FEAST OF TABERNACLES—Day 4, 2006

JUDGE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT #1

Fred Coulter – October 10, 2006

And greetings brethren, welcome to the 4th day of the Feast of Tabernacles 2006.  Now, for today and tomorrow, and perhaps even up to the sixth day, we are going to cover Judge Righteous Judgment and this is the new booklet that we will have that we will send out for you so you be able to see it.  Here it is.  Judge Righteous Judgment.  And why is that important.  I think this is one of the most key things that we need to understand.  And so, let's go back here to Revelation 20, and let's see that that's what is going to be given to us.  Now, how are we going to judge the world, if we don't learn out of make righteous judgments now?  How is that possibly going to be?  How is God going to give us the rulership of the world, if we don't have a clue as to what we are supposed to do?  Now we realize that when we're resurrected, and are spirit beings, yes, we're going to have added abilities and added things given to us, but the basic character that we need to build now and the basic decision-making process needs to be formulated now.  Before the resurrection.  Now, let's read it right here, Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones;” and remember Jesus said that He sat down in His father's throne and that if we overcome, we’ll sit down with Him in His throne.  That doesn't mean we'll all be sitting in His throne.  That means, we will be under the judgment jurisdiction of Christ and we will administer, based upon His authority that He gives to us, judgment for the whole world.  “I saw thrones; and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given to them;” (Rev. 20:4, FV).  Now this becomes a very important thing for us to understand, how we need to exercise judgment; how we need to put it together today.

Now let's come back here to John the 5th chapter, and let's see what Jesus also said concerning judgment.  So everything that we do, in judgment during the millennium and on into all eternity—because we're still going to have to continuously do judgments.  Here, John the 5th chapter, let's come there and let's see how this also explains what I said, that whatever we do is going to be under the judgment throne of Christ.  Now, He's going to delegate it to us, just like the rulership of the world, where it says “well done good and faithful servant” you'll be over ten cities and you will be over five cities and you'll be over two the cities.  So we have to learn how to rule, we have to learn how to judge; we have to learn how to make right decisions, and we also have to realize and understand, all of this comes under Jesus Christ.  Now let's come here to verse 27, John 5:27, “And has also…” that is the Father, “…has given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of man” (John 5:27, FV).  And of course the final day of judgment comes upon everyone, doesn't it?  Those of us who endured to the end now and accomplish our mission and are put in the grave to await the resurrection, the final judgment has been rendered on us and as we will see, God is the great judge and there are varying degrees of judgments that He uses on the world, on nations, on individuals and upon His saints.  Now, we'll see all that.  Now, you'll be able to follow along with some of this in the new booklet, so everyone of you are going to have this for this sermon and we'll send it out for all the Feast sites.  Now, here's a mistake that a lot of people make, they say, because God is love and especially under the doctrine of eternal security, that there's no such thing as the unpardonable sin.  There is no such thing as conditional security.  But when you read the Bible and you read the New Testament and you look up all 1200 of the “ifs” in the Bible you're going to see, everything is conditional upon our response to God.  That's why Jesus told the young man, “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.”  That's why Jesus said, “If you love Me keep My commandments.”  So a lot of people make the mistake that God will not execute judgment.  God has to execute judgment.  Now, yes there is mercy and when there is forgiveness and when there is the blotting out of sins, then God will suspend the judgment.  Now, let's take for example, Manasseh, the worst king of all the kings of Israel and Judah.  And he reigned for 55 years and got involved in demonism and spiritism, the occult, sacrificing children to idols, building idols in the temple of God, and everything.  So what happened, God sent the Assyrians and they carried them off into captivity into Babylon and there he repented, and God brought him back to the throne.  But after he repented, God's judgment was, though you come back and are on the throne, you are going to be a vassal king under the Assyrians.  And what he did with that repentance, he went in and he destroyed all the idols that he made, he took out all the things that he had made to pollute the temple and the whole area.  And so, even though God executed judgment, then when he extended mercy, there was still a penalty upon him in God's judgment so that he would not sin again.  Likewise, when David sinned, when he orchestrated the thing with Bathsheba's husband, Uriah the Hittite, and had him killed in the battle, and got Bathsheba pregnant, remember what happened.  God forgave the sin, but he gave a disciplinary thorn in the flesh for the rest of his life, which was this, “And your whole household will be against you.”  And it began that very day, with Absalom and Tamar.  Even though he repented, repented deeply, so all of those things are part of the judgment of God.  Today, the whole church is living under the judgment of God; the whole church is being judged by God, as we'll see a little bit later.  But part of the things that God has done for good and for punishment, is this, He has scattered the church, and there are many, many, many, many, many churches of God with varying degrees of understanding of doctrine, and understanding of the Bible, and different things like this, because as we will see, free choice is an important part of judgment. But, because of that, and because of God's judgment, though he has given mercy and kindness and forgiveness to those who have repented, there is still the judgment that God has determined that the churches are going to remain small, so that, we can all learn the lesson; our relationship is with God the Father, and Jesus Christ.  It is not in an organization.  It is not in the corporation.  It is not in a social setting.  It is not, that if you belong to this corporate church, you are guaranteed salvation.  No, the only way that anyone is guaranteed salvation, is with a humble heart and contrite spirit and loving God with all your heart and mind and soul and being, keeping His commandments.  See, that's the guarantee, and that's what God wants us to learn because of the circumstances we find ourselves in.  And that's why, that even though the heavy-hand of God's judgment has come, we need to realize this; in everything that happens, whether in the world, whatever nation we live in, whatever is with our family, whatever is in our lives, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  And so, God is the judge.

