We are smack dab in the middle of exploring God’s judgment in the last days which means we have ourselves a series. In the last episode, we set a solid foundation for what judgment is.
Today, we’re going to build on that foundation and look at the things that bring us into a place of being judged by God and how God can execute judgments, because this will give us a better understanding of God’s judgment on America which we will look at as well.
So let’s take a look at what causes God to judge someone or something.
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What Brings God’s Judgment
I want to start by saying that God doesn’t just make up judgments. God tells us in Ezekiel 24:14, CSB that He judges us according to our ways and our deeds. He breaks it down even further in Ezekiel 16:59, CSB and tells us that He deals with us according to what we have done. He takes it even further in 35:11, CSB and told the Edomites that he was judging them according to the anger and jealousy they showed in their hatred of the Israelites.
Revelation 20:12, CSB
Alright let’s jump into some of the things that bring about God’s judgment. Some of these I will breeze through and some I will dive into a little deeper. If you are taking notes, make sure to go over to the show notes because it will have all of the scripture citations for you. I linked to the show notes in the episode description wherever you are watching or listening.
Also, this list is not exhaustive. It just includes the things that were highlighted to me.
1. Detestable and abominable practices
The first thing I’m going to share that brings about God’s judgment is our participation in detestable and abominable practices. The words detestable and abomination are used almost interchangeably so you’ll see either word in the scriptures I cite to. Derek Prince once said that the Hebrew word for abomination is the strongest word in the Hebrew language for what God hates.
So here’s a list of things that God has deemed detestable and abominable in His word—these are the things that God strongly hates. There are about seven that I’ll share.
- Homosexuality. Up first is homosexuality. In chapter 18 of Leviticus the Lord is giving instructions to Moses for him to share with the Israelites. The instructions are specifically about forbidden sexual practices. God is very specific. He’s saying things like don’t have sex with your close relatives. Don’t sleep with your son’s daughter. All of that. Well, later down in the instructions in verse 22, God says, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” Leviticus 18:22, NKJV. We see this again in chapter 20:33, NKJV which says, “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination…”
- Lying. The next abomination is lying. Proverbs 12:22, NKJV reveals that “Lying lips are an abomination to the ”
- The next abomination is when someone justifies the wicked or condemns the righteous. Proverbs 17:15, NKJV. I think that’s pretty self explanatory.
- The next abomination is being proud and arrogant in heart. Proverbs 16:5, AMP tells us that, “Everyone with a proud heart is detestable to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.”
- Those who have a crooked and perverse heart are also an abomination to God. We see this in Proverbs 11:20, NKJV.
- The sacrificial offerings of the wicked are an abomination. Proverbs 21:27, AMP. That means, if you are evil and you are trying to give praise and worship to God without changing your wicked ways, know that this is an abomination to Him and it offends Him.
- Idolatry. The last abomination and detestable practice I’m going to cover is idolatry. Let’s look at it in Ezekiel 8:5-6, NLT. It says, “Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance to the gate near the altar, stood the idol that had made the Lord so jealous. “Son of man,” he said, “do you see what they are doing? Do you see the detestable sins the people of Israel are committing to drive me from my Temple? But come, and you will see even more detestable sins than these!”
As God took Ezekiel through different areas in the temple of God, the detestable preactices grew worse in scope because the level of idol worship was more intense and it was done closer to what was supposed to be holy areas in the temple.
Because of that God was about to judge people who were steeped in idolatry at every level including high ranking church leaders. They had erected an offensive statute at their Altar Gate which was at the entrance. The statute is speculated to possibly be an Asherah pole but the point is, the offensive statute was in honor of one of the many pagan gods they served. We know this because the scripture tells us that the statute provoked God’s jealousy. And this was in front of God’s temple.
2. Lack of concern for the poor and needy
In Ezekiel 16:49, NLT, we see that some of the sins of Sodom that led to its judgment of destruction was Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.
3. Slavery and Human Trafficking
This also brings about God’s judgment. (Amos 2:6, CSB and AMP). God judges those who sell the righteous, innocent, and needy. In Amos 2:6, NLT God says, “This is what the Lord says: “The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sell honorable people for silver and poor people for a pair of sandals.
4. Sexual immorality and fornication
Our scriptural reference is Revelation 14:8, NKJV. It says, “And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
The Greek word used that we get fornication from is the word porneia. That word means illicit sexual intercourse to include adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals, and intercourse with close relatives.
5. Rejecting God’s instruction
It’s really important you get this so I’m going to spend some time here. In Amos 2:4, NLT, God is judging Judah and Israel and He says that “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They have rejected the instruction of the Lord, refusing to obey his decrees [which are His laws, stautes, and commandments].” The Hebrew word used there for reject also means despise and refused.
