KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

Part 96

THE FOUR WINDS OF JUDGMENT

            “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” (Rev. 7:1-3).

            There are many beautiful truths and deep mysteries hidden in the symbolisms of this passage, but I am sure the reader can discern in the action of the four angels the ministry of judgment.  Four is the number of that which is world-wide or universal, and the winds which blow with devastating force are the symbol of judgment.  Everywhere in scripture the winds are revealed as divine agents and used either for blessings or for judgments.  Here, the four winds are significant of judgments which for the time, the four angels are holding back in order to permit the Seer to have a vision of something that must be brought forth and established before the winds are permitted to blow!

            Let not the winds blow — until!  Hold the winds back — hold everything in restraint for a season — endure the corruption, UNTIL THE SONS OF GOD ARE SEALED IN THEIR FOREHEADS!  Bring no judgment upon the earth realm, or the sea realm, nor upon the trees, representing those activities, works, creations, and institutions of men which grow and are produced out of the carnal mind (earth) — let there be no judgment upon any of these things until the sons of God have put on the mind of Christ!  As I write these things and meditate upon them it becomes crystal clear within my spirit that there can be no righteous judgment out from God’s elect until we all have been imbued with the nature of the Father and the mind of Christ.  Any man, apart from the mind of Christ, is unqualified to render any kind of judgment — and he will never be able to judge even his own soul, or his body, or the trees that grow out of his earth, apart from the understanding and wisdom of the mind of Christ.  Much less is he prepared to administer righteous judgments to those realms outside himself — the world of mankind.  Righteous judgment comes only out of the heavens of the spirit of the Lord!  Thus the divine fiat issued by the word of the Lord that the four winds be restrained from blowing upon the earth, the sea, or any tree, until the mind of Christ has been fully formed in God’s kings and priests! 

            The true judgments of God by which the world learns righteousness, proceed out from the seven spirits of sonship, of which the prophet Isaiah says, “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod (authority) of His mouth (word), and with the breath (spirit) of His lips shall He slay the wicked.  And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins…for the whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:2-5,9).

Through the cunning of the adversary, both the world and the popular church have been robbed of the blessed assurances of the time when God’s RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENTS break forth in the earth.  Most people know that the Bible tells of a “judgment day,” but the average person, believer or unbeliever, regards it only with a certain sense of fear and dread.  Because of this fear there is, to them, no more unwelcome tidings than that the Lord is coming to JUDGE THE EARTH!  Many tremble inwardly at the thought of God’s judgments, and in this mind put them far from them, preferring not to even hear the subject mentioned.  They have absolutely no idea of the wonderful blessings in store for a sin-weary and death-ridden world under the glorious reign of the sons of God filled with all the nature, wisdom, glory, and power of God!

            How differently did the holy prophets and apostles regard that promised DAY OF JUDGMENT!  Note the expectation in Isaiah’s spirit as he announces: “Yea, in the way of THY JUDGMENTS, O Lord, have we waited for Thee…with my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early: for when THY JUDGMENTS are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:8-9).  Here Isaiah assures us that the day when God’s judgments are in the earth will be a most glorious and desirable day, a day in which the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness!  If the desire of your heart is anything like the desire of my heart, this is a blessed thought and a wonderful assurance: the inhabitants of the world WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS!  How my ransomed soul longs to behold such a thing!  Every time I scan the headlines of the morning paper, or watch the evening news on television, I am seized with an intense yearning that the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.  As I drive across this great land of ours; as I walk the streets of our cities and towns, beholding the condition of those about, my spirit groans with unutterable supplication that the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness!   What a marvelous provision of our wise and loving Father that, to this very end, He has ORDAINED JUDGMENTS to come forth in the earth.  Bless His name!

            Hear the note of triumph and exultation when David speaks by the inspiration that the Spirit gives, saying,

                                                “Let the heavens be glad

                                                 And LET THE EARTH REJOICE;

                                                 And let men say among the nations, the Lord reigneth!

                                                 Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof;

                                                 Let the fields rejoice, and all that are therein.

