Judgment like a flood

Last night I had a dream about a flood that was coming. When I woke up from it, I got up for a minute, and when I did, I noticed that the lights suddenly went on in the main flood of the house. I went downstairs to see who was awake and found my son curled up with a blanket on the couch in a fully-lit main floor because he had a scary dream.

“What was the dream about, Son?”

“It was about a flood.”

I was suddenly wide awake. So we sat on the couch and I listened to his dream. It was a simple dream; he’d been playing with his sisters when his dad got a weather report that a flood was coming. So everyone needed to go upstairs, and when the flood came, the water went up to the top stair, but it didn’t touch any of us.

We prayed and I tucked him into my bed next to his daddy while I returned to the couch to seek the Lord. I did not remember my dream as vividly as I usually do when I receive dreams from the Lord, but when the Lord confirms your dream through your son, you pay attention.

Here is what I remember from the dream followed by the warning the Lord brought to light in the face of it:

I was visiting a city where I did not live, I was with my husband and a close friend. While we were there, a warning went out that a flood was coming, and we were trying to get to a specific place in the city to be safe. The people we were with (who lived there) seemed to be our work colleagues and it was clear that they didn’t really like us much, but didn’t dislike us enough to want anything bad to happen to us. Most of the people around us seemed to know there was a flood coming and were a bit harrowed from the bad weather they’d encountered in the recent past. There were some who were just going about their business as usual.

We were trying to get across town from where we were, and the scene I remember at the end of the dream was a place of decision. We were in the apartment complex of the people we knew because we had helped them get home; it was a building with open halls connecting the rooms like you’d find in the south or a coastal town. They were trying to get to their rooms, and the halls were filled with long, orderly lines of people doing the same. They finally said to us with a hint of worry and reluctant kindness, “The flood is almost here, I don’t know if you will be able to get back, you can stay in our room.” When we said we couldn’t do that, they offered to at least watch our stuff for us so that we didn’t have to worry about carrying anything across town.

So we handed them our bags (and anything in our purses that might weigh us down). I specifically remember asking my husband and friend if I needed my lanyard with my wallet and keys and decided that I didn’t, and I hung it around the neck of the person who was offering me help. We turned to leave and they turned to go into their rooms. As I walked past the stone supporting wall of the apartment building on my way down the stairs—the opposite direction of the people going up higher—I reached out my hand and touched it saying, “I cover you in the blood of Jesus.”

As we were strategizing about how to get where we needed with nothing but the clothes on our backs, the air around us was abuzz with hurry and worry because of the impending flood, but even with the knowledge of what was coming, not all people were preparing for it.

That is what I remember from my dream.

As I prayed and asked the Lord to reveal to me what He wanted me to know through these two dreams, He made the following things clear to me:

First, judgment is coming to the USA. This dream was not pointing to the final judgments of the book of Revelation, but instead a much nearer judgment of a righteous God on a wicked nation. There is only one way to walk through this judgment, and it is as the Israelites stood secure in their homes in Goshen through the plagues on Egypt in Exodus 7–12, and that is to be under the blood of Jesus.

Second, there is purpose behind this judgment that is not merely punishment (although we absolutely deserve only that); this judgment is to bring about repentance because God’s heart for humanity is and has always been to save them and unite them in Himself (Ephesians 1:10).

As I wrote out this dream and talked to the Lord about it, I kept bumping into the word “harrow” and “harrowed,” so I looked up its meaning. A harrow is a tool used to cultivate, it breaks up and smooths out soil for planting. And to feel harrowed means to feel plundered and tormented.

The judgment that is coming will be as if the harrow of God sweeps across the nation and it will do one of two things to any heart not secure under the atoning blood of Jesus: It will either soften your heart so that it turns to His in repentance (this is His deepest desire), or it will leave you feeling plundered because what is good will be stripped away from you (God is the source of all that is good, in the rejection of Him, you will lose whatever is of His goodness that He has graciously allowed you to hold in your hands).

