The Wrath of God, Part 1 By Mike McClung

And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:7-8)

The parable of the unjust judge has its resolution in the final statement above by the Lord Jesus. The Lord brings a contrast between earthly, unjust judges who may pass sentences depending upon their moods and convenience (or lack thereof), and that of the just and righteous Judge of the earth. We’re told that the Lord is aware of every injustice with which His saints have been afflicted and that every injustice will be requited when He gets the cooperative cry of faith and agreement from the saints on earth. But implicit in this parable is the reality of voluntary suffering that comes to the saints through injustice. This voluntary suffering (or in most cases, IN-voluntary suffering!) is part of the training process by which He conforms us to the image of the Son, who is the epitome of One who suffers injustice. Once these remedial judgments come to the saints of God, thus bringing us into full maturity and union with the Son, we then partner with Him in releasing His judgments into the earth with the main view to bring a harvest of souls.

The Judge of the Earth – The Remedial Judge By Mike McClung

The word “judgment” has received bad press, and that bad press has mostly come from the church….

In one extreme, parts of the church are now saying that God does NOT judge; He’s too nice and loving to do such a thing. This has been carried to heresy in those that deny the existence of hell and of a final judgment after death. Those who hold to such a view do not know the Lord in His awe-inspiring beauty and justice. If there is no judgment of sin, action and lawlessness, then God cannot be a just God. If He is not just, then He is not holy, without mixture. In denying this aspect of His holy nature, man thus has successfully remade God in our fallen image (at least what we would LIKE Him to be).

The Unveiling of Jesus as Judge, Part 3 - By Mike McClung

[We are reposting the next few articles from a few years ago because they seem to be relevant to what the Lord is doing lately.]

Meeting Christ As Judge

The depth of intimacy with our Lord affords a liberty and honesty in our relationship like no other. No one will ever know us to the minutest detail as He. We have great assurance and confidence in Him, knowing that He will never leave us or forsake us. Jesus, as the perfect Husband, exhibits an unparalleled patience with His bride. He affords us an extended grace period or honeymoon, where we become secure in His undying love. When our relationship is strong and stable, as King, He is also faithful to begin to reveal truth to us about our character. He shows us weaknesses and flaws that do not conform to His image and likeness. Jesus is a faithful Bridegroom/King who confronts us, and works in us to conform our character to His likeness.

Truth is a two-edged sword that helps us first to identify with our new nature in Christ. As we align ourselves with His thinking and who we are in Him, we also begin to see that which is not of Him. We are like Adam and Eve in the Garden, as we see our nakedness. Nakedness here is a metaphor for the fallen nature of man, and that fallen nature is inherently rebellious to Him because is shamed-based at its root. We need clarity of both aspects of the sword. Our intimate relationship with and knowledge of Him gives us the courage to embrace the power of the cross prepared for us specifically, allow the Holy Spirit to work within our lives, and leave behind our old self to be clothed in Christ.

The Unveiling of Jesus as Judge, Part 2 - By Mike McClung

[We are reposting the next few articles from a few years ago because they seem to be relevant to what the Lord is doing lately.]

We are a bride awaiting our bridegroom

Jesus is returning for a bride that is without spot or wrinkle. We know that Jesus must have a bride that bears His image. The bride, who is the church, must make herself ready (Rev. 19:7-8). If we examine the betrothal process of the Hebrew culture, we can begin to understand how to embrace the intimate relationship the Lord desires.

It was customary for a Hebrew young man to prepare a Ketubah, a marriage contract (a covenant), which he presented to his intended bride and her father. Included in this covenant was the Bride Price, an appropriate gesture in Jewish society meant to compensate the young woman’s parents for the cost of raising her. In addition, and more importantly, the payment was considered an expression of the man’s love for his intended bride. This betrothal covenant was legally binding once the bride and her family accepted the terms of his Ketubah.

The Unveiling of Jesus as Judge, Part 1 - By Mike McClung

[We are reposting the next few articles from a few years ago because they seem to be relevant to what the Lord is doing lately.]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, We had everything before us, we had nothing before us. We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. -Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens opens his classic, A Tale of Two Cities with a series of paradoxical statements that paints a vivid picture of tumultuous times in England and France. The year is 1775, and while England is soon to lose its grip on the American colonies, France is soon to face total anarchy as the peasants arise to overthrow a corrupt and decadent regime. England is rife with crime and France with poverty. While life for the nobility was exquisite, the lower class struggled to survive. The plight of the times raised serious questions about man’s ability to rule justly and the desire of man’s heart to serve selflessly.

What Are We Waiting On? By Mike McClung

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be moved. (Psalm 62:5-6)

Waiting on the Lord is one of the hardest things for the flesh to embrace. One of the biggest obstacles to moving into the new season, and moving into greater glory and harvest, is impatience. Impatience caused Moses to be set on the backside of the desert for forty years as the Lord dealt with his life and character. Impatience caused King Saul to presumptively take matters into his own hands when it seemed Samuel was delayed in his arrival to bless the troops before battle (1 Sam. 10), thus causing a hardening of his heart in pride and ultimately losing the kingdom. Impatience by the newly saved Saul of Tarsus caused unnecessary turmoil and problems for the still infant church in Jerusalem, causing the senior leaders to send him back home to Tarsus for the discipline of silence and solitude (Acts 9:27-31). Part of the Lord’s refining process to prepare us to enter into the fullness of His presence and purposes is learning to wait on the Lord.

Preparing to Enter a New Season of Fullness and Harvest By Mike McClung

Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD…For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper…who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end…. (Deut. 8:1-3, 7-9, 16)

To those in the body of Christ who are willing and prepared, we’re about to enter into a time of fullness, restoration and harvest unprecedented in the history of the world. The world, itself, is in cataclysmic chaos, rampant unrighteousness, lawlessness and confusion, at least quantitatively, in such ways as have never been. The evil Babylonian/antichrist systems of politics and religiosity have formed, and are continuing to evolve into an alliance whose purpose is to “make war with the saints and overcome them” (Rev. 13:7), with its ultimate aim to make war with the Lamb in futility, and foolishly try to prevent Him from reclaiming the earth at His second coming. In the midst of all this, the Lord is raising up a body on this earth, touched to their core with the power of the cross unto death of self, and filled with His grace and glory. This new season of restoration is to prepare the earth for His coming, reap a harvest of righteousness and souls for His glory, and execute His judgments to prove beyond a shadow of doubt His infinite mercy to a world that has truly given itself to evil and hatred of all the is just, true and holy. We can either cave in to fear, as the first generation of Israelites did that came out of Egypt, or confidently move forward through the waters of death (the Jordan) and enter into this new season or warfare and victory for His glory.