                                                 Then shall the trees of the forest

                                                 Sing aloud at the presence of the Lord,

                                                 Because He cometh TO JUDGE THE EARTH.

                                                 O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good;

                                                 For His mercy endureth forever!” (I Chron. 16:31-34).

            Why will “the trees of the forest” sing out when He is coming to JUDGE THE EARTH?  One would think they might weep, or shrink in fear and consternation at the thought of His judgments, but why all the singing?  Why the rejoicing?  Because God’s judgments are an expression of His goodness and everlasting mercy, designed to teach the inhabitants of the world righteousness!  Ah, this would not be the case should the sons of God unleash judgments upon the world before they have been sealed in their foreheads with the precious mind of God’s Christ!  Who knows how misguided and ruthless some might be in their efforts to establish righteousness in the earth!  But our wise and glorious Father has even now issued the edict: “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, TILL we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads!”  The earth shall rejoice because this means that mankind has reached the turning point in our degeneration, and have come to the times of regeneration.  This is true even now for the body of Christ, but must ultimately reach unto the whole world and the entire creation!  His presence, while it speaks of His utmost holiness, and will not tolerate the continuance of evil, brings the changes needed for peace, joy, and righteousness.  There shall surely be those severe prunings, crushing, shattering, melting; but when they shall have accomplished their desired results, His new life shall flow in cleansing, quickening, restoration, and victory!

            This same ecstatic exclamation of joy and gladness at the prospects of the coming of God’s righteous judgment into the earth is found all through the psalms and the prophets.  If you are truly destined to stand among the company of the manifest sons of God, the long-awaited liberators of creation, you will most assuredly share the thrill of the heavenly vibration in the psalmist’s inspired song: “Say among the nations that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: HE SHALL JUDGE THE PEOPLE RIGHTEOUSLY.  Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof.  Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the forest rejoice before the Lord: for He cometh, for He cometh TO JUDGE THE EARTH: HE SHALL JUDGE THE WORLD WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS, and the people with His truth” (Ps. 96:10-13).

            “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, ALL THE EARTH: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.  Let the sea (raging, surging multitudes of humanity) roar, and the fullness thereof; THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN.  Let the floods (armies) clap their hands, let the hills (small kingdoms, third world nations) be joyful together before the Lord; for HE COMETH TO JUDGE THE EARTH: WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL HE JUDGE THE WORLD, and the people with equity” (Ps. 98:4,8-9).

            If you will take the time and make the effort to look up the words judge, judgment, and judgments in a good Bible Concordance, reading down the lists of scores upon scores of passages in which these words are found, you will quickly make the enlightening discovery that only occasionally do these terms denote the negative aspects of judgment: condemnation, wrath, and destruction.  In the vast majority of cases judgment is presented as something altogether desirable, beneficial, and glorious!  Consider these examples: “The Lord shall endure forever:  He hath prepared His throne for judgment.  And He shall judge the world in righteousness, He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness” (Ps. 9:7-8).  “Sing unto Him a new song…for the word of the Lord is right; all His works are done in truth.  He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” (Ps. 33:3-5). 

“Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.  Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound” (Ps. 89:14).  “I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing” (Ps. 101:1).  “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the nations.  He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.  A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.  He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait (expectantly) for His law” (Isa. 42:1-4).  “The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory” (Jer. 4:2).

            The passages above, and many more, reveal the great truth that the judgments of the Lord are unto truth, righteousness, and glory!  Anyone judging righteous judgment must be able to judge out of the mind, heart, nature, wisdom, and spirit of the Lord!  That is why our all-wise Father has restrained the winds of judgment until all those blessed ones who are apprehended to reign with Christ in His kingdom, to judge the nations, have been sealed in their foreheads with the mind and nature of the Lord!  As we go forth in the land to bring God’s righteous judgments to all men, we will not be zapping people with lightning bolts out of our finger tips, but we shall speak the wisdom, counsel, and commandment of the Lord out of the mind and heart of the Father in every situation! 