I do not know what stands before us, but there will be judgment like a flood (the flood in this dream stood for judgment); cover yourself in the Redeemer’s blood. He has already finished the work of salvation for us to take part in…there is no other way to endure what is coming without Him. Repent. Pray (for yourself, your family, everyone you know and love, your city, our nation). Receive mercy. Find refuge in the God who has loved you from the beginning.

heralding the end of a reign

a broken reign
©11/13/2023 hannah mclean

a broken reign
my knees no more will bend
my King bent low
that death’s cruel rule would end
bound in His mercy I
find love a noble steed
now raised I ride with Him
as one who’s free indeed

a broken reign
sin’s barren throne no more
a royal carpet rolls
red paves the temple floor
bound in the Father’s love
peace spills across this stone
now wrapped in holy light
no more to walk alone

a broken reign
replaced by worthy King
righteous and just
His rule my joy to sing
bound in the hope of life
eternal courts I’ll stride
in heavenly unity
i even now abide

A meditation on Psalm 73: "Nevertheless"

I’ve been reading Psalm 73 the last few days and my meditations on the truths there have been so powerful and timely for me that I wanted to share them with you.

Before I launch into the passage I want to speak specifically about, I’m going to give you a brief overview of what’s going on in this psalm. The psalmist here is looking at the world around him and he sees incredible wickedness; people are doing terrible things, oppression is rampant and people marked by arrogance, violence, mockery, and evil are prospering. They are flourishing in the world, with just blatant disregard for God and certainty that there is no consequence for their actions. And the psalmist is looking at all this happening and is crying out, “Why do the wicked prosper?! What is going on?!” He’s like, “God, I have not joined them, so why do I suffer and they flourish?” And finally, it says he goes into the house of the Lord and God shows him their end.
    If you are struggling with what you see in the world around you and want clear vision, that comes from the Lord, go get in His presence and seek Him.

The last portion of this psalm ends with the passage I want to talk about. Verses 23–26:
“NEVERTHELESS, I am continually with You: You hold my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

My favorite word in this entire Psalm is “nevertheless.” This word is a hinge between the beginning and the end of this psalm. The verses before are in 3 pieces: First, the psalmist lays out his complaint before God: Why do the wicked prosper?! Second, he goes into the house of the Lord and sees things through God’s eyes. And third, he is humbled. Right before this passage, the psalmist lays out his heart before God…and it is tainted by sin. He confesses that his heart is pricked and his soul is embittered…not just a bitter heart, but a bitter soul—your soul is the entirety of your being. In watching the evil unfold in the world around him and seeking to understand it with his own eyes, he became bitter and his actions overflowed in sin toward God: He says, “I was brutish and ignorant, I was like a beast toward You.”
    We must be very cautious; if we try to navigate the evils of this world in our own strength, vision and righteousness, we will find ourselves overcome by the darkness.

This “nevertheless” is gloriously full. It is full of wonder, of mercy and grace, of humility…and it leads to worship.

    When we seek God for clear vision, He doesn’t just show us one angle. We see 3 things in this Psalm that He gives us clear vision of: He showed the psalmist that the wicked’s prospering had an end. He gave the psalmist a greater understanding of God—that He is a God of righteousness and justice who will eventually make all things right. And He revealed to the psalmist the condition of his own heart. Because here’s the truth, there’s not such thing as “good people” and “bad people”…here are just sinful people who need Jesus…and some of us are already clinging to Him to be counted righteous before a holy God, and some of us are not yet.

And I love this “nevertheless”…the psalmist has seen the righteous justice of God and it has revealed the wickedness of his own heart. He had tried to understand the world around him in his own strength, he had RIGHTLY cried out against wickedness and RIGHTLY desired justice. He had suffered and observed oppression and had risen up when there seemed to be no consequence for the evil he saw and experienced. But to maintain a pure heart before the Lord when we try to understand the world around us, it is vital that we go to Him to process because on our own we are no less wicked apart from Jesus that the ones we cry out against.

And this psalmist sees that. And you can almost hear his sigh of relief as He says, “Nevertheless, I am continually with you.” I’m still with You! You’re still with ME! You hold my hand so my flesh does not cast me down completely. You are so kind to offer me Your counsel when I cry out, You are so faithful to guide me. And I marvel that even now, You will still receive me into glory. Nevertheless.