Now, let's see about God being judge.  Let's come to Psalm 75:7.  Now this is a very important verse to understand.  So let's really put this all together.  So let's, as it were, sharpen our pencils, and by that I mean, sharpen our minds.  And you can follow along with the booklet.  Most all of the scriptures are in the booklet, but rather than just read the booklet, let's turn to the scriptures.  Psalm 75:7.  It says; well let's go back to verse 4.  “I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly:” And here's a very important thing today, everyone is dealing foolishly.  And one of the things is this, you are going to see how absolutely devoid of right judgment that most people in the world are—how shall we say—devoid of, yes.  “And to the wicked…” he said “…Lift not up your horn: Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.  For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.”  Now you see, everyone wants a promotion, don't they?  Human nature likes to be uplifted, and when you get uplifted in vanity, in pride, and in everything like this, look at Nebuchadnezzar, what happened to him.  Daniel the 4th chapter, when he got lifted up in pride and he looked around and he saw this great Babylon and he said, “Oh, look what I have done.”  God struck him down and said, “The proud are going to be brought down.”  That's God's judgment.  And so that's why from verse 4 down to verse 7, it leads up to it and says, “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another” (Psa. 75:4-7, KJV).  So that's why it is foolish to put yourself forward.  Any of us, to exalt ourselves and think now about how the ministry has done that with the brethren, and think of all the damage and problems that have come because of that, you see.  So, God is judge.

Now since we're in Psalms, let's come to Psalms 96:13, and of course Psalm 96 is one of the millennial Psalms, so this tells us about judgment that God is going to do.  Psalm 96:13, behold, it says “Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with the righteousness, and the people with his truth” (Psa. 96:13, KJV).  Now that's really very profound.  This is why brethren, this is why, the whole process of our growing and changing and overcoming and the process of conversion, it is a spiritual thing that takes place.  It is a spiritual education that takes place.  It is a spiritual thing that occurs in your mind, to build the character of God.  And it is based on faith and hope and love and then we grow and we develop in the way that God wants us to.  See, because God has called us to rule the world.  So, the apostle Paul also said that he is judge of all.  Now let’s come back here to Hebrews the 12th chapter and let's see that.  That involving the resurrection, involving our eternal spiritual life, in coming before the throne of God, God is judging.  Let's look at it this way, as I have said before, when we understand it, God is judging every one, everywhere, it all places, in the whole world for what their conduct is; varying degrees of it.  Those who know the truth of God are going to have the severest judgment because they know.  Those who reject the Word of God are going to have an even more severe judgment upon them.  Those who do not know the word of God, in sin, as it says, “The one who knew to do good, and did it not, will be beaten with many stripes.  The one who did not know to do good, and did it, will be beaten with few stripes.”  So the judgment and the penalty still comes.  We need to understand that.  So here in Hebrews 12, God is judging us all the time.  Now you don't need to be in fear of that.  You don’t need to sit back and say “Oh, God is judging me.  How am I going to make it?”  No, don't do that because God gives mercy. God gives grace, and if you are in a relationship with God, the way that you ought to be, through prayer, through study, through keeping the commandments of God, through living by every word of God, in loving God with all your heart, mind and soul and being, your judgment is going to be for eternal life.  But notice what it says here.  Let's pick it up here in Hebrews 12.  Let's begin in verse 22, “But you have come to MountSion, and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels; To the joyous festival gathering; and to the church of the firstborn, registered in the book of life in heaven; and to God, the Judge of all” (Heb. 12:22-23, FV).  Everyone.  Now, you go back and as we've covered, leading up to Pentecost, and you go through day 49 again, and you will see the whole message to the seven churches, is what?  One of encouragement; one of repentance; one of judgment.  All the way through.  And we need to realize that is how God deals with us in all of our lives.