A beautiful example of what this means is given us by brother George Warnock as recorded in his book Seven Lamps of Fire.  He writes, “I recall a story about William Branham, a prophet of the last century.  One time in a large congregation there were one or two in the congregation causing some kind of disturbance.  As he sought the Lord quietly as to how to deal with it, the angel of the Lord (who accompanied brother Branham) said, ‘Speak the word, and I will stand behind it.’  He knew at that moment he had authority to pronounce whatever judgment was necessary, and that it would come to pass.  But he sought the Lord in the matter…and suddenly he knew what he was to say.  So he turned to the people who were causing the trouble, and said something like this: ‘The angel of the Lord told me he would stand behind the word that I will speak.  But in asking the Lord about it, I believe I am to say this: I forgive you.”  He mentioned the tremendous blessing that came upon him that evening when he went home, and how he sensed God’s pleasure in the decision he had made.  In the one and only private interview I had with this prophet, he said, “Now no matter what I tell you, or what any prophet might tell you — you must always go by what the Lord shows you…because even a prophet of God can be wrong…you know, Elisha was wrong when he cursed those children, and a bear came out of the woods and killed them…he shouldn’t have done that’”   — end quote.

            In the Bible the ones whom God raised up as judges for His people did more than just settle disputes between individuals or hand down and execute judicial decisions.  Those judges were actually THE DELIVERERS OF GOD’S PEOPLE!  There is one book in the Bible that is specifically named “Judges.”  As a book it is a thriller!  Therein we read of the fearless exploits of those mighty men whom God, “the Judge of all the earth,” raised up for the salvation and deliverance of His oppressed and afflicted people.  Hail the day of judgment that began when God raised up a judge to execute judgment for His afflicted ones! for these judges were, indeed, “saviours” of Israel by a special anointing of the Spirit of the Lord.

            Throughout the administration of the judges the people were blessed.  Note, for instance, how, when under oppression by their enemies because of a transgression against the Lord, Israel was again and again released and blessed by the raising up of judges.  Thus we read: “When the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer, who delivered them…and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war…and prevailed…and the land had rest” (Judges 3:9-11).  And again, “The Lord raised up judges that delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.  And when the Lord raised up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge” (Judges 2:16,18).

            Those wonderful judges were raised up long millenniums ago for the deliverance of Israel from their physical enemies; but now, in this glorious new age of the kingdom of God, the Lord is preparing a mighty COMPANY OF JUDGES whose responsibility it shall be to JUDGE THE WORLD in righteousness!  It is not from natural enemies such as Nazi Germany or Al Qaeda that these judges shall deliver the people, but from the real, true enemies of mankind — the carnal mind, the flesh, self-will, ignorance, sin, disobedience, rebellion, retaliation, war, bloodshed, brutality, immorality, unfaithfulness, greed, hatred, strife, anger, deceit, lying, ego, pride, sorrow, pain, sickness, weakness, limitation, fear, and the last and most powerful enemy of all — death! 

            “And he that overcometh…to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron (divine strength)” (Rev. 2:26-27).  “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne” (Rev. 3:21).  “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given unto them…” (Rev. 20:4,6).  “The ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Dan. 7:22).  “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” (I Cor. 6:2).  So, though the church and the world have long been under the power and oppression of the adversary, yet He who paid for the sins of all with His own precious blood will take His great power and reign in blessing over realms that hitherto have not known Him.  He will judge and deliver all those whom He so loved as to redeem!  With this ALL the prophetic declarations agree!

            Thank God!  The very thought of an age governed by the sons of God who are filled with the seven-fold intensified Spirit of the Lord leaves me absolutely breathless!  Words become totally inadequate and human ability to articulate the wonder of such a thing fails completely.  Our faltering minds cannot totally appreciate nor comprehend the glory that God is bringing to us in this hour, yet we have heard His word and received His promise in and by the Spirit, and His preparations are mighty within us.  It is indeed wonderful!