And I love that this full and humble sigh leads to a heart that pours out in worship: My longing is YOU, Lord! My desire is YOU! My strength is YOU! My portion is YOU! At the end of the day, You are all I want and I have You.

When our response to the wickedness and injustice around us reveals the wickedness of our own hearts, let us rejoice, delight and wonder at the “nevertheless” that we find in the mercy of God. Because we must remember that our God is His beauty is incredibly patient. He knows the end of all things, and with Him, justice delayed is not justice denied. It is just that He does not want ANYONE, no matter how vile, to die without knowing salvation in Jesus. And so He waits. And as people who believe He is righteous and just, we must humble ourselves before Him. And it can be so painful to wait with Him. We must lament how our impatience can lead to bitterness of heart and soul, and how this effects the way we view our Holy, timely God. And we must marvel and cling to our own “nevertheless” and the mercy it holds as we consider with clarity things through God’s eyes. Let us be worshipers of God in the face of wickedness and oppression.

Because at the end of the day, you and I need Jesus…no matter how many years we walk with Him, we will never need Him less. And what a glory it is to say, “nevertheless” He’s with me! He keeps me when I struggle with sin, He guides me with His counsel when I can’t see the whole picture, and He afterward will still receive me to glory! Whom have I in heaven but You, God?! Earth has NOTHING I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail again and again and again…but glory be, YOU are the strength of my heart and my portion FOREVER.

So I leave you with this: IF you are struggling to see past our unraveling society and what it holds, cry out to God for vision. And then repent. Marvel. And Worship.

“Nevertheless”

"The spring of him who called"

This song was inspired by a story found in Judges 15. Samson had just been given a miraculous, though strenuous, victory and he was very thirsty. And he called out to God, and the Lord opened up for him a spring--a well--of water for him to drink. There he drank and was revived and satisfied, and the name of this well was En-hakkore: The spring of him who called. 

I love that. I love that we have an abundant, lavish God who waits with compassion and eagerness to pour out His overflow at the sound of our voice. May your voice lift up to our Jehovah, and may He open for you wells from which to draw that meet the deepest needs of your deepest depths.

A Spring for the One who Calls
©1-12-21 Hannah McLean

Near quiet waters
You walk with me
though raging rivers
I see
Your gentle hand
keeps my heart at rest
though mighty
the testing may be

Your ears
they hear my cry to You
Your eyes
they see my plight
There are fountains for valleys
and wells for the one
who cries out
to the Lord of Life

There’s peace when the heart
has been shattered and torn
Hope when the
desolate longs
There’s joy for the soul
who can see no light
For the outcast
a place to belong

For His ears
they hear our cry to Him
His eyes
they see our plight
He has fountains for valleys
and wells for the ones
who cry out
to the Lord of Life

The bended knee
will be lifted up
The burdened back
be made straight
Innocence lost know
the years restored
Justice for the one who
must wait

For His ears
have heard our cry to Him
His eyes
have seen our plight
He has fountains for valleys
and wells for the ones
who cry out
to the Lord of Life

The Chasm and the Blood of Peace

I was in prayer the other night for our country, and my heart was drawn to the painful present overview of the response to the pandemic. As I prayed, I watched the land be split in two and the space grow between the 2 pieces of ground until a vast, bottomless chasm was left. In prayer, I saw on one side of the expanse the “haves”…the rich, the powerful, adults. And on the other, the “have nots”…the poor, the weak, children. As I watched the divide grow between the people, I looked at what was tearing them apart and separating them in such a grotesque way. Huge principalities of “fear,” “greed,” “pride” and “hatred” propelled the sides outward, and a call echoed throughout the divide, “Every man for himself!”

And as I looked upon the devastation of the “have nots” with even less, and the “haves” who had gathered more, I sat and wept before the Lord.

Eventually, I quietly, humbly asked Him, “What can heal such a divide?”