Another example of this is in Ezekiel 11:11b-12, CSB; God says, “I will judge you at the border of Israel, so you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose ordinances you have not practiced. Instead, you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.”
I think we can also include commanding God’s prophets not to prophesy in this category of rejecting God’s instructions. I say that because in the same chapter of Amos, a few lines down, we see God judging the Israelites for doing just that. Amos 2:12, CSB.
I know that there are a lot of people who believe that because we are under the new covenant that the Ten Commandments are obsolete and we don’t have to follow rules and laws, but that isn’t true. Both God and Jesus make Athis clear for us and they do it on a few occasions.
First God lets us know through the mouth of His prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37:24, CSB that there is an expectation for us to still obey His laws during the age of Jesus.
Then, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:17-20, CSB, “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”
Then Jesus tells us in John 14:15 that if we love Him, then we will keep His commandments. Do you know what the opposite of love is?? It’s hate. So if we aren’t keeping Jesus’ commandments, then it can be inferred that we hate God. It’s also said that the opposite of love is indifference. Indifference is the absence of compulsion toward one thing or another. What does that sound like to you? Lukewarm, right? And Revelation lets us know how Jesus feels about being lukewarm.
6. Breaking Covenants
I think a great place to explore this is in Ezekiel 17:15-20, CSB. Ok, so let me set the scene. The King of Babylon went to Jerusalem, which was the capital of Judah, and took its king and leading officials and brought them back with him to Babylon. This wasn’t a friendly trip. He invaded the land and captured them.
Well, once they were back in Babylon, the Babylonian king took one of the royal family members he captured from Jerusalem and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath, and basically making him swear his loyalty. But the king of Judah revolted against the Babylonian king and sent some of his ambassadors to Egypt behind the Babylonian king’s back to try to get some horses from him and a large army.
So in these verses we have God giving the word of the Lord to Ezekiel about this whole situation, and God says in verse 15, “Will he flourish? Will the one who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still escape? “‘As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke.
He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. He did all these things even though he gave his hand in pledge. He will not escape!
“Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: As I live, I will bring down on his head my oath that he despised and my covenant that he broke. I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment on him there for the treachery he committed against me.
Serious stuff.
7. Lying to the Holy Spirit
We see this with Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts chapter five. This couple sold their land for the purposes of giving all of the proceeds to the church. Except, privately they decided to keep some of the money for themselves. They both fell dead when confronted with the truth of who they were actually lying to, which was the Holy Spirit. If you’re familiar with this text, you may be wondering why Ananias and Saphira were judged for something they didn’t know they were doing, because they very likely didn’t know they were lying to the Holy Spirit. They were lying to Peter in their minds.
8. Child sacrifice
Abortion falls under this category. God described child sacrifice as slaughtering His children in Ezekiel 16:21, CSB. This is also sorcery because its blood magic.
Let’s take a look at Amos 1:13, CSB. It says, “The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing the Ammonites for three crimes, even four, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory.” See also Ezekiel 16:20-21; 36b.
9. Murder
Leviticus 24:17 says that “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.”
10. Adultery
God judges adultery. Hebrews 13:4 makes it clear that, “Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.”
11. Cowardice and Unbelief.
Revelation 21:8, CSB lets us know that the fearful and those who do not believe will sentenced to the lake of fire, which is a judgment. When the text speaks of cowards and the fearful, it’s referring to those to who give way under persecutions and those who apostocize and leave Christianity. When it speaks of unbelief it’s referring to those who are unfaithful to God.
12. Disobeying the gospel of Jesus
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, CSB lets us know that disobeying the gospel of Jesus Christ, specifically, ignoring and refusing to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus [by choosing not to respond to Him], also brings about God’s judgment.
How God Executes Judgment
When it comes to how God executes judgments, I want to highlight that while all sin is bad, all sin is not created equal. They all have different consequences and God judges sin differently.
We see God give us a glimpse of this in the book of Ezekiel. He had just finished sharing with Israel all of the foul things they had done. The sin he focused on the most was their idolatry and he equated their idolatry to spiritual adultery. The Israelites had taken the gifts God gave them and they gave them to the idols they worshiped. Imagine taking money God gives you and giving it to demons. That’s essentially what they were doing. They even went so far as to sacrifice their children to those false gods.
And as God is walking down their behavior, He begins to refer to the Israelites as adulterous wives and prostitutes. Then He tells them in Ezekiel 16:38, CSB that because of all of this, He’s going to judge them the way adulteresses and those who shed blood are judged. This lets us know that adulteresses and murderers are judged in a particular way.