            Earlier I quoted the scripture passage wherein David said of the Lord, “The Lord shall endure forever: He hath prepared His throne for judgment.  He shall judge the world in righteousness, He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness” (Ps. 9:7-8).  God is preparing His throne for judgment!  His throne is a people that is emanating His authority, His life, His wisdom, and His power.  He sits within them; they are His enthronement.  And He is our enthronement!  These kingdom-thrones are sat upon by people who have been sealed in their foreheads by the Spirit of the living God.  They neither think nor act like the human judges of this world!  We know that His throne is a people that has realized within themselves the Father’s mind, nature, heart, and will.  Judgment has had such a limited meaning, but it is a broad and expansive word, and what it means for us is that by the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord within us we can see all things as they really are — then we can judge all things! 

Thus the word of the Lord says, “Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation; for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.  My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people” (Isa. 51:4-5).  He will cause His judgment to be light.  That is what we need — LIGHT!  Light is understanding.  You see, my beloved, when there is a people that can correctly see into the true nature of things, all nations will receive the wisdom of God and yield to His righteous rule.  Just as the wisdom in Solomon brought peace and blessing and prosperity to the kingdom of Israel, so shall the wisdom in the sons of God bring peace, blessing, and prosperity to all mankind!  Let me tell you something — the people of the world today are not rejecting Christ — they are rejecting the impotent, superstitious Christ of religion!  The people of the world, the Russians, the Chinese,  the Moslems, the Hindus, the Buddhists, the atheists — none of these have ever beheld the glory of the living Christ of God! They have heard sermons and platitudes, they have seen good works and ceremonies and rituals, they have seen missionaries and preachers and Christians doing all their religious things, and sermonizing about Jesus and the gospel, but they have never beheld HIM!   They have never seen the revelation and manifestation of Christ in His glory, power, and majesty!  But the real Christ, in the hour He appears, in the moment He speaks, men fall like dead men in the presence of His blazing glory and cry out, “Lord!  What wilt Thou have me to do?”  Before His awesome majesty men are transformed into new creation men! 

“He hath prepared His throne for judgment.  And He shall judge the world in righteousness, He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness” (Ps. 9:7-8).  No man spoke more than David about the judgments of the Lord coming into the earth, and the universal rulership of Christ the King.  Truly king David had a keen understanding of ruling, reigning, and judging, because he was a king!  But when David saw by the Spirit into these  words, he wasn’t speaking as a king — he was speaking the mind of God on behalf of all of us who would see the same truth.  “He will judge the world in righteousness.”  The question follows — how will God judge the world in righteousness?  Has anyone read the newspaper lately?  Has anyone listened to the television lately?  Have you seen what is happening in our society today, not to mention the wickedness and atrocities that are taking place all over the world?  How can David look at God and say, “He shall judge the world in righteousness!”  How can there ever be righteousness in this world?  How will God judge the world in righteousness?

When Paul was taking up the issue of truth with the world of His day he went to a city called Athens, one of the great centers of learning in the ancient world.  He went up on Mars Hill where there were philosophers and Epicureans and Stoics who liked to babble on and on about a great many things of which they had little understanding.  As Paul spoke to these Athenians, the first thing he told them was, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.  Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you!  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.  At the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will JUDGE THE WORLD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS BY THAT MAN WHOM HE HATH ORDAINED; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:22-31).    

The answer to the fact that God will judge the world in righteousness is that not only has He appointed the righteous Judge, but He has appointed a DAY.  Notice — He did not appoint a NIGHT.  It is the Day of the Lord, not the Night of the Lord!  If you listen to the eschatology of the popular churches today the judgment day is a terrible, horrendous, heart-wrenching time of gloom, doom, disaster, and destruction — but it is not an experience of doom and gloom, for it is God’s DAY.  The day comes by the rising of the sun — the experiencing of LIGHT AND ILLUMINATION!  The superstitious religious thinking is that one day the world is going to burn up and all the saints are going up to heaven; and then one by one we will each present ourselves before St. Peter and he will search our record, the video is going to play, and everyone will be embarrassed.  But I’m telling you that the judgment is going to happen right here on earth in the flesh.  That is what will make it so very real!  God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness and He has given absolute assurance about this in that He raised Christ from the dead.  Why didn’t Paul tell the Athenians about Christ’s miraculous birth?  Why didn’t he tell them about His marvelous ministry, His wonderful teaching, and the mighty signs, wonders, and miracles?  Why did he not tell them about His vicarious death?  Why didn’t he relate to them the gospel story?  Why did he skip from philosophy right over to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead?  Because that is what was on Paul’s mind.  That’s it.  THAT’S THE ISSUE!

