2
(adapted)
The Lord will settle up with all of us for what we have done.
ISAIAH 22:12
(adapted)
The Lord of heaven’s armies calls us to repent (to stop thinking, speaking and acting against God’s Laws and to obey them instead), to weep and mourn and shave our heads in sorrow for our sins, and to wear clothes made of sackcloth (coarse fabric woven from flax or hemp) to show our remorse.
ISAIAH 1:28
(adapted)
All sinners who refuse to come to the Lord shall utterly perish (and die and cease to live and cease to be in existence).
ISAIAH 1:20
(adapted)
If I keep turning my back and refuse to listen to the Lord, I will be killed by my enemies. The Lord has spoken.
ISAIAH 48:18
Oh, that you had listened to my laws! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river, and great waves of righteousness.

Each one will be judged in accordance with his deeds
EZEKIEL 33:11-20
Tell them:
“As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; I desire that the wicked turn from his evil ways and live. Turn, turn from your wickedness, for why will you die, O Israel? For the good works of a righteous man will not save him if he turns to sin; and the sins of an evil man will not destroy him if he repents and turns from his sins.”
“I have said the good man will live. But if he sins, expecting his past goodness to save him, then none of his good deeds will be remembered. I will destroy him for his sins. And when I tell the wicked he will die and then he turns from his sins and does what is fair and right – if he gives back the borrower’s pledge and returns what he has stolen and walks along the paths of right, not doing evil – he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of his past sins shall be brought up against him, for he has turned to the good and shall surely live.”
“And yet your people are saying the Lord isn’t fair. The trouble is they aren’t fair. For again I say, when the good man turns to evil, he shall die. But if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what’s fair and just, he shall live. Yet you are saying the Lord isn’t fair. But I will judge each of you in accordance with his deeds.”

God says, turn, turn and live
EZEKIEL 18:1-32
Then the Lord’s message came to me again.
“Why do the people use this proverb about the land of Israel: The children are punished for their fathers’ sins? As I live says the Lord God, you will not use this proverb any more in Israel, for all souls are mine to judge – fathers and sons alike – and my rule is this: It is for a man’s own sins that he will die.”
“But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right, and has not gone out to the mountains to feast before the idols of Israel and worship them, and does not commit adultery, nor lie with any woman during the time of her menstruation, and is a merciful creditor, not holding on to the items given to him in pledge by poor debtors, and is no robber but gives food to the hungry and clothes to those to those in need, and grants loans without interest, and stays away from sin (from disobeying God’s Laws), and is honest and fair when judging others, and obeys my laws – that man is just , says the Lord, and he shall surely live.”
“But if that man has a son who is a robber or a murderer and who fulfils none of his responsibilities, who refuses to obey the laws of God, but worships idols on the mountains and commits adultery, and oppresses the poor and needy, and robs his debtors by refusing to let them redeem what they have given him in pledge, and loves idols and worships them, and loans out his money at interest – shall that man live? No! He shall surely die, and it is his own fault.”
“But if this sinful man has, in turn, a son who sees all his father’s wickedness, so that he fears God and decides against that kind of life, and doesn’t go up on the mountains to feast before the idols and worship them, and does not commit adultery, and is fair to those who borrow from him and doesn’t rob them, but feeds the hungry and clothes the needy, and helps the poor and does not loan money at interest, and obeys my laws – he shall not die because of his father’s sins; he shall surely live. But his father shall die for his own sins because he is cruel and robs and does wrong.”
“What? you ask. Doesn’t the son pay for his father’s sins? No! For if the son does what is right and keeps my laws, he shall surely live. The one who sins is the one who dies. The son shall not be punished for his father’s sins, nor the father for his son’s. The righteous person will be rewarded for his own goodness and the wicked person for his wickedness. But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins and begins to obey my laws and do what is just and right, he shall surely live and not die. All his past sins will be forgotten, and he shall live because of his goodness.”
“Do you think I like to see the wicked die? asks the Lord. Of course not! I only want him to turn from his wicked ways and live. However, if a righteous person turns to sinning and acts like any other sinner, should he be allowed to live? No, of course not. All his previous goodness will be forgotten and he shall die for his sins.
“Yet you say: The Lord isn’t being fair! Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one who is unfair, or is it you? When a good man turns away from being good and begins sinning and dies in his sins, he dies for the evil he has done. And if a wicked person turns away from his wickedness and obeys the law, and does right, he shall save his soul, for he has thought it over and decided to turn from his sins and live a good life. He shall surely live – he shall not die.”
“And yet the people of Israel keep saying: ‘The Lord is unfair!’ O people of Israel, it is you who are unfair, not I. I will judge each of you, O Israel, and punish or reward each according to your own actions. Oh, turn from your sins while there is yet time. Put them behind you and receive a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O Israel? I do not enjoy seeing you die, the Lord God says. Turn, turn and live!
JOEL 2:12-13
“Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me all your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, mourning. Let your remorse tear at your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is not easily angered; he is full of kindness, and anxious not to punish you.
ISAIAH 48:17
The Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says, I am the Lord your God, who punishes you for your own good and leads you along the paths that you should follow.
JEREMIAH 7:1-7
A message from God to the people: Even yet, if you leave your evil ways I will let you stay in your own land.
You may remain under these conditions only: If you stop your wicked thoughts and deeds, and are fair to others, and stop exploiting orphans, widows and foreigners. And stop your murdering. And stop worshipping idols as you do now to your hurt. Then and only then, will I let you stay in this land that I gave to your fathers to keep forever.
JEREMIAH 25:5-7
Each time the message was this: Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then can you continue to live here in this land which the Lord gave to you and to your ancestors forever. Don’t anger me by worshipping idols; but if you are true to me, then I’ll not harm you.
But you won’t listen; you have gone ahead and made me furious with your idols. So you have brought upon yourselves all the evil that has come your way.
ZEPHANIAH 2:1-3
Gather together and pray, you shameless nation, while there still is time – before judgment begins, and your opportunity is blown away like chaff; before the fierce anger of the Lord falls and the terrible day of his wrath begins. Beg him to save you, all who are humble – all who have tried to obey. Walk humbly and do what is right; perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you from his wrath in that day of doom (death).
JEREMIAH 15:19-21
The Lord replied, “Stop this foolishness and talk some sense! Only if you return to trusting me will I let you continue as my spokesman. You are to influence them, not let them influence you! They will fight against you like a besieging army against a high city wall. But they will not conquer you for I am with you to protect and deliver you, says the Lord. Yes, I will certainly deliver you from these wicked men and rescue you from their ruthless hands.”