Remember God made it very clear in Ezekiel 16:59, CSB that He deals with us according to what we have done. So let’s look at some of the specific ways that God has executed judgments. I’m going to share ten.
1. Foreign power
God will use a foreign power to serve as an instrument of judgment.
“God uses evil people, places, and things to judge the sin and rebellion among His own people.” – Study Bible
In Amos 6:14, CSB, God said, “But look, I am raising up a nation
against you, house of Israel—this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies—and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.” He has done this a lot.
He told the Israelites in Ezekiel 11:9, CSB, “I will take you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners; I will execute judgments against you.”
In the book of Judges, we saw it over and over again. He would use Israel’s enemies against them as judgment and He has also used the Israelites to execute judgment against other nations like when they took the promised land from the Canaanites.
This is important to remember because it helps us really take a closer look at wars in today’s time. Some wars are purely demonic and are covert ways of servicing demonic altars through bloodshed, but some of these current wars and wars to come are actually God’s judgments against nations. I listed more scriptural examples of this in the show notes which are linked in the episode description.
2. Fire
God used fire as judgment on Judah in Amos 2:4-5, CSB, “The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Judah for three crimes, even four, because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord and have not kept his statutes. The lies that their ancestors followed have led them astray. Therefore, I will send fire against Judah, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.
Sodom and Gomorrah is another example. God rained down fire and brimstone. Genesis 19:24, NKJV. These cities received God’s judgment because of pride, homosexuality, and their lack of concern for the poor. (Ezekiel 16:49).
Today, this should make us look closer at the Palisades Fire in California which has forced more than 30,000 to evacuate.
3. Natural disasters
Not all natural disasters are judgments but some of them absolutely are. God sent a flood as judgment in Genesis.
Earthquakes. In the book of Revelation, we see an earthquake being used to judge those in the city who remained after they were killed and resurrected.
On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, we actually likely saw an earthquake judgment in real time in China when a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit a region in Tibet. The region that was primarily affected was the city of Shigatse and it is recognized as a holy city which is blasphemous because when they say holy, they are saying it because it has an important site of the buddhist religion there.
The Tashilhunpo Monastery is a prominent landmark in Shigatse. This monastery is the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, which is the second highest ranking lama in Tibetan Buddhism. On top of that, the monastery was founded in 1447 by the first Dalai Lama and houses a 26.2 meter, which is nearly 86 feet, gilded statue of the Maitreya Buddha.
God will NOT be mocked.
Another form of natural disasters God has used as judgment are torrential rain, hailstones, violent stormy winds (Ezekiel 13:11, CSB). He used them to judge false prophets and diviners.
4. Dangerous animals
In Ezekiel 14:15, CSB, when God was judging and publishing idolators He brought up four devastating judgments and speaking of one of them, He said, “Suppose I allow dangerous animals to pass through the land and depopulate it so that it becomes desolate, with no one passing through it for fear of the animals.”
We actually see a dangerous animal as execution of God’s judgment against a young prophet in 1 Kings 13. I really encourage you to read the whole story but here’s what happened. This young prophet came from Judah and destroyed an evil altar where the king of Israel was offering sacrifices. God had given this young prophet strict instructions not to eat food, drink water, or return the way he had traveled to Israel.
Well, an old prophet got wind of the mighty work this young prophet had done against the King. He went out and found the young prophet, and lied and told the man that an angel told him to have the man of God come to his house to eat food and drink water. He further assured the young prophet by saying that he himself was a prophet as well.
Well, the young prophet went with the old prophet to his home, ate food, and drank water, and this is what happened, starting at verse twenty:
“While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you rebelled against the Lord’s command and did not keep the command that the Lord your God commanded you (REMEMBER, rejecting God’s instructions is number five on our list of things that God judges, okay back to the text)— did not keep the command that the Lord your God commanded you—but you went back and ate food and drank water in the place that he said to you, “Do not eat food and do not drink water”—your corpse will never reach the grave of your ancestors.’”
So after he had eaten food and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. When he left, a lion attacked him along the way and killed him. His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too.” 1 Kings 13:20-24, CSB
I think we can all agree that a lion is a dangerous animal.
5. Desolation, Devastation, and Waste
We can lump these together, but these are things that affect the land.
In Ezekiel 15:8, CSB, God says, “I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. A desolate land is a land devoid of inhabitants and visitors. It shows signs of abandonment and barrenness. It’s lifeless.
6. Famine
In Revelation 18:8, CSB God is judging Babylon the Great and says, “For this reