Revelation 16:5 And I heard the angel of the water say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus
Perhaps you have noticed that Rome is burning. It seems like so many of our major cities are descending into chaos, and oftentimes if seems like the mayor and other officials of such cities have little to no will to do anything about it whatsoever. Because so many young people grow up without any loving discipline and guidance or a dad or mom, they end up being thrown into jail. When that doesn’t work, they are released from jail and continue living a life of self-destruction. There are no parents, no jail, no fear, and consequently there is no change of mind. Oftentimes you see people who are in judgment, but instead of changing their behavior and minds, they just double down on their destructive behavior. Perhaps that is the way it has always been for some and that is the way it will be.
Revelation 16:5 says, “And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.” So, this is the eternal God who was, and is, and will be, and this God is righteous because of His judgment. What are His judgments? Well, you read about them in verse 9, “And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.” They did not change their minds, so God judged them severely. But instead of changing their minds and their ways, they doubled down on their destruction. Verse 11 says the same thing, “And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.” Here are those who though right in the middle of God’s judgment would not change their minds but resolved to continue in their destructive, rebellious sin.
Once again, verse 21 says, “And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” God is a God of judgment. Verse 5 tells us that these people are worthy of this judgment and that God is worthy because He gives it. “True and righteous are thy judgments,” verse 7 says.
You learn from this that your character is revealed more by your response to judgment than by avoiding it. A lot of people can avoid judgment. That doesn’t mean they are a good people; it may mean they are not just wrong but also deceptive. Perhaps no one knows what rotten people they are, so they get away with it forever because they are so clever that they never get caught. So, again, our character is revealed more by the way we respond to judgment than by our ability to avoid judgment.
How do you respond to correction or judgment? Some people respond in deception. They deny that they have done wrong. They do not change their mind, and they are like the people we read of here in Revelation 16. They continue on in their destructive ways because they are lying to themselves and lying to others instead of responding to judgment.
Some people respond in argument. Again, I am not talking about the judgment of God. Here I am just saying that if we don’t respond to the correction of God through the authorities in our life, then what are we going to do when we face God Himself in the future. You know, a lot of times people are corrected for their own good, but instead of making amends, they make an argument. Instead of changing their ways, they change their tactics but keep on doing the same destructive things. So, they deceive, they argue, and a lot of people just have utter contempt for any kind of correction in their lives. The Lord says that He rebukes those He loves. So, repent, change your mind.
God is a good father. He is not some hateful god. He is a good Father Who loves His own and wants to correct, guide, love, and chasten. All those things go together. For the last two years during this week, I was holding special meetings in churches. One church was in Michigan and one was in West Virginia. In both cases I met men who if you had met them thirty years ago, you would have thought they were the enemies of God. They did not love God. In fact, they were very antagonistic toward God. They were making a mess of things. But one day their hearts, minds, and lives were, as the old radio broadcast says, unshackled. They came face to face with the Lord Jesus. They responded to God’s working and chastening in their lives and trusted the Lord Jesus. Their lives have been a reflection of that ever since.
How wonderful that nobody is too bad for a perfect God! How wonderful that nobody has a record so bad that God cannot change their future! You are not a good person just because you avoid judgment. You show your character by the way you respond to judgment. There is a day coming when God will ultimately judge the wickedness of this world and time, and there are people who will not change even though they are being judged by God Himself. One of the ways we can do right by God is doing right by the rebuke, chastening, and correction we receive from the authorities in our lives. In doing so, we reflect that we have a regard towards God and a willingness to change our minds towards His truth.