And He said, “The blood is the bridge.”
And He brought to mind this verse:

Colossians 1:19-20 (21-23)
“For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”

There are ones who can bridge the divide…who can walk across the chasm as if on solid ground. They are the ones redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

Why the redeemed?
Two reasons:
1) They are at peace with the LORD.

I told Nathan the other day that the least appreciated piece of the armor of God we have received in Ephesians 6 are the shoes of readiness. They way I understand these shoes is different than I’ve ever heard anyone explain them, so I will try to articulate how I see them. Ephesians 6:15 says, “and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” The readiness given by the gospel of peace: What is this peace the gospel has given us? It has justified us before our righteous Judge; it has given us peace with the Father, through the work of Jesus so we can enter into the very presence of God, just as Adam and Eve did before the fall in the Garden of Eden. Because of the blood of Jesus, we are at peace with our Maker. Do you know how powerful a position that is? I hope you do. It’s like the apostle Paul is wrestling with in Philippians 1 where he’s setting life and death before him and stating simply, hey, both have their benefits for me, where God takes me doesn’t matter because for me, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” When we are at peace the the Lord, the demands of life, the opinions of people, and the dividing factors of fear, greed, pride and hatred lose their power over us. By the grace of God, we redeemed sinners carry with us the call to die to self and live out the love of Jesus in the world around us…come what may. Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” OUR feet.

Which leads us nicely into the second reason:

2) The redeemed carry with them the power of the blood to make whole.

Remember in Luke 4 when Jesus stood in the synagogue and read from the scroll of Isaiah (chapter 61), He read verses 1-2a and stopped abruptly with the declaration that Him standing there that very moment was a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

It’s one of everyone’s favorite verses to quote, but they stop too soon. So Isaiah 61:1-4 says:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
    because the Lord has anointed Me
to bring good news to the poor;
    He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, 

This is where Jesus stopped…declaring this portion was fulfilled in Him.

    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

If you have been redeemed and raised up by the finished work of Jesus—brought from death to life—He has planted you as an oak of righteousness for His glory….and He has done it with PURPOSE!

We find that purpose in verse 4:

They shall build up the ancient ruins;
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

At this moment, we stand in verse 4. Right now, through the Church AT THIS TIME, this verse is to be fulfilled.

We are to BUILD and RAISE UP and REPAIR. Looking out over this chasm, it is not the result of just the Pandemic…it is the result of ancient ruins and generations of devastation. We look upon the culmination of years of ruin and devastation; wickedness has taken it’s filthy hands and ripped apart the fabric of society and civility and dignity, it has celebrated the violence and violation of humanity because we are marked by the image of God, whom it detests.

The redeemed must rebuild upon the divide, because we carry the healing properties of the blood of Christ upon the white robes that cover our sin scarred bodies. Every place our feet tread should leave the mark of hope…the promise of possibility because we are the ones who KNOW the power of the blood…we’ve received the good news, our broken hearts have been bound up, we’ve been freed from the captivity of our side and released from our prison chains, we’ve been comforted, we’ve seen the Lord bring beauty from ashes, and praise from our fainting spirits…and we’ve known the utter glory and wonder of being made righteous by God Himself poured out for us.

And so, He says, Build up…raise up…repair. Because contrary to the call echoing across this charm of “every man for himself,” we do not seek self, we seek the eternal good of those around us, no matter which side of the divide they stand upon. We don’t have to bow to fear because He is with us; we don’t have to be consumed by greed when the One who provides for us has called us to pour ourselves out; we can humbly bear up under the disapproval of others because we’re at peace with the One who sees us clearly; we don’t have permission to hate because we are called to love with the greater love of Jesus that we have mercifully received.

The blood is the bridge. And if you are covered in the blood, you carry the materials for the bridge. So RISE UP, Church! Rise up and stand in the power of the God of Peace who will crush Satan under your feet.

Psalm 69:19–21

I came across this verse yesterday, and when I read it, the words swelled up in me. I’ve been processing through some childhood trauma, and I felt like the silenced voice of the little girl in me cried out to God with the psalmist.

