Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment– this honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 149:5-9)
According to Psalm 149, all believers have the right, the divine right, to decree judgment in the Name of the Lord. The closer we draw to the time of the end, the more visibly this authority will be manifested in the Church, culminating in the ministry of the two witnesses in Jerusalem who – as stated in John’s Revelation – “have POWER to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues AS OFTEN AS THEY DESIRE.” (Revelation 11:6)
As stated in the scripture above, “this honor have all His saints.” It is an awesome responsibility.
Already in the Old Covenant there is evidence of this reality, when Elijah not only has power, through God, to shut up the heavens so that there is no rain; he also brings God’s fiery judgment twice on the captain and his 50 men, as is written in 2 Kings 1:9-16.
So Elijah answered and said to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. (v 12)
Equally with Elijah’s successor Elisha, similar judgment was meted out, a passage seldom used by preachers today but nevertheless in the Scriptures:
Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. (2 Kings 2:23-24)
In the book of Daniel it intimates that the ‘watchers’ or ‘holy ones’ – together with the Lord – have the power to bring evil rulers down and move others into power. Here is the passage:
“This decision is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.” (Daniel 4:17)
Now, according to the Word of God, there are at least three ways in which nations or cities that have been placed under Divine judgment can be redeemed:
1. By a fixed announcement of God’s judgment, as Jonah was instructed to speak out to Nineveh:
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
(Jonah 3:1-4)
The effect of this dry and seemingly absolute announcement of God’s judgment – as spoken by His prophet – was that the people of Nineveh believed God and hastened to proclaim a citywide fast in which everyone took part “from the greatest to the least of them” (3:5). And the consequence of this heartfelt repentance was that “God relented from the disaster that He said He would bring upon them, and HE DID NOT DO IT. (3:10, emphasis added).
But note that Jonah’s was not a message of the kind preached by so many today, when they declare: “If we will not humble ourselves and pray and repent from our evil ways, then God’s judgments will come upon us.” No! Jonah’s message was not an “if.” It was a sure and unequivocal announcement of God’s impending judgment. The LORD had already ruled and announced His verdict, handing down the sentence. The countdown to the judgment had already begun! And there was no sign, no suggestion, no hint of a different outcome. No invitation to appeal!
It was this fierce announcement of God’s judgment already on the way – the ordained destruction of that great city – that caused the people to repent and fast in sackcloth!! They believed God and His messenger!
And this same truth is stated in Jeremiah 18:7-8:
The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I WILL RELENT OF THE DISASTER THAT I THOUGHT TO BRING UPON IT. (Emphasis added.)
2. The second way by which God was willing to save a nation, in this case His own people, was by placing into the position of power those who would serve as instruments of His vengeance on the Jezebels and other unrighteous of their day. This is how He responded, when a deeply troubled and desperate servant of His poured out his heart to the Lord at Horeb:
“I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. IT SHALL BE THAT WHOEVER ESCAPES THE SWORD OF HAZAEL, JEHU WILL KILL; AND WHOEVER ESCAPES THE SWORD OF JEHU, ELISHA WILL KILL. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:14-18, emphasis added.)
It was on the basis of the 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal (today’s sanctified holy ones, or intercessors) that hope remained of a newly appointed spiritual (Elisha) and political (Jehu) leadership for Israel.
Would that still be a possibility through God’s watchers, in relation to the United States today, for instance?
3. The third way in which God redeemed this nation in the past is through nation-wide judgment. We see this in the story of King David who foolishly, in pride, and against God’s own command not to do so, counted the number of his people. As it is written:
Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. … And God was displeased with this thing THEREFORE HE STRUCK ISRAEL.
Then David said to God: “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” And the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ‘ ” So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Choose for yourself, either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the Lord–the plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” SO THE LORD SENT A PLAGUE UPON ISRAEL, AND SEVENTY THOUSAND MEN OF ISRAEL FELL. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. (1 Chronicles 21:1,7-16)
This is an astounding passage. It shows that sometimes (maybe many times, as God did in His dealings with His Israel), the Lord has to bring national disasters upon a people in order to shake them into repentance, even as is written here: ”
that the Lord looked and relented of the disaster” also when He saw that David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces (1 Chronicles 21:16).
So in these three ways God in His great, great mercy, is willing to give a city or a nation a second chance:
- By the fierce announcement of His impending judgment
- By moving into position the right spiritual and political leadership by way of “His watchers of holy ones”
- By using national disasters to bring nations to repentance.
Is it already too late for the United States?
I am deeply concerned – every day – for what lies ahead for the United States, a country loved by so many believers. Is there still a hope for a respite? I so hope and pray, together with many of my brothers and sisters in that nation – a nation God has used so much in the past as a channel of blessing to Israel and many nations of the world; a nation that has produced some of the key servants used by God to bring His Word and Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.
May it yet be as it is written in Joel 2:12-14:
“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him– a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
Who knows!