Jesus Christ is the revelation of the Father, the Father’s expression, the Father’s word, who has all power in heaven and in earth!  He sits upon His Father’s throne and has power to change every one and every thing!  He has the power to put all enemies under His feet and solve the sin and death issue once and for all for mankind!  This is the resurrected Lord!  He ever liveth to accomplish all that the Father purposes for this world!  God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world by that man whom He hath ordained, and the assurance He has given to all men is that He has raised Him from the dead!  The lovely Christ who forgave sins, who conquered hearts, who healed the sick and raised the dead, who commanded the elements, has overcome death itself and now lives to bring forth a glorious body in the earth, a people empowered by His resurrection to deliver creation from the bondage of corruption.  Just “saving souls” is not the issue for the body of Christ, the sons of God.  Just “healing the sick,” “meeting needs,” “blessing hearts,” and “doing miracles” is not the issue for the sons of God.  God will do much more than that for mankind!  “The bondage of corruption” is the issue for the manifest sons of God!  That is the only ministry designated to the sons of God in the context of their manifestation (Rom. 8:18-23).  Only an incorruptible people in spirit, soul, and body can deliver men from both sin and death!  The manifest sons of God are the only people called, chosen, and ordained to rule, reign, judge, redeem, transform, and make holy, incorruptible, and immortal every man and everything upon the face of the earth!  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the assurance to all men that Christ our Lord will raise up in the earth His own glorious body in the power of His resurrection to DELIVER CREATION FROM THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION!  Isn’t it wonderful!

We have a calling in the kingdom of God that is greater and more expansive than anything we could ever have imagined!  The Lord chose this calling for us, and He will also see to it that we lay hold upon it, not with these old worn-out bodies of flesh and blood, but with our new, incorruptible and immortal bodies that are just like HIS!  “We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).  The thought of being incorruptible and immortal, possessing a body like Christ’s body of glory, is beyond us.  It is a mystery that is unknown to mortal man.  Yet it is our Father’s promise for every one of us who has received the call to sonship!  And despite the mystery of it, our Father is able to bring it to pass in our lives, for His glory!  This mighty change has nothing to do with the health of our present bodies, or any vitamins, minerals, herbs, or supplements that we can take!  Our natural, earthly, fleshly bodies are corruptible and dying!  All who read these lines are continuing to “age” every day of your life!  These “vile” bodies must be changed by the power of Christ’s resurrection, and this is a pure work of the Spirit, which shall also be fulfilled by the Spirit!

The flesh and man’s ministry will have no part in that glorious work of the Spirit!  The promise is, “The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (I Cor. 15:52-53).  What a wonderful promise this is!  There can be no manifest sonship short of this great work of the Spirit in us.  “For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God…because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty (from sin and death) of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption (placement as sons), to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:19-23).  Our Father has given us assurance that the hour is wonderfully nigh at hand when the sons shall be changed in spirit, soul, and body into the likeness of Christ in the power of His resurrection!  Our deliverance from sin, carnality, corruption, and mortality is the very thing that will release the “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  This great spiritual work has already begun within us, for we are progressively and continually being transformed into His image and likeness.  What a wonderful future we have in Christ!  What a grand and glorious hope all mankind has in Christ!  God is preparing a people, a transformed people, a qualified people, a victorious people, an incorruptible people in the nature of God — prepared as His judgment in the earth.  Oh, the wonder of it!

How is judgment going to come to the world?  Not by some fire-ball crashing out of the sky with a whip saying, “Ah-ha, I’m going to get you now!”  That is the mentality of the church world.  But that is not what is going to happen!  God is going to bring forth Christ in His people.  When Christ appears on earth again in the fullness of His power and resurrection in His many-membered body, it will bring judgment and it will bring truth and life.  It will be judgment, but it will rest for a light to the people!  It will be judgment, but it will cause the inhabitants of the world to learn righteousness!  It will be judgment, but it will deliver creation from the bondage of corruption!  The body of Christ bears a message and manifestation of LIFE, not destruction!  That’s righteousness — judgment!

