Despite this fact, "He made darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about him dark waters and thick clouds of the skies," Psalm 18:11. And He has been unseen in those dark waters of His people, in the thick clouds of His many membered body, but that which has been hidden will not remain so forever. Although we likewise have been with Him in those obscure places (thick clouds, dark waters, the cave of Adullam), we will be revealed in due season. Until that season arrives, no man or religious regime can bring forth that light any more than they can stop its gleaming when the time comes for its apocalypse. It is then that He will be seen coming in the clouds of His saints. Jude wrote of this: "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints" (vrs. 14). The Emphatic Diaglott says that He comes IN holy myriads OF HIMSELF.

Brethren, regardless of how you cut it, this speaks of an APOCALYPSE! A GREAT AWAKENING! A GREAT UNVEILING! Yet it is but one portion of THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST! And please note that there is a primary purpose for this apocalypse—"TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT (Grk. Krisis) upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

In contrast to this, Jesus said: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." Luke 6:37. This could be an impasse to some; for on one hand He says not to judge, and then on the other hand Jude says that judgment is given to those in whom the Lord comes. But there is no impasse. You see, when Jesus was speaking to his disciples, they were not qualified to judge. At best, they had someone with them, Jesus, who could shed light upon the Law by which they would most likely judge; but the Spirit was yet to be given as we read in John 7:39, and it is by His Spirit that righteous judgment comes. Not only that, it was not the time for judgment. It was not even time for God’s household to be judged and made perfect. And 1 Peter 4:17 tells us that judgment must begin there. That was the starting point, and afterwards the rest of the world, but every man in his own order, 1 Corinthians 15:23.

Jesus said of Himself that He came not to judge; however, with Him being a mature Son of God, He could judge when the occasions arose. "Ye judge after the flesh; I judge (Grk. krino) no man. ¹⁶And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." John 8:15-16. And, "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge (Grk. krisis): and my judgment (Grk. krisis) is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." John 5:30.

A little while later, He said "...For judgment (Grk. krino) I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." John 9:39. Here is an example of one type of His judgment, and it was one of His objectives, which was to open the eyes of those who were blinded by the oppressive laws imposed on them by the religious order of that day. The oppressors, however, who claimed to see were blinded even more. It was not as if Jesus was sitting on His judgment seat and pointing certain ones out and causing some to see and some to be blind. It was simply the condition of their hearts that either opened or closed their eyes. If they hungered for the truth, their judgment was that they saw. Those who loved the lie and hated the truth, their judgment was that they became more blind and walked in gross darkness with the Law being the cane by which they tapped out their stumbling steps. With this, His coming was a judgment at that particular time which had to do with seeing and not seeing.

He also said that He spoke in parables so that the religious folk could not see; but He spoke plainly to His own that they could see and know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, Luke 8:10. Some might wonder why He didn’t open the eyes of the religious rulers as well. Surely, they would have received Him if they only knew who He was and from where He came. They might not have known exactly who He was, that is, the Son of God; but they knew from where He came; for one of the ruling Pharisees, Nicodemus, came by night and said, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God: for no man can do these signs that You do unless God is with him" John 3:2 (NKJV).

Moreover, when you know that the religious rulers are the embodiment of the ancient serpent that beguiled Eve, and continues to beguile every carnal soul by twisting the truth into a lie to beguile even more, you can’t entrust the secrets of your kingdom to such a crafty arch-enemy. Therefore, in this war, the word of God was used as a weapon to blind rather than to open their eyes. Notwithstanding, there will be a time when they will hear His words and see. This is an altogether different judgment and a different era He called the last day:

"And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge (Grk. krino) him not: for I came not to judge (krino) the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge (krino) him in the last day." John 12:47-48.

There are many facets of judgments. Some are brought on by reaping the harvest of what we had sown, whether good seed or bad. There are judgments of loss as well as rewards. Other judgments are measured in harsh overtones of God’s wrath that are exacted to the rebellious, the disobedient, hypocrites, and liars. The judgment which is given to the saints of the Most High when our Lord appears in myriads of Himself will surely meet each person’s needs for correction. In no manner will this judgment be the way it is administered in the world of carnal man. Man’s judgment requires that people think of themselves as being superior over the ones they judge, and it may be surprising to us; but on that natural plain, most of us stand guilty of unrighteously judging everyday from that elevated platform we have erected. For instance, when we are cut off in traffic, or the one between us and the changing signal light in rush-hour traffic slows down and barely makes it into the intersection and putters through on a yellow, while we are caught by the glaring red light—we often judge unrighteously. Of course we do! We sometimes utter, or at least think, "You idiot!" Or perhaps for some, much more graphic expletives are spewed out. To say or think such things places the person as being ridiculously inferior to ourselves, and we feel supremely justified in judging them as such, and this is without knowing anything about the person whatsoever. It could be that he or she just left the hospital where their only child had just died due to a horrible accident, yet the individual is judged as being an idiot. And ever so sadly, some of those so called "idiots" are shot and killed in a fit of "road rage."