Now let's come here to Psalm 50 and this also tells us about God in judging the world, in judging the earth, and so forth.  And we're going to see a little bit later on, that God made us, so that we must make judgments.  Psalm 50, and let's pick up here beginning in verse 3, “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him…”  Now, what I want you to do is just put in your margin right here, Revelation 16, seven last plagues.  What does it say there?  All of those horrible and devastating plagues that are going to come upon the enemies of God, what have the angels said, “Righteous and holy are Your judgments O God, for they are worthy for they have shed the blood of the Saints.”  So God is going to render His judgment, “…a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.  He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.” (Psa. 50:3-4, KJV).  And also judge for His people.  So when Christ returns, after the resurrection, of course now, judgment is on the house of God, as we know.  He is going to judge the enemies of Israel, for Israel on their behalf.  And then he's going to judge all of those nations that refuse to repent, and as we saw yesterday, and the day before, if they don't come up to the house of God to learn of His ways, He is going to judge them.  So it is very important that we understand that.  It’s important that we understand just how God judges and what forms the basis of His judgment.  Since He is judge how is God going to do it?  Well, let's look at it this way, since God is judge of all the earth, as God, His way is perfect.  So He's got a perfect standard to measure by.

Let's go to Psalm 18.  Now, let's amplify this just a little bit, when we get to Psalm 18, because this is important for us to understand and this is what we need to realize, concerning God's way, and this is a judgment that every person needs to make when they approach the Word of God, when they approach how to interpret the Bible, whatever they do.  Let's read it, Psalm 18:30, “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried” (Psa. 18:30, KJV).  Now hold your place right there because we'll come back, and come over here to Psalm 12:6.  “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of the earth, purified seven times” (Psa. 12:6, KJV).  So the word of the Lord is tried.  Back here to Psalm 18, now, “He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.”  Now let's come down here, continue in verse 31, “For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?  It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect” (Psa. 18:30-32, KJV).  So the Spirit of God is going to lead you into the perfection of Christ.  And of course, that's what Jesus said back there in Matthew 5:48, “Therefore, you shall be perfect, even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48, FV).  And that is the whole over arching goal of everything that we do.  And I need to emphasize again, because I see a time when the Word of God is not going to be here, as a matter fact it is prophesied, there is coming a famine of the hearing of the Word.  And when we have it, when we understand it, when we have got all of God's word, and we have the opportunity to put it together, what are we going to do with it?  Are we going to become lazy?  Are we going to go to sleep at the switch, or are we going to be so involved in the world and things of the world, that we slack up on growing in character, and grace and knowledge.  What is it that we're going to do?  He wants to make your way perfect.  Now, think about that, and righteous judgment is part of the perfection of God.  “He maketh my feet like hines’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.  He teaches my hands to war...”  Now, we have a spiritual warfare today, don't we?  Yes indeed.  Now, when we're resurrected and we come down and fight with Christ, He is going to teach us how to fight, right?  Yes indeed.  “…so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms...”  Verse 35, “…Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great” (Psa. 18:33-35, KJV).  See, so that's the judgment to God.  When we understand, first of all, His way is perfect.  Now let's come over here to the next Psalm.  Psalm 19, let's see something else, concerning the law of God, verse seven.  This is the standard that He uses.  God does not give some kind of judgment that He has not already declared in His word.  We need to understand that, because where no law is, there is no sin, as we'll see here later.  Psalm 19:7, “The law of the LORD is perfect…”  Now, when you go back and read about the laws of God in the Old Testament, those are perfect for a carnal society.  When you go to the New Testament and read how Jesus amplified the law, magnified it, made it honorable, made it spiritual, giving it a higher standard.  It is perfected even more.  Now notice, “…The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”  So this is how then, we began to understand how to make righteous judgment.  “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightning the eyes.  The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.”  Now, notice how important that it is, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, then much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psa. 19:7-10, KJV).  See, because, what it is doing, it's just like Jesus said, “If you come to me you'll never hunger and you'll never thirst.”  So you see, that's what's important, we keep coming to Jesus, we keep coming to Christ, in everything that we do.  Now also, we need to realize, just put in your notes there, as we covered this earlier, that God is the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity.  His name is holy yet He dwells with the humble, Isaiah 57:15.  Now here's something we need to understand about the very character of God.  This is important to understand.  Not only is God love.  But love then, brings out all of these other things.  Let’s come to Jeremiah 4, so before we get in how to judge righteous judgment, we need to have the basis and the foundation of how God does it, because that's the way He wants us to do it, and then He gives us more detailed information on how we carry it out and we'll look at many of the things there.

