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UNDERSTANDING PROPHECIES OF JUDGMENT



We want to touch on understanding prophecies of judgment. All prophecies must comfort, edify and exalt according to I Cor. 14. At the same time there are prophecies in the area of warning or judgment. How do we handle them? How do we receive them? And what are the laws involved in that area. First of all we want to point to the fact that any person who has reasonable wisdom and understanding of God's Word; or any matured person who has an understanding of God and how He works will always be able to predict a disaster before it comes. That is not in a prophetic realm. That is in a totally different area called prediction by the law. We know the law of sowing and reaping. If we sow the wrong seed we will reap the wrong result. It doesn't take a prophet to a give a word of prophecy to tell someone who is living in sin that look here something is going to happen. You don't need the Spirit of prophecy to give a prophecy like that. So we will talk of two major areas.



Section 1 : Sources of Prophecies of Judgment



The first major area on the area of receiving a prophecy that has some judgment involved. Understand that there are three different areas that we have impressions of pending judgment. You could sense it on a person's life or on a community or on a nation. The more wisdom you have the more you can move into that area. There are three major areas of those impressions.



1. Understanding the Law of God



The first is the law of God. Understanding of the law of God gives us an ability to sort of predict certain things coming. And that's more by study. People are sometimes confused between the ability to pick up future events based on their walk with God or knowledge of the bible or the Spirit of prophecy. We cannot use those things in the area of prophecy. But we can share and counsel in those areas.



Lets look in the book of Revelation and see the relationship of judgment to wisdom. Speaking about the manifestation of the anti-Christ. Chapter 13:17-18 So that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. Then it says in verse 18 This calls for wisdom; let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty six. Why doesn't he call a prophet? Instead he calls a wise man. There is an area where spiritual and natural wisdom gives us an ability to receive impressions of impending judgment based on the law of sowing and reaping. The more you know God's Word and the deeper your relationship is with God, the more your ability to do that is much greater than an average person.



I have studied God's Word on the life and the birth of nations and a whole prophetic realm in nations. I have some understanding on that subject. For example in the book of Genesis when Cain killed Abel God said that the earth will no more bear the abundance of the fruit that is supposed to bring forth because the earth have received innocent blood. Based on the understanding and there are many other scriptures that are in line with that, it tells me something, a truth, a principle, a law that in any city in any country where innocent blood is shed and the innocent blood hits the ground that nation will experience a famine somewhere along the line. So people who are not skillful in this area may think that a person who can predict such future events about a nation is an international prophet. However you can even do the same if you base it on that understanding of God's Word. I could predict easily by looking at the front-page news what will happen to that nation in three to five years time. This is based on wisdom and not based on the Spirit of prophecy or gift of prophecy. Wisdom can go a long way into the prophetic realm.



So the first area we need to understand on receiving a prophecy of judgment is that it was given based on the understanding of the law of God. We need to be aware that sometimes what we are picking up is based on the inner wisdom or inner understanding of reaping and sowing. Otherwise we could be prophesying to everybody all the time not under the Spirit of prophecy, not under the office of a prophet but under the understanding of the law of God. Of course as you fellowship with people you pick up in their lives certain things that are right and certain things that are wrong. Based on what you pick up you could easily predict based on wisdom and the law of God the person's life in three to five years time. That's not prophecy. Some people think that they are so great when they say an accident is going to happen. There is nothing great about receiving a prophecy like that. The prophetic realm deals with impression and we got to classify them correctly. So there are three realms that we got to watch out where, how and which way the impression comes. First is the law of God. And understanding of that law sub-consciously and consciously causes us to be able to receive areas of judgment in peoples' life or in a city or in a nation.



2. The Condition of the Heart



The second realm is where a prophet wrestles. An example for that is in the book of I Kings chapter 13. We deal with some false prophecy here. Why sometimes a false prophecy comes about. The first is wisdom and understanding and I talked about it in a positive sense. But sometimes it works negatively. People who know a lot of sowing and reaping can predict certain things by looking at person's life and they use it as a prophecy. It is not right. If I know you have not been spending time with God, it is easy for me to say such and such a thing is going to happen to you. There is no big deal in that.



Secondly things that lead us to false prophecy and claiming that is a prophecy from God is in I Kings 13 and here is an old prophet and a young prophet. Verse 11-19 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words also which he had spoken to the king, they told to their father. And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. And he said to his sons, "Saddle the ass for me." so they saddled the ass for him and he mounted it. And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, "Are you the man of God came from Judah?" And he said, "I am." Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread." And he said, "I may not return with you, or go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place; for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, "You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came." And he said to him, "I also am prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord saying, "Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water." But he lied to him. So he went back with him and ate bread in his house, and drank water.