What about people we know, even our friends and loved ones? When they do things that we deem as foolish, of course, we don’t pull a gun and shoot them; but we may severely judge them by saying, or thinking, "Hey, stupid, I could never do anything so feebleminded as that." Are we not setting ourselves up as being superior and judging them, while demeaning them in our minds? Most likely.

I couldn’t have had better parents; but some of you may not have been so blessed. Therefore, when your father, mother, step-father, or step-mother, who was incapable of love due to his or her horrendous treatment while growing up, and you were treated so terribly unjust and harsh as a child, do you harbor resentment, or perhaps hatred toward them? If so, this is judgment coming from the emotions of hurt and anger, it lowers them to such levels that they are deserving of your unforgiving stand. Such judgment will never heal those people, or you. Such judgment can never correct the wrong. Such judgment only energizes the problem. Although feeling justified, it is another part of the judgment that is toward yourself to make you more worthy than those who wounded you.

That which was done to you as a child was horrendous, and must be dealt with, and it will be; but unrighteous judgment is not the answer in order to be freed from its grip, yet it is man’s way of judging and it goes on all the time. It is little wonder that the world is in such a convoluted mess.

And how about when tragedies hit our lives and tear out our hearts—the death of a child, grandchild, husband, wife, brother, or sister; infidelity; divorce; a crippling disease; or a daughter or wife is raped—have you/we ever gotten mad at God due to such ravaging fire-storms? Perhaps just a little? Or maybe much more than just a little? If so, we were judging God and making Him much lower than ourselves. In doing so, we were placing ourselves as being greater than God. We knew better than Him. We would have prevented the tragedy and spared many lives unnecessary pain. We can hear the decree from our aching hearts: "Our ways are surely better than Yours, especially in this situation; for there can be no purpose in it whatsoever. The only thing that is coming from it is a dark valley of sorrow. There’s no sense to it, and I wonder why I should continue this dreadful journey. You seem to be so indifferent and uncaring in all this, and I can find no reason to serve such a God." Sounds like blasphemy, no question about it, and during unprecedented hardships, I am sure some of us have had such uncontrolled thoughts, especially since we knew that He could have prevented them from happening.

As many of you know, we have had our share of tragedies over the past several years, and another since our previous mailing, which could have caused hard feelings toward God with some of us. We knew that my 86 year old mother, who had been in poor health and in much pain due to collapsing vertebras, could pass on at any given time, and that time came July 10, 2008. We were not upset with God for taking her. It was the timing that disturbed us, especially for my youngest sister, Belinda. You see, she, along with her husband, Bill, and ten year old grandson, Sebastian, flew in from San Antonio, Texas to be with her for three days.

They arrived here from El Paso in a rental car at 2:00 p.m., and as the routine had always been, Margit and I met them at our favorite Mexican Food restaurant before stopping by to see our mother (she wasn’t expecting them until 5:00). We had a wonderful meal together and got to our house, next door to our mother’s, at 3:30. Belinda walked over to see if she had been laid down for her usual 3:00 to 5:00 nap by the lady who was helping to care for her, and she had been about 30 minutes before. Belinda chose not to awaken her and came back to our house to visit until 5:00.

Incidentally, our mother was so excited about her baby daughter, son-in-law, and great-grandson coming in. She was beside herself and had planned on having a big pot of beans and cornbread, fried cabbage, and fried chicken for supper—everybody’s country favorite. She had called me about the time we reached the restaurant, and said that she had just gotten off the phone with Clifton (her nephew) and invited him and Barbara for supper, and asked us to pick up a head of cabbage and have Margit to fry it, since he has always loved fried cabbage so much. She would do just about anything for anyone, but especially for Clif (they were only five years apart and he was more like a little brother that she never had).

She laid down for her nap so thrilled that she would be waking up to her darling daughter’s smiling face and would be having a small family reunion. But it was not to be. When the time came, Belinda went over to get our mom up from her nap, she found her lifeless body in a peaceful repose of sleep. (She was the thirteenth close family member to die in the past eight years.)

Although we miss her terribly, none of us were angered that our ailing mother had been taken from us—it was the timing! "One more evening, God! After 86 years, couldn’t You have given her just one more evening? What would it have hurt to have given our sister, her great-grandson, and the rest of us a wonderful evening with her before taking her home?" That was a burning question we all had, especially Belinda, and she has beaten herself terribly for going to eat before stopping by to see her mother for the last time, and then again for not waking her up at 3:30 when she may have still been alive. Notwithstanding, I believe that in our hurt, and the way we viewed the ill timing, we judged God as not caring about our feelings, and for unjustly inflicting such long-lasting regrets upon our sister. I am not sure how this will affect Belinda in the days to come. She seems to be doing fairly well; but I don’t know what is working deep down.