“YOU know my reproach,” that little girl cried,
    “and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to You.
Reproaches have broken my heart,
    so that I am in despair.”

Memories flowed through my mind as a sob welled up in my words...

“I looked for pity, but there was none,
    and for comforters, but I found none.”

I choked upon my sadness...

“They gave me poison for food...”
        and suddenly that little voice turned into that of my Savior
                     “...and for My thirst they gave Me sour wine to drink.”

And I cried. What a beautiful thing for the Lord to give me to rest upon as I heal. To give me a prophetic verse of Christ upon the cross to pair with my pain. In this passage I find two Truths that draw me into the arms of my Beautiful Healer:

First, the Lord was present with me in my suffering. He KNOWS it because He is acquainted with it.
And second, the cross is sufficient to cover the offenses done against me. He is enough.

the Kingdom of light

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to Whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him...And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever.” Daniel 2:20-22,44

the light dwells with You

©hannah mclean 4-25-17

blessed be Your name

remaining constant in the changing times and seasons

unhindered by the reign of wicked rulers

undaunted by the darkness that will not relent

blessed be Your name

the unending Source of wisdom and power

the Revealer of all that is hidden

the One with whom light dwells

no matter how my heart laments the ruling powers of my day--

kingdoms raised by hands dripping evil

exploiting

deceiving

bombarding 

destroying--

i find myself uplifted by the Kingdom that is to come

Your Kingdom that will crush all others 

in a glorious rule of

peace

blessed be Your name

may i stand within its unbreakable shelter

hemmed in by Your overcoming light

for You know all things

and if You bid me stand in the darkness

i will stand in it with You

finding delight in seeing

Your beauty, power, wisdom and light

topple kingdoms

that by any other means or authority

would not fall

fools die for lack of wisdom

this dark night

©2-15-15 hannah mclean

my heart sorrows

as i look across the slew

of degradation

deceived minds

desensitized to sin

encased in evil and

unable to discern their end

a proverb rolls across my mind

“fools die for lack of wisdom”

no foresight

enslaved to things of earth

spiraling downward toward destruction

rejecting their only Lifeline

in the cause of exploration

indulging the flesh

oblivious to the stench 

of decay

i weep

what must our Savior think

what must He feel

as memories of pain endured

separation from holiness and 

Godhead

to become sin that 

we might become the righteousness of God

roll through His mind

i imagine that if He hung this moment

upon a rugged cross

blood soaked

He would look out at empty fields

for WHO WILL TURN to look upon the One 

who frees 

and makes whole

at a mere turn of our eyes

what sorrow must this slain Lamb feel

and fury

what fury must this reigning Lion roar

rejected glory

for this time of grace will end

and justice will come

upon the heads of the wicked

and though our Father

sorrows over all souls lost

He is holy

and just

and hell is a must

and so i look into the darkness

and ask my Lord to fill me with His Light

may it pour from my eyes

my hands 

my feet

my lips

that i leave behind a path that glows with hope

and shine before me 

a light that never grows dim

for Hope is greater

JESUS is greater

than this dark night

Fuel for prayer against human trafficking: Psalm 12

I have been gathering verses to aide me in organizing a night of prayer surrounding sex trafficking. These verses have stood out to me as I have gone throughout my usual times of reading and pondering the Word; sometimes they hit me like a ton of bricks and sometimes they brush against me like a gentle breeze. I thought it would be helpful in solidifying these verses if I meditated on and wrote about them. That being said:
 
--------

Today I was reading Psalm 12, it is a psalm lamenting the loss of those who are faithful to the Lord. It laments how the mouths of people speak only lies, revealing divided and proud hearts; how they have chosen to rely on the twists of their tongue and to disregard the truth, rejecting godliness in the wake of their wickedness. These things have led to injustice because, as it says in verse 8, “vileness is exalted among the children of man." Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” When we exalt what is wicked, our decision bears evil fruit.

So as I read, I came to these words:
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
It follows up by saying:
“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.”
In other words, unlike the twisted, evil tongues of the unfaithful that spew out wickedness leading to vile actions, the Lord does not lie. The Lord is holy and pure. The Lord seeks justice and the good of people. And His ability to fulfill His words trumps the unfaithful and boastful who think they are above Him.