Now, let's pick it up here in verse 2, Jeremiah 4, very profound and important verse.  “And thou shalt swear, the LORD liveth…”  God lives forever, eternity.  Now notice, “…in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness” (Jer. 4:2, KJV).  Now those are the three pillars upon which everything hangs that God does.  You have, God is love, from there comes truth, judgment and righteousness.  From there also comes mercy and grace and forgiveness.  So you see, in going through these things, we don't have one scripture fighting the other scripture, but we put it all together to get the whole picture and understanding of it.  Now, so truth, judgment and righteousness then are, what you would say, they are actually expressions of God's love.  And then what happens—this becomes the substance or the basis for the criteria of righteous judgment.  So therefore, since God is love and God is true, and God is merciful and God is just, all of His judgments are just.  And then of course, we need to understand that with our relationship with God, when we come before Him in prayer, we have direct access to God the Father through Jesus Christ.  And our prayers go directly to God the Father.

Alright, let's see something else too, that God loves.  Let's come here to Isaiah 61.  God loves judgment.  And it also says, one of the Psalms says, “It is joy to the just to do judgment.”  Why?  Because you're doing it because you have the knowledge of God, the spirit of God and to make a right and a proper judgment.  Now, let's pick it up here Isaiah 61.  Let's come down here to verse 3, because we covered the first verses earlier.  “To appoint unto them…”  That is all that come out of the tribulation,  “…that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified” (Isa. 61:3, KJV).  Now, let's add to that, Psalm 11, and put this together, because that's God's judgment when He comes back.  That's what He is going to do.  His judgment is going be one of forgiveness, of grace and mercy, especially after the punishment that He extracted and brought upon all mankind.  Then He's going to give mercy and judgment.  He's going to change their hearts and minds and soul, and so forth, so that they will be converted.

Now, let's come over here to Psalm 11.  Let's pick it up here in verse 4, “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.”  Now, you get the sermon that we did, “The Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit, The seven spirits of God.”  And how God judges the world, what He's doing, how He's communicating with the world. And this ties right in with that, you see.  “The LORD trieth the righteous.”  Yes, that's why we have tests and decisions to make, and things to overcome, because He wants to perfect our character.  “But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.  Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.  For the righteous LORD…”  Notice verse 7, “…loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright” (Psa. 11:4-7, KJV).  In other words, we are righteous in that, and we read that all of His judgments are true and righteous today.

Now let's see something else that is important, because we will come down to judgment of individuals, but since God is looking down upon the whole world, let's see how God weighs in the balance, the things that He's doing.  So let's come to Jeremiah 18.  Now, I know we've been here in this place in times past, but let's put it in conjunction with what were doing today because this is important for us to understand.  Jeremiah 18 and let's come here to verse 7, now here this renders God's judgment.  Verse 7, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation…”  So God is involved in all the nations of the world.  And let's understand what God is doing right now, because Satan wants to develop his whole world government, his whole world religion, and of course that's prophesied that it would take place, so we know it’s going to happen.  So God is going to let them raise themselves up, and in doing so, all the way along we are going to see lack of righteous judgment.  We're going to see corruption, greed, killing, all of these things, because that is the way of Satan.  And then when he finally gets it where he wants to get it, then he is going to raise up the beast, who will come in with a great peace plan for whole world, be declared the savior of the world, and the false prophet will have miracles.  So right now, as God has done all the way through history, He judges the nations.  When you read the history of the world, you read a history of different nations, you will see that through it, all of that is a result of God's judgment.  And what are the sore judgments that He uses?  We will see that in just a minute there in Ezekiel 18:7, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and pull down, and to destroy it;”  Now you think about what is going on in the world, and realize that all of it is the judgment of God.  And realize that God is going to take care of the final judgment of this, through the Great White Throne Judgment, in the second resurrection, as we will see on the Last Great Day.  “If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.”  Now we have a perfect example of this, with Jonah and the Assyrians and the capital city of Nineveh, Jonah was sent there and he preached “Repent because God's destruction is coming upon you.”  And lo and behold, greater than—and that's in there—this Gentile nation and its repentance is in the Old Testament and book of Jonah, to show and to use as an example against Israel because very rarely did Israel repent, with this kind of repentance.  So what happen?  “The King said declare a fast everyone every human being, man, woman, beast, everything do not eat anything you, do not drink any water, dress in sackcloth and ashes and petition the Lord that He would take away the punishment that He said.”  And so what happened?  God was merciful and He held off His judgment.  So that’s in action here.  That he would repent of the evil he thought to do.  “And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight.”  Based upon His righteous laws, based upon His righteous judgments, based upon the things that He has given.  And of course, He judges all the nations according to the letter of His law, doesn't He?  Because in reality, God expects all the nations of the world to keep His laws in the letter of the law.  This would give them God's blessing, this would give them peace and security.  But you see, because they don't, then death and disruption comes, as He says here.  “If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them” (Jer. 18:7-10, KJV).