The Lord is coming in a people, and through this people all the people of the world shall at last be convinced of the error of their ways and of the correctness of the ways of the Lord!  The apostle Jude says it plainly, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment 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” (Jude 14-15).  Every mouth will be stopped!  All the evolutionists, atheists, humanists, scientists, educators, politicians, along with all the wicked of every class will be forever silenced, speechless before the glory of His power!  While the King James Bible says, “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints,” the Greek text actually reads, “The Lord came in holy myriads OF HIMSELF.”  HOLY MYRIADS OF HIMSELF — a people of His own image!  Man in the beginning was created in the image and likeness of God and commanded to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with the image and the spirit of God.  And today the Christ spirit in union with the new Eve, the bride of Christ, is reproducing His image in the earth and the hour is upon us when they are going to stand in radiant glory and HE SHALL APPEAR IN HOLY MYRIADS OF HIMSELF — TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT UPON ALL AND CONVINCE ALL!  Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who hath made us kings and priests and judges unto God and we shall reign on the earth!

Now in saying, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads,” it becomes evident that a work must be accomplished within the judges before they are qualified or commissioned to judge.  You see, there can be no righteous judgment out of us in a heavenly realm until we have been sealed in our foreheads — until we have put on the nature of our Father and the mind of Christ.  The day which God has appointed, in the which He shall judge the world, is now at hand.  The judges for this day are now in preparation for their awesome task!  Yes, you shall judge the world, saints…but you will do it in humility and with a broken heart full of compassion and love.  The first aspect of the ministry of the judges in this new kingdom day is judgment.  This work, however, shall be swiftly followed by the second ministry of mercy, deliverance, and restoration, for God’s judgments are ever unto correction and redemption.  Praise God!

After six millenniums of sin, sorrow, tyranny, war, oppression, pain, and death mankind needs DELIVERANCE!  The NATIONS need a change!  For six thousand years the earth has been governed by the will of carnal men and the will of man has been usurped by the mind of Satan.  The nations have been governed variously by kings, emperors, dictators, prime ministers, and presidents, but the net result has always been the same, for the corrupt nature of man ever asserts itself, seeking its own purposes, fulfilling its own desires, and doing its own will.

Are the people not deeply disappointed and perplexed today by the political and judicial systems that operate in this hour, even here in the United States of America?  Truly I can say to you that in our time, as at no previous time, is when the words of the Psalmist have come true as a prophecy in respect to men in a political and judicial capacity who are like “gods” but have betrayed the people in their office: “They know not, neither will they understand: they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course” (Ps. 82:5).   Or, as the Amplified Bible so aptly translates, “The magistrates and judges know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth (the fundamental principles upon which rests the administration of justice) are shaking.”

Can anyone possibly imagine what would happen to a nation if all the members of its government were completely selfless instead of completely selfish, if they were sons of God walking in the mind and spirit of Christ, instead of handshaking, baby-kissing, politicians seeking to curry the favor of men for personal advantage, or if the judges judged by the spirit of wisdom and discernment from God instead of by the tricky technicalities of the law!  What if the leaders of the world were filled with the Holy Spirit of God and moved under the power of His anointing turning men to God instead of building larger armies and navies, more sophisticated missiles, and more destructive bombs?  What if judges and social workers had the word of God in their mouths and power to cast the demon spirits out of men instead of carrying them off to some ungodly psychiatrist, psychologist, mental hospital, or prison?  To even contemplate such things in this age of darkness only serves to bring a sad smile to our faces, but I can assure you in all confidence that this present day of darkness is even now merging into God’s glorious DAY OF JUDGMENT where all things shall be made new.  The whole system is rapidly sinking and collapsing around us and God is even now preparing a righteous government of holy sons of God to replace it!