So many emotions can come rushing in like tidal waves, and the human mind can be swamped during times such as this and other innumerable tragedies. Even so, these thoughts of hurt and pity elevate us above God, while our esteem of Him is lowered to almost nothing. That is what anger does. That’s the ugly nature of anger regardless of to whom it is directed. Such self-serving insolence, and unrighteous judgment on our part, don’t you suppose that might be the case? I think so. But praise God! He knows our frail frame and the depths of our weak humanity, and He judges us much more righteously than we judge Him!

Therefore, in situations like this, even when there are no good reasons to be seen why such tragedies occur, do you think we can find it in ourselves to return the throne back to God who hurts along with us, and let Him heal our wounded, angry, judgmental hearts? Hopefully so, for He desires greatly to have a Father/Son relationship with us regardless of our unbelief, resentment and/or anger toward Him. He wants to be one with us during times of calm or storm, heartbreak or joy, suffering or happiness, lean or abundance. He is our Father, and by the Spirit of our Lord, we will be able to have that relationship as a faithful son to Him at all times.

If you are sincere about having that relationship, be reminded that it will never happen through doctrines, legalisms, rituals, or merely belonging to a social church. If that were a likelihood, Margit could go back to Germany to be with her family, and I could stay here in Alamogordo to be with mine. We could still have a husband/wife relationship. We could hold each other in our arms, take late afternoon walks, have candle light dinners, and visit our family and friends together.

"Ha! That’s impossible!" you say. Indeed, it is! But that is what many think a relationship is with God. You know, He is somewhere in heaven, while they are in church on Sunday morning singing and talking about His greatness, and they will hopefully be invited someday to go and be where He lives. But this is not relationship. It is when God is known as Father by the Spirit of the Son that there will be a relationship; for where our Father is, we are there. Where our Lord Jesus is, we are there. That is relationship! Being together, and this being together is in one Spirit, one Soul, and one Body. A mystery, perhaps, but so wonderfully simple and true when we read and hear the prophecy of the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, and it begins to dawn upon our understanding. It is then that we will see that we had judged things, events, people, and God as evil, and that our judgment was unrighteously wrong.

Can we not see that we have set ourselves up as being worthy to judge events and others throughout our lives and perhaps to this present day? We have judged the actions and motivations of others, as if we knew every detail about them. We have judged the color of their skin, their demeanor, their looks. We have judged the value of people’s lives with our own being the standard by which to evaluate their worth to the world and even to God. Well, haven’t we in the past seen some as being worth very little or next to nothing? This would have to be the case when we believed God was going to burn them in hell forever. For only worthless people would merit such eternal rejection and everlasting torment, that is, according to the self-righteous minds of carnal judges, or at least grossly ignorant and doctrinally blind. Of course, we thought that our loved ones who were basically good people had worth, for we knew their hearts; but they had failed to do what was required of them to be saved before dying, so their lot was the same as the very bad, worthless ones. Since we could not justify such an unequal balance, we, therefore, judged God again for not being as compassionate as ourselves. We may not have voiced it, but that was at least our subconscious thoughts.

With statements like the one above, "according to the self-righteous minds of carnal judges," am I setting myself up as a judge over these. I hope not. We can’t help from seeing the obvious, especially when our eyes are opened by the Spirit of truth. The crux of the matter comes in what attitude I or anyone else might have about these things. It also depends on whether we are speaking of such in the spirit of love and genuine concern, and it is for everyone’s eventual good, including those in error, or it is due to feeling superior and worthy of judging those lessor than ourselves?

We can certainly see, know, and understand things without judging. They are simply matters of fact, and we don’t have to judge them at all. We can, however, judge when it is in righteousness, which is together with the Spirit of Christ, and with this, it will never be in a superior state of mind. Nevertheless, at times we have established ourselves as the touchstone of all truth. Such judgment truly sets us in the framework of being superior to others when we look upon their character or actions as being less than our noble standard of life.

We, no doubt, had not looked at our thoughts and words as setting ourselves up as judges; but this is what it has often been. Moreover, we have done the same with spiritual matters. Although judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, at times we may have not been high enough to judge righteously. Surely, if our judgment was merely set by our theological persuasions alone, or by what we had heard others say about the teachings of this brother or that sister, our judgments were not true, even if we were doctrinally right and they were wrong. The fact is, we can be very doctrinally right but very spiritually wrong. However, when a word being ministered does not ring true to the Spirit that we know by revelation, by rightly dividing the word of truth, and live the truth of it, we can judge it if we are in one Spirit with our Lord in the matter.