“Because the poor are plundered”...consider the poverty of so many who are trafficked; the lack of resources and options, the vulnerabilities that lead their very bodies to being “plundered” by wicked men. Their innocence, safety, dignity stolen and denied.

“Because the needy groan”...consider the cries, the screams, the silence of the victims of these terrible crimes. Those drawing out these “groans” may think they are above consequence, but God hears, God sees and God cares.

“I will now arise”...Yes! Yes, Lord, do not hesitate another moment, ARISE! I pray, ARISE! Come on the clouds in anger, power and love, wielding Your scepter of justice as You do in Psalm 18. Do not delay, You must arise! You must arise. You must. You must arise...

...As I just wrote the words above, I heard inside my heart, “I HAVE arisen; it is My Church that must arise and that has now begun to rise. Their hand can wield My justice, My mercy and My power. Their hand can place the poor and needy into the safety for which they long. Arise! I say to you, My Church, ARISE!”

Yes. Your words are pure, because You, Lord, are pure. You do not lie, and therefore, I will arise in You here on earth, I will seek to lift up the needy and the plundered poor, I will proclaim Your power and position to those who deny You, and I will seek safety for those whose groans you have heard, whose tears You have gathered, who silent suffering You have seen. Help me be Your hands and feet in ending these horrific injustices against humanity.

For the sake of 10.

I am studying the book of Daniel, and if you have ever discussed scripture with me, you know that my mind is constantly jumping to other places in the Good Book that come to mind and seem to connect to what I am reading. This is my detour today.

Daniel 7:9–10 holds a meditation concerning the righteous Judge that I will write about soon, but only after this short jaunt to Abraham’s conversation with God in Genesis.

Genesis 18:20–33 Then the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know." So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" And the LORD said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake." Abraham answered and said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." Again he spoke to him and said, "Suppose forty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." He said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Genesis 19:27–28 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

This passage of scripture makes me weep. Not just for one reason, but for many.

Look at Abraham’s interaction with God, he draws near to Him and acknowledges Him as the righteous Judge of the whole earth; he appeals to His perfect justice and His love for His people. He came to the Lord and says, “What if 50 of Your people live in this place You are going to destroy? Do they deserve a punishment not due them?” And God, with gentleness and sadness knowing there are only four, tells Abraham that for their sake He would spare the entire valley filled with wickedness. And Abraham keeps coming back, tiptoeing, it may seem, but approaching none-the-less, until he reaches a number he seems to believe is almost absurd; to reach so low for such a great mercy:

“For the sake of 10?”

And the Lord, in compassion for the heart of Abraham that appeals to and reveals His own so vividly, gives a response that moves me with awe and wonder and pain:

“For the sake of 10, I will not destroy it.”

What a patient and compassionate God. This interaction surrounding Sodom and Gomorrah displays the heart of God from two sides, I truly believe that Abraham is articulating God’s desire and sorrow over a wicked people to be lost for eternity (Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"). And as they speak, we also have the opportunity to observe God patient, long-suffering, loving heart as He gives a merciful answer to Abraham’s every request.

There were not even 10 people who loved the Lord in the valley. Not even 10.

Promised justice.

Over the last couple of months, my hatred for Satan has grown, he makes me livid. When I stopped to think about when this feeling really launched forward recently, I realized it was after watching this clip by Francis Chan ( http://vimeo.com/24016195 ) a week after we had the discussion in my LIFE group about the book Love Wins and its denial of hell. In this clip, I was super struck by Revelation 20:10; here it is in context:

Revelation 20:7-10 “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

I had never intentionally looked at this passage before. I wish I had before this point, honestly. I feel that is holds immense implications, some of which comfort me. In my bible, this paragraph of text is entitled “The judgment of Satan.” The judgment of Satan...consider that thought for a moment as I tell you what my view of hell seems to have been over time.