            Destruction of the demonized systems of this world will certainly call for a change of judgeships over mankind.  According to our Father’s gracious provision, then, new thrones of judgment come into existence!  Nothing else but a better body of judges could be expected to occupy those thrones of judgment, which are established by God’s authority in the heavenlies!  God’s judges will not be men in judicial robes sitting on a bench in a courtroom.  Oh, no!  God’s judges shall be men possessing the mind of Christ, clothed with the omniscient wisdom, omnipotent power, and incorruptible life of God, sitting upon the throne of God’s  glory, speaking the words of God with divine authority and creative energy.  Mighty deliverance and transformation will come upon misled, misruled, and misjudged mankind!   Isn’t it wonderful!

THE FOUR ANGELS AND THE FOUR WINDS

            “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the winds should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” (Rev. 7:1-3).

            Gazing down through the telescope of the spirit of revelation John sees at the four points of the compass four angels striving with the four winds of the earth, which are about to rush in.  The four mighty angels stand like four living watch-towers on the four corners of the widespread earth.  And these four august spirits hold a special command from God to keep sleepless watch and command at the four gates of the earth.  So vigilant are those four heavenly sentinels that not so much as one breath of angry air passes through their gates until they are released by the mind of Christ in God’s sons.

            The three-fold repetition of the number four in the “four angels, four corners of the earth, and four winds,” emphasizes the number of the earth.  The four angels are standing on the “four corners of the earth.”  They are holding, not the “four winds of heaven,” spoken of in other prophecies, but the “four winds of the earth.”   The four winds of the “earth” under a different figure are the seven spirits of God “sent forth into all the earth.”  How very significant that in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, all three languages which have played so prominent a part in the history of the written scriptures, the word “spirit” is closely linked with the “wind.”  To the writers of the Old Testament the wind that blew down from the mountains and came in from the sea seemed like the breath of God; in it they saw a parallel to the mysterious, invisible action of the Holy Spirit.  The record of creation in the book of Genesis opens thus, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.”  The Spirit, or breath of God, which moved over the waters in the creation of nature, also gave life to man.  “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”  It was the Spirit, or the breath, or the wind of God that gave man life!  The relationship between wind and breath is still expressed today when someone says, “I had the wind knocked out of me!”  They mean their breath.  And the breath of God is the spirit of God which is also the wind of God!  That is the mystery!

             The four angels are four messengers, or a four-fold message, a four-fold word, sent forth from God respecting the moving of His Spirit across the earth!  The angels represent an administration and activity of the Holy Spirit by the word of the Lord!  These are not four literal angels holding the literal winds of the earth.  These are symbols, word pictures of mighty spiritual operations and workings!  The use of God’s “winds” to bring either judgment or deliverance and life to His people is not new.  Consider the work of His winds in the following passages:

            “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears…and He rode upon a cherub and did fly: yea, He did fly upon the wings of the wind” (Ps. 18:6,10).  “Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: He sendeth forth His commandment upon the earth: His word runneth very swiftly.  He sendeth out His word…He causeth His wind to blow…He showeth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel” (Ps. 147:6,15-19).  “Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.  So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived…” (Eze. 37:9-10).  “And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come” (Jer. 49:36).  “And with the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap…Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters”  (Ex. 15:8,10).  “Behold, I will make thee (into) a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains (kingdoms) and beat them small, and shalt make the hills (small kingdoms) as chaff.  Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel”  (Isa. 41:15-16).

            Webster’s dictionary defines wind as “air in motion; a strong, fast moving current of air; gale.”  Thus the four winds of the earth denote a spiritual movement as air in transit, the mighty power of the breath of God sweeping across the face of the earth and the sea, bringing either blessing or judgment.  It is the power and manifestation of the kingdom of God by the Spirit of the Lord!  Jesus said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell from whence it cometh” (Jn. 3:8).  He could have even gone on to say, “thou hearest the sound thereof, thou seest the trees bending, thou seest the leaves and dust flying before it, but canst not tell whence it cometh.”  Although the wind itself cannot be seen, we bear witness by the results that it is a mighty power!  It is a power that can move and change things!  When God moves by His Spirit you cannot see Him moving in any tangible way, but you see the effects as things begin to happen and move and change.  That is exactly how the kingdom of God works by the moving of the Spirit of the Lord — God making His rule effective!  It comes “without observation” into the hearts of men by the invisible yet powerful action of the Spirit of God.  As the Lord moves sovereignly and mightily by His Spirit, the effect goes out and things everywhere begin to change!