Some today are totally against any form of admonishment, correction, or warning; but such positions are contrary to the written word, the anointed word, and the Spirit of truth. It is out of harmony with what God has done, is doing, and will continue doing. Hear the words of Ezekiel: "Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head....But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul....If the watchman sees the sword come, and blows not the trumpet, and the people be not warned...and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand...I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me." Ezek 33:4-7.

This Hebrew word for warn is zahar. In these verses it speaks more than merely of warning someone of an impending danger. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance gives this: "to gleam; figuratively to enlighten (by caution)." It carries the thought of teaching, of bringing people to an understanding of what is going on around them. In most English Bibles the word is translated admonish, shine, teach, warn, receive instruction, etc. Such as: "And thou shalt teach (zahar) them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do." Exodus 18:20. And they that be wise shall shine (zahar) as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Daniel 12:3. "A poor, yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction (zahar)." Ecclesiastes 4:13 (NASB). I suspect that there are more than a few of these old, foolish kings.

There are times to clearly sound the trumpet of the impending danger, as when the members of the body of Christ are ministered a word of error that robs them of an intimate relationship with their Father, and follow on to destroy their spiritual walk in Him. Of course, those who do so are not alone; for the air passing through their sounding vessels is God-breathed from the throne. They and the Holy Spirit are one. They see clearly, they hear clearly, and they judge clearly. This is true and righteous judgment that is not to be repented of. However, let us not take the occasion to contend with everything with which we disagree. At times there must be heresies, as Paul said in 1st Corinthians 11:19, so those of truth can shine apart from the false, so they can learn to discern by the training. They can’t be told every step of the way by others what is truth and what is error. They must be exercised in spiritual matters in order to mature. Even so, when we are one with our Father, and we are joined in spirit, soul, and body to our Lord Jesus, we won’t be alone, and we will know when to speak and when to be silent. This is worthy of thought for all who would think to judge matters at hand, and truly, there are matters at hand that are in dire need of judgment. Not by rising over everyone who sees differently, but a word of enlightenment that not only exposes the error, but corrects it as well. Of course, if correction will not be received, those fruitless tares will be bundled and corrected by fire later on. It’s a harder way, but correction just the same; for our Father loves those whose eyes have been blinded by deceit just as much as He loves the wheat.

Now, for those who are being judged, whether righteously or unrighteously, stop crying. Stop singing old Charlie Brown’s song, "Why is everybody always picking on me?" It’s part of the process. Inquire of the Lord with a sincere heart. You may be in error, and if so, a good house cleaning and renovation will do wonders and give you the peace of God that passes understanding. One the other hand, if you are not in error, expect opposition from the religious orders that are blind to the truth, and they will most likely remain so until the last day when your anointed words of fire will judge and correct them.

It will be in that day, the day of the apocalypse of Jesus Christ and His body of many members, judgment will be seen in the world. As these flames of fire are revealed, the nature of their glorious appearance will have a way of piercing into the deepest recess and darkest pit of every soul and reveal it for what it is and for what it is not. This Godfire will expose every lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Not one soul will be left without conviction and will be reduced to a godly sorrow that works repentance unto salvation.

He comes in holy myriads of Himself to execute judgment from His throne, which is pure and white. White, of course, speaks of righteousness. Everything about the throne of God is righteous. It could never be any other way. His throne is of love, of grace, of wrath, of salvation and power unto mankind. But you will never see this throne except in the lives of those who He comes in so as to rule and reign! That is where that Great White Throne is located! In those just like Him!

Every soul will surely shrink in despair before God's judgments, that is, until it is clearly understood that He does not open anyone's book to embarrass or destroy him. His purpose of opening people's books is to deliver them. God brings no man to judgment apart from opening his book and imparting His life, first as fire then gentle rain. That is the true spiritual message conveyed by these beautiful symbols in the book of Revelation. As it is with any good father who would never discipline, scourge, or correct his loving child without letting him know what the problem is, God will never judge and deliver you, or any man, until the carnal corruption in his heart has been drawn into the open for the person to clearly see and understand. Once the problem is exposed, it can then be dealt with by His stern, sometime wrathful, yet loving hand.

When the inner nature of a man’s soul erupts with evil works, rebellion, or uncleanness, don’t lose hope. But with repentance, thank God for exposing the deceit that was harbored in darkness. Cast yourself upon the tender mercies of the Lord who judges you in unconditional love and infinite goodness, and yield yourself to His mighty hand that He may bring forth victory in your earth. We must never be discouraged nor feel condemned when God reveals the man of sin who sits in the temple of God which we are, but neither should we become complacent about it as so many seem to be doing. Nevertheless, whether we are down-trodden or complacent, God will send forth judgment unto victory regardless of how long it takes and regardless of how severe the dealings. He will never abdicate His throne, He will never terminate His judgments until every man is conformed to the image of God's glorious Son! That is a promise!

To be continued...

Elwin R. Roach