God Judges to Restore

Dr. Jay Worth Allen

It is ever the purpose of God to cause us to experience sufficiently of what this world has to offer to make us long for that which is to come.

When God’s people, Israel, committed sin and iniquity the Lord sent them judgment with a view of restoration. “And they committed harlotries in Egypt; they committed harlotries in their youth; there were their breast pressed, and there they bruised the breasts of their virginity . . . Oholah (Israel), the elder, and Oholibah (Judah) her sister; they were Mine . . . Oholah played the harlot . . . she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians . . . with all their idols she defiled herself. Wherefore I have delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians . . . her sister Oholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love then she, and in her harlotries more than her sister . . . I saw that she was defiled, that they took one way, and that she increased her harlotries. . . as soon as she saw them (Chaldeans, Babylonians) with her eyes, she doted upon them . . . and the Babylonians came into her bed of love, and defiled her with their harlotries, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them . . . Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against you, from whom your mind is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side . . . I will do these things unto you, because you have played the harlot with other nations, and because you are polluted with their idols” - which is spiritual adultery - (Ezekiel 23).

The Lord judged His people, Israel, because of their sins; He raised up their lovers - other nations, other religions - as judgment on His people; to war against them. But why? Why did the Lord raise up the other nations to war against His people, bringing judgment on His people? To restore them. To let His people live - for a time in their sin - with their lovers. The Lord raised up the other nations to war against His people to demonstrate to them the traditions of the other nations, other gods - the practice of slavery - and then, to restore them to the traditions of God - the tradition of peace, safety and security. “Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from you, and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more”(v27). It is ever the purpose of God to cause us to experience sufficiently of what this world has to offer to make us long for that which is to come.

When Israel repented, the Lord brought restoration. “For thus said the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out . . . and I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing . . . and they shall be safe in the land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those who enslaved them” (Ezekiel 34:11,26,27). God’s judgments on His people are always with a view of restoration. A wonderful New Covenant example of judgment to restoration is found in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians.

“It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that has done this deed might be taken away from among you . . . to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:1-5).

The Lord brings judgment on His people - individually and collectively - because of our sins. He raised up our lovers - the lust of our flesh, the pride of our life, the lust of our eyes - as judgment on His people; to war against us; against our flesh. “For the destruction of the flesh . . . that the spirit might be saved.” The Corinthian man, individually, and the Church, collectively, God judged to bring them back to Himself – to restore them. He judged the fornicating Corinthian Church-man and the prideful Corinthian Church. They were all judged because of their sin.

The Corinthian Church-man sinned (sexually) with his father’s wife. The Corinthian Church sinned in their pride - fabricating their walk, hiding their sin, turning a blind eye to the sin within the Church. The sin of the Corinthian-man was evident in that he and the woman could be seen. The sin of the Corinthian Church was not so evident because it was hidden. Paul rebuked the Corinthian Church because of their pride. Because they were acting as “reigning kings,” being “puffed up” and not functioning as ruling servants - as men under authority. “You have reigned as kings without us” (Paul was a sarcastic man at times) “and I would to God you did reign, that we also might reign with you” (1 Corinthians 4:8).

Reigning & Ruling

There is a considerable difference between reigning and ruling. We do not reign now, we rule now, because we have an authority over us and we rule by and because of His reign - His authority. We will, in that day reign with Him because He will give us, in that day something to reign over - “on the earth.” “And has made us unto God a kingdom of priests, and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). We will reign then, not now. Don’t get the cart before the horse.

Someone who reigns makes the rules. Someone who rules follows the one who is reigning. A reigning king appoints lords, dukes, etc., to rule in his kingdom. But a reigning earthly king will never appoint another king to reign over his kingdom, because the direction of authority will become eschewed. There is one Head and one body. The Bible calls us (at this time) co-workers, not co-reigners. The Lord makes the rules and we, His people follow them. If we, the Church, go about acting like little reigning kings, making our own rules, neglecting the word of God in certain areas, harping on the words in others, we will become “puffed up” in our own deceit. “Those who follow lying vanities, forsake their own mercy” (Jonah 2:8), which is what happened to the Church in Corinth. They had become “vain in their imaginations.” They were “puffed up” with pride - inflated egos - proud. They had become self-appointed judges of what was right and wrong conduct in the body of Christ. “The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son.” The Lord Jesus is The Judge of conduct within His body. He is the reigning One. We, as individual members of His body, are now ruling under His reign.