            The wind can accomplish positive things by helping plant life to proliferate through pollination and the distribution of seed across the countryside.  It can blow the smoke and smog out of a valley, bringing wonderful relief to the people with breathing problems.  It can cool the day, giving respite from the stifling heat.  Or, it can be destructive, as we have seen in the case of hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis!  The force behind these winds can be tremendous, absolutely breath-taking to experience, leaving behind a trail of desolation, trees plucked up by the roots, houses left as rubble, and some things disappear entirely from their location.  That is what the Lord was talking about when He prophesied through the prophet Jeremiah that He would send His “wind” and scatter Elam until there would not be a nation on earth that the people of Elam had not been scattered into!  Of course it was not the literal wind that scattered Elam, but the moving of God by His Spirit, creating the conditions that caused their scattering.  The Lord can bring beautiful blessings through His mild and gentle winds, or He can root out and destroy kingdoms with His fierce and mighty winds.  In the early 1990’s God sent His powerful winds and demolished the empire of the Communist Soviet Union!  Oh, yes, it was our God and Father who did this!  Who could possibly hold back the winds,  prevent them from blowing, or send them forth in whatever power and force needful?  None but God!  He alone is the Master of the Winds!

            The Argentine prophetess known as Annie has shared the following experience she had in the Spirit.  “Having a painful sore throat that day which made it very difficult to swallow, I thought that I would not be able to enter into the Spirit.  But the urge to get alone with Him and pray was too strong to put off even for sickness, so I went to prayer.  Suddenly I was THERE and I saw Jesus.  His whole body was suspended high in the heavens and as always, His whole being and raiment was radiant with that light that ever accompanies Him.  A number of angels were there with Him but took no part in this vision; they were but spectators.  All around Him and enveloping Him, there was a most strange and powerful wind blowing.  There was no debris in this wind but it was fully visible: it had substance and consistency and was full of life and light.  But its most marked characteristic was its great manifestation of POWER.  It blew with great power and might!  It not only enveloped Jesus and the angels, but me also.  At first I saw it from a distance, but then I was moved to be within this great wind and I found myself beside Him.

            “With all this tremendous manifestation of power in this living wind, I was not afraid because Jesus spoke to me telling me not to fear.  His word filled me with great peace.  The wind was blowing with great velocity, although I could not tell from whence it came.  After a while, in the midst of this most strange and invigorating wind, Jesus spoke to me saying that soon there would be a taking hold of His strength and power, and a marching forth in the paths that He had already marked out, promising that He would accompany His own throughout these paths.  Returning to my natural state, I found myself bathed in sweat though the day was cold.  My throat was entirely healed and the infection did not return”   —   end quote.

            The number four in Biblical numerology bespeaks the earth, or that which pertains to the earth.  It also denotes the world, and that which is world-wide.  The earth and the world have four regions: north, south, east, and west.  There are four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.  Our atmosphere experiences four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.  There are four kingdoms: mineral, vegetable, animal, and spiritual.  And there are four winds — from the four directions of the planet.  Our heavenly Father controls the winds, both the natural and the spiritual.  At this very moment His winds of judgment are restrained.  Don’t buy into the notion, dear ones, that God is actively out there judging the nations today.  Oh, no!  His word has gone forth, and throughout this age of grace the heavenly sentinels have stood at the gates and held those winds in their fists during all this time that the Lord has been forming His body in the earth.  The winds of judgment will not be released until all the holy sons of God have been sealed in their foreheads!  Then the winds shall sweep across the earth in mighty power, with irresistible force to bring a new age and a new order of righteousness, glory, and life into the earth for all mankind! 

            Hold those winds, angels — God is finishing His work in us — the manifestation of God through His sons is drawing nigh!