So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. It happened that while they were eating the Spirit of God really came and real judgment came. And the poor young prophet died because the old prophet lied to him. How could that happened? The second area is the heart. When we desire something to happen to some people we tend to receive prophecies in that realm. Here the old prophet wanted this man to come. His heart was already made up and so he cooked up a prophecy and he called it a prophecy and said, "The Lord told me to bring you home." Such people are so used to handling prophecy loosely and say, "Thus say the Lord," too easily. And being so acquainted with "thus says the Lord," he just says, "The Lord told me." He probably hoped that nothing serious would happen. The old prophet just wanted to have a good meal fellowship and send that person off. But he doesn't realize how serious it is.



Many times when people are unhappy with certain things and they have to part fellowship and go their separate way, do you notice how easy it is for them to receive predictive judgmental prophecy from others?  That is not the Lord. The Old Testament prophets never give prophecies of judgment to such people who leave a fellowship. When a person has to leave any place or any fellowship the first natural thing that runs through the others' minds and hearts is the human desire to see justice done and to see that something is going to happen there. That's not correct. Even if it is a real prophecy its too colored and too polluted by the desire to see justice or even revenge done and it is so easy to predict judgment and disaster because of wrong desires. We got our own made up desires. That's the second area to watch out. First is the law, second is the heart.



3. The Influence of the Ruling Evil Spirit



The third area is found in the book of I Kings chapter 22 there were a bunch of false prophets against one true prophet. Verse 11 and 12 And Zedekiah the son of Chonaanah  made for himself horns of irons and said, Thus says the Lord,, "With these you shall push the Syrians  until they are destroyed." But this is not true. Zedekiah the false prophet says, "thus says the Lord." Verse 12 And all the prophets prophesied so, and said, "Go up to Ramothgilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king."  And then they ask for Micaiah the true prophet to come. Micaiah came and the king said, "Tell me what did the Lord say?" Micaiah tried to make fun. He knows the king just wants to hear approval of what he already made up his mind to do. Just like some people do when they come for counseling. They are not asking for counsel and to change their ways or to give them a better way to follow. But they just want you to confirm what they have decided. If you cannot confirm what they decided they would think that something is wrong with you not them.



And so Micaiah tried to make fun of him and said in verse 14 As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak. In verse 15 the king said Micaiah shall I go to Ramothgilead. Remember the king here is king Ahab a terrible king. And he says Go up and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king." And the king knew from the tone of his voice this fellow is just making fun. He said come on tell me the truth what the Lord said and then he told him what the Lord said. He says in verse 17 I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that has no shepherd; and the Lord said, "These have no master; let each return to his home in peace."  Then verse 19 Micaiah continued saying "Therefore hear the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside Him on His right and on His left; and the Lord said, "Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead?" And one said one thing; and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord said to him, "I will entice him."



What's happening here? What strange story is this that takes place in the spirit realm? Lets consider every avenue. First of all there was this heavenly conference going on. And in that conference God has determined judgment to come on king Ahab. We see predestination is on two levels. God said in the book of Romans that he has chosen Pharaoh for destruction. That didn't take place at the beginning. It took place after many plagues. Pharaoh kept resisting God until God says this is the last straw. From this moment on there is no chance of turning back. God is going to put His destructive judgmental power on him. So it got down to the second level of predestination where there is no turning back. King Ahab had already gone into that area. He continually disobeyed God. He and Jezebel did one evil after another. And he reached a point where he had dropped into the judgment slot destined for judgment.



So now God was going to bring judgment on Ahab. If you read carefully that incident looks like as if God was about to pronounce judgment. From verse 21 it looks like this spirit came from a totally different place because he was a demonic spirit. In the Hebrew's understanding that when it says, "God sent," it is "God permitted." And it was this evil spirit that came. A spirit of false prophecy came and sort of demanded for Ahab. As usual when people fall into a judgment category evil spirits will make demands.  You will understand more of it as you go through a teaching on that subject. You remember how Satan makes demand for Peter. Satan asked for Peter in the gospel of Luke. Jesus told Peter, "Simon, Simon Satan desired to have you." Why did Satan demand for him? Peter was under Jesus' protection and covering. But Peter was opening his life to more errors of judgment like how he resisted Jesus from going to the cross. There is something he did right and there is something he did wrong. Every time you sin and every time you do something wrong there is a grace area that covers you. But it reaches a time where Satan, the accuser of the brethren will demand justice from God. And he will demand that God remove that protection because God cannot legally protect you anymore. God being God of love will protect you as much as possible. And Peter was opening too many doors but yet Jesus said, "I prayed for you."



