Today, focus is on who has legitimate authority to determine the duration, purity, quality, and value of the living. Divine law is “the expressed will of God;” and in the same way the pattern “ABC” foretells the coming of “XYZ”, sacred law proclaims the coming of divine wrath against sin, the second death, and the final elimination through judgment of all opposition to GOD. There are many in society now who want to complain against various things they encounter in their lives. They operate as if they are a “law unto themselves,” are bound only by self-will, and feel they are correct to be vocal about their own choices and opinions. While it is reasonable for a person to speak their own private understandings of the truth, Christian believers are challenged to speak only in agreement with divine law, the holy writings, sacred promises and prophecy, eternal purpose, and the revelation of GOD through Jesus Christ. Equal respect are to be shown to the underlying principles, process, and spirit of the law as well as to the determination, ruling, and sentence of the law. It is written: Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he (Deuteronomy 32: 1-4, King James Version, KJV). A fighter at “Yahoo! Answers” using the ID “Corey” (September 15, 2015) posted the following:
True or False: Only God can judge us?
THE GOLDEN ARROW: Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13: 1-10, KJV)
THE DOUBLE DAGGER: The Respect of Persons? (10/14/2016); Law, Vengeance, and Punishment? (09/30/2016); About Judgment By GOD (08/29/2016); Natural and Spiritual Law? (06/30/2016); As Agents of Divinity (06/12/2016); A Learned Council of Elders? (05/10/2016); Damnation And The Cross? (03/06/2016)
“Corey”, many mature Christian believers regard exercising sound “judgment” (assessing danger, risk, and threat; assigning value; using fixed standards to measure and acknowledge difference and sameness) as an essential gift from GOD, and a continuous and widespread “life process” for mankind. All living must consider and weigh alternatives among such features as actions, meanings, opportunities, possibilities, and relationships. As a response to divinity, “judgment” (applying sanctions expressed through sacred law that may include condemnation, correction, and punishment) appears as duty, obedience, and a revelation of divine will that also should show man to be made in the image of GOD, who has been revealed as a law giver, enforcer of the law, and judge. As the application of divine law to resolve conflicts and settle disputes, judgment always restores balance, maintains divine order, and produces peace. The authority of men in divine judgment is always only that of agents, representatives, and spokespersons who proclaim, carry out, and perform the will of the Maker, who is owner and sovereign ruler over all. There are aspects of divine judgment that can be declared among men, yet, be completed and fulfilled only by divinity. Thus, the fullness of GOD that includes wrath against sin eventually will be emanated, poured forth, and revealed without further restraint, or warning. Consider again how some of this is stated using language from the Bible:
(1.) Deuteronomy 1: 13-17, King James Version (KJV): 13 Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 14 And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. 15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. 16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
(2.) Deuteronomy 16: 18-20, KJV: 18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. 20 That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
(3.) Zephaniah 2: 2-3, KJV: 2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you. 3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’s anger.
(4.) Deuteronomy 17: 6-12, KJV: 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you. 8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; 9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: 10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: 11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
There is far more to be said, correctly applied, and spiritually apprehended. (For example, (5.) 2nd Peter 3: 8-10, KJV: 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.) Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith.
THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC
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