The Lord is reigning and we are following His reign in our place of ruling. “For He must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). “. . . till He has . . .” What is the last enemy that will be put under His feet? “And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:14). When death and hades are tossed away, we will then reign with Him - not before.

“The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion; rule thou in the midst of your enemies” (Psalm 110:2 AV). We are now ruling in the midst of our enemies. He is now reigning over His enemies. And, in that day, when He puts all of His enemies under His feet - casting them into the lake of fire - He “shall reign forever and ever.” In that day, “the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory” (Matthew 25:31). And in that day we shall reign with Him. “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne” (Revelation 3:21).

“Little Kings”

If we, the church, do not follow His reign, but rather begin performing like little kings by our own man-made feigned reigning; acting as if we have been given authority over entities and elements of which only the Lord has the authority, He will judge us - with a view of restoration. For even “Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you’” (Jude 9). Why didn’t Michael rebuke the devil? Because He was under authority (he was ruling), he was not the authority. So he said, “the Lord rebuke you!”

The Corinthians had become “puffed up,” “having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” “Walking after their own lust; and their mouths speaking great swelling words” (Jude 16). We are His sheep. He is our shepherd. And He will rebuke the devil, correct the wrongs - and - when needed, judge us with a view of restoration.

Again, why does the Lord judge His people? To allow His people time to live in their sin - with their lovers - for the destruction of the flesh - to demonstrate to us the traditions of the other nations, other gods, our flesh, as the practice of slavery - to then restore us, His people, to the traditions of God - the tradition of peace. It is ever the purpose of God to cause us to experience sufficiently of what this world has to offer to make us long for that which is to come.

The particular judgment - "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you" - which Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 5, was a judgment of destruction to restoration. Paul told the Corinthian Church, "to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh." This, “destruction” is from the Greek, olethros, which denotes something that is of no use; something which must be destroyed, taken out of the way. Paul’s “destruction," is not a destruction which will send the believer to hell, but rather, a judgment which destroys or brings death to the flesh, so that the spirit might be saved in “the day of the Lord Jesus." Paul did not ask the church to pray for this brother, who was copulating with his father's wife, but directed them to kick the guy out of the church, remove him from their fellowship.

Sin is old leaven and the old leaven must be removed, because the church is now, in Christ, "unleavened." "Purge out, therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us." As soon as the leaven is removed, the Church can "keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" - but not before. First, get the fornicating brother out of the Church!

There is no place for fornicators – sexually active unmarried men with women, men with men, women with women, etc. - within the Church of Jesus Christ. Fornication is a sin. We are told "not to company with fornicators" within the Church - brothers and sisters within the Church, not individuals we know in the world, because "then must you go out of the world." Paul’s declaration was not a judgment of annihilation, but rather, a judgment of destruction - the Corinthian Church-man’s body was ruined because of continual fornication and was unsuitable or unable to fulfill its original purpose. All judgments are not necessarily God sending someone to hell, but rather, more than likely, they are judgments which deal with the believer’s position. “For who the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6).

When I am asked to pray for a brother’s deliverance from sins such as adultery, fornication, pornography and the like, I refuse. Because those are sins which must be destroyed, terminated, eliminated from the believer’s life. No amount of prayer will help until the sinning brother has removed the sin from himself. This is a judgment of “destruction" - judgment of the flesh. The sin is the “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes," no amount of prayer for deliverance can stop the psyche. “And she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated . . . with her eyes, she doted upon them.” If the sin is stopped, I will gladly pray and fellowship with my brother again. But not until the sin is removed. We need to judge and not hold back because of sentimentality or fear.

Restoration

The Lord’s judgments are always - for the believer - with a view of restoration. “Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted by the many. So that on the contrary you ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore, I beseech you that you would confirm your love towards him” (2 Corinthians 2:6,7,8). Paul extorts the Corinthian Church to restore the man who was fornicating with his father’s wife because he had repented; to bring the formally sinning believer back into the place of fellowship. The man had repented and was now “in danger of being swallowed up.”

When a believer sins, God will send judgment. When a believer repents, God will send peace and restoration. And we, as fellow believing sinners should “restore such a one” back to a place of fellowship. God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (1 Peter 3:9). “As sons” the Lord chastens us “for our profit, that we might be partakers of His Holiness” because “afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised by it” (Hebrews 12:7-11).

It is ever the purpose of God to cause us to experience sufficiently of what this world has to offer to make us long for that which is to come.

God Judges to Restore
Published: 21 March 2010 on Freed In Christ! blogsite.

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