So there is this king Ahab and there comes this spirit from the enemy and wants to take over Ahab and the whole place. The Lord says, "Let him have it." See God is protecting our lives all the time. But Satan and demons make demands when we give in to the wrong thing. The grace will cover us. There is a limit of grace. There is no more protection if you go too far. What happens here is that the evil spirit is now given the right over Israel. For so long king Ahab had worshipped idols. King Ahab has turned to evil after evil until he dropped into the judgment category. So an evil spirit is now going to reign and rule over Israel as a principality and power and cause all of Israel to be deceived.



There is such a thing as principality powers, wicked rulers of darkness of this age, wicked spirit in high places as mentioned in Eph. 6:18. Every city has a spirit. Every nation Satan assigns demonic forces. When we pray for a nation or a city we can through prayers and intercession push aside all the wrong spirits and place in hand angelic powers to assist and help. So some nations are under the direct influence of guardian angels that God sent. But some are totally controlled by demon forces. Evil spirits controlled people like Hitler and through him ruled Germany during his time because he yielded to those spirits.



And so here is Ahab and Israel was the chosen of God and here Ahab has yielded to evil and idolatry so long until God's patience has come to a point that if God don't do anything, (please understand this phrase is in human terms), quote unquote He would have been guilty of not being the Lord who guards His own laws. So understand that every time God operates judgment it is because He has to do it to protect the lawfulness of His creation. Its just like if criminals are no more punished. And every time you commit a crime all the police say is, "Never mind." What will happen? In the end society will not respect the people who guard the law. But if the law is guarded and anyone who breaks the law is punished, then people are motivated to keep the law.



So God has spiritual laws that govern over these areas. And it reached a point where if God doesn't step in and allow something to take place then here is going to be an area where God's law and His character are not fulfilled. God allowed the whole of Israel has come under this false spirit. And here we are talking about impressions.



Our impression we received in the area of judgment are influenced No. 1 by the law and the inner understanding we have on God's Word and God's law.



Secondly they are influenced by the decision in our heart.



Thirdly there is a spirit over a city and a country. When you enter into any place a city or a country that is under the control of that spirit, it becomes easier to sense those kinds of thoughts. Like for example if you go to a city that is ruled by lust and you could be a righteous person. The moment you step across those borders you could sense that there is greater pressure in that area. Each spirit has a certain influence. Or if you go into a country where pride is the ruling force.  You could be a humble person but the moment you step across those borders suddenly there is a greater pressure to be proud. See each spirit ruling force is over that country. But if a country is ruled by guardian angels then the moment you step into that country you sense the peace of God, the presence of God. Or if a city has an open heaven over it, as you enter that area there is a drawing to seek God even though you never think about God much or is a backslidden believer. So such things are happening all the time.



Third point is very important. When a place or a country is under a ruling spirit, people who are not aware or trained in this area of prophecy and who easily yield themselves to the spirit of prophecy tend to pick up from that spirit as well. And if they are not discerning they don't realize that they are picking it up the influences that are so much in that spirit because that place doesn't have an open heaven. They can hear from God but at the same time they are hearing a lot of other things. And it could enter into their soul and they cannot differentiate.



At the time when that evil spirit was ruling over Israel, every prophet who prophesied kept hearing the same message, "Go to Ramothgilead." That evil spirit is ruling and giving a false message to those prophets. The angels of God have left that is why Israel was lost. All these false prophets like Zedekiah and this bunch of prophets prophesied the wrong thing because they pick up false messages from that evil spirit. Some of them may be sincere even. We don't know all of them.



Lets see this on a smaller scale. Every time you go into a home that has a ruling spirit. When the Spirit of God is there you sense Him. When there is another spirit that is ruling at home, say a spirit of violence, you enter into that home you could sense it. Now when you are sensing the presence of a evil spirit in a home and because you are coming into that spirit territory, you have to be more careful in discerning what you are picking up because it may not be God. Even though you are a true prophet you can still pick up a wrong thing because you are entering into the boundary and territory of that spirit. This explains why every other prophet got the wrong prophecy except one. Micaiah had a bigger vision than that and saw that spirit ruling over Israel.



So these are the three areas to watch out as you deal with prophecies of judgment. Whether you are picking up because of the wisdom, the law of God. Picking up because of the condition of the heart that is influencing your prophecies. Or picking up because you are picking from the evil spirit that is in that place. Once you are tuned into the spirit realm you receive everything in the spirit realm. We got to discern which is of God until we have fine-tuned to that which is from God. We could clear out all the other wrong things.



Those are the first three areas that cover the precaution people must take to move into this area.