I don’t think I ever doubted hell existed. Sin was a concept that was a big part of my life growing up, I understood that sinners without a Savior go to hell. I did not, however, understand sin; the reality of what is was had become so muddled in my mind throughout my childhood, that the word itself felt empty of anything but a habitual aching conscience for unknown reasons. A couple of years after I accepted Christ, I actually had sin explained to me the most clearly by a second grader:
Sunday school teacher: What is sin?
Second grader: Sin is what separates us from God.
Me: Oh.

Until this point, I understood hell was a bad place where I deserved, but didn’t want, to go and heaven was a glorious place where I did want to go, but I didn’t necessarily understand why until I understood what sin was. What makes heaven Heaven, is that we are in perfect union with God. What makes hell Hell, is that we are eternally separated from Him. These truths are enough to make me cling to Jesus Christ with a desire to follow Him and His teachings.

As I read this passage in Revelation, I realized some things in the typical depiction of hell that it directly refutes. All of the caricatures, painting, articulations of hell that I have seen around me present hell as Satan’s domain; a place he brings his captured souls to and then draws pleasure by tormenting them for all of eternity; a place where he stands immense over the burning, cowering humans with a huge pitchfork as his scepter; a place where his work of deceiving as many as possible for his “kingdom” of hell has paid off as he stands victorious over his screaming, despairing subjects. Satan is often painted as an equally powerful force on the opposite end of the spectrum from God, the idea is that you choose God or the devil.

But this passage in Revelation refutes these ideas. What this shows is that hell is not the devil’s domain, it is instead the means by which he will suffer for all eternity for his work; a place where justice will play out as he receives judgment for all of the deceitful, festering sin he brought about through his lies and schemes and intentional deceit; a place where he is rendered helpless, completely defeated and brought to nothing alongside those he has beguiled. It also shows that Satan is not an evil opposite of God; he is subject to Him. Christ has declared victory over him for us and will one day subdue him with the eternal torments of hell.

There is the promise in Genesis 3 that Christ will crush Satan. I believe the devil knows he is defeated. If that is the case, it makes me consider his ways and the drive behind them. Imagine if you knew your end (the stripping of all power and then eternal torment) and Who will send you there...would you not desire to do as much damage to spite them? Is the purpose of his wickedness simply to take as much glory away from God as he possibly can and to grieve the heart of God to the greatest of his abilities? To destroy as many of God’s people as possible? This is a terrible, yet clarifying, thought for those living in sin. The devil tempts us with things we desire, convincing us that it is our good and our pleasure that he wants for us...what a profound lie. It reveals new and profound depths to the deception of the compilation of his work. It is certainly not for our gain...it is not even for HIS gain! His goal and target seems to be to destroy God; His joy, His people, His plans, His purposes, His glory. I venture to you that we are not the point at all, not even a little bit. If we do not have Christ, we are simply pawns in Satan’s plans to take from the only One who deserves.

To my surprise, for the first time, I found comfort in the thought of hell. It may just be me, but I find it comforting that hell is not the devil's domain, it is instead where he will suffer with those he has deceived (It says in revelation 20:10 that these numbers are like the sands of the seashore...such widespread deception!). Justice. I have never considered that Satan will receive judgment, and justice will be brought to fruition for all that he has done. I knew he was defeated and powerless before God, but I never realized that he would be punished by the fires of hell for his deeds.

When I look around me at things like the sex trafficking of children, marriages ripped apart by pornography, mass murders in Mexico in the name of drugs, the list goes on...I can know that the one who started it all and is the destroying, driving and deceiving force behind it will not go unpunished. I am grateful that the one who deceived from the beginning and caused the spiral of every sin of humanity and who purposes to destroy and torment and turn God’s creation away from Him will be brought to justice.

God is just.

And as I consider these things, I find that amid the grief I feel for what I see, my hearts leaps with a new found and deeper desire to, all the more, give all that I could ever have to give, to bring all that I could ever bring, to worship with every ounce of me that can worship the ONE God of ALL. Satan may seek to turn me from my Lord and strive to take what I wish to give to my God, but I pray it would only serve to spur me on to glorify my Savior more and more.

Philippians 2:9–11
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and EVERY tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.