Now, let's see how God executes His judgments here.  Let's come to Ezekiel 18, and we will see this.  You look at any war, you look at any nation that is brought down, plus you couple that with what we discussed a little earlier, which is this when God gave the blessing.  Ezekiel, I don’t think it’s 18, I think it’s Ezekiel 14, yes, Ezekiel 14, let’s go there.  You look at all these things here, and then you couple that with what God promised Abraham, where He said, “I will bless those that bless you,” and that means all of his descendants, “I will curse those that curse you.”  And of course those that hate us God is going to meet out His correction and His destruction upon them.  Now let's think about this in relationship to the war on terror, and let's think about this concerning some of the events that have taken place.  Who has hated us the most?  The radical Moslems.  And one of the nations that has caused the greatest trouble, has been Indonesia.  And the next one is Pakistan.  Now because they’ve cursed us, even though we're not righteous before God as we ought to be.  But because of God's promise to Abraham He said He would curse those that curse us.  Now what happened to them?  Look at the tsunami that took place, and look at the problems and difficulty still going on in Indonesia.  Look at the earthquake that took place in Pakistan, and where did it take place?  Right up in the high mountains, where all of the radical Moslems and those of al-Qaida are.  And it makes you wonder, how many of the enemy died because of the hand of God, which was much more, perhaps, then we could do through our munitions.  So, let's think upon that.

Now here, Ezekiel 14.  Now let's pick it up here and see, let's begin in verse 6.  You see, God always offers repentance.  That's what we need to understand.  God offers a way out before judgment comes.  So this is why it's very important when you're going through an experience and a difficult thing, do not harden your heart to God.  So here, the men of Israel came before Ezekiel and said, “Oh we want to hear to hear of the Lord.”  And God said to them, through the prophet Ezekiel, “Why do you come to me?  You that have idols in your minds and in your hearts.”  See because God is interested in the heart, God is interested in the repentance.  So here's what God says, beginning in verse 6, because the idols estranged them from God.  So as we're going through here, you use some of this as some correction upon yourself, ask yourself, what are the idols I have?  How can I get rid of those?  Etc.  “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.  For every one of the house of Israel…”  Now what we're seeing is this, individual judgment and national judgment, right?  Yes.  Let's see how God does it.  “…Everyone of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me…”  Going away from God, “…and setteth up his idols in his heart…” Which can be anything, “…and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face…”  See because, people sin, make wrong judgments, it's just like laying stumbling blocks out there.  You’re destroying and ruining your way.  “…And cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me;” Now listen to what God says, “I the LORD will answer him by myself:”  Which is this, if there is not repentance, then you're going to fall to the harsh judgment of God.  If there is repentance, then the judgment of God based on truth and righteousness and mercy, is what?  Forgiveness.  That's how God always works.  But if not, He says, verse 8, “And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”  Now, verse 9 is very important in this too, “And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing...”  Anyone preaches, you see.  If God's way is perfect, if God's way is righteous, if God's way is judgment and righteous judgment, what can man do to add to it, to make it better?  You see, that’s kind of a ridiculous thing, isn't it?  When man who is sinful by nature, inadequate by himself, is facing death, what can he add to God?  Nothing.  But through repentance, and a contrite spirit, and a humble heart, and loving God, God can add to him, or to her.  So the prophet, God says, “I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.”  Now, let's continue right on here, verse 10, “And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity:”  Judgment, “The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;”  Now you see, one of the judgments of God is this, if you want evil and lies and deceit, you will have them.  And if you come along and try and add to the perfect way of God, the lying and deceitful things of human nature, and false teachings, you will have them.  And those will become a snare and a stumbling block to you, just like He says here.  So He’s going to do this to the false prophets, and of those who seek Him.  “That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions: but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the Lord GOD.  The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me…”  Now keep in mind what we just read in Jeremiah 18, “…by transgressing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it.”  Now this is getting right down to the utter destruction of the nation because of sin.  Now we don't know how greatly the sin is going to be, or how much more magnified it's going to be, but we know in Revelation 18, it says the sins of Babylon the Great have reached unto heaven.  So that shows you what's going to happen at the end-time.  Now notice, “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD” (Eze. 14:6-14, KJV).  Now that's important for us to understand.  This is seeing the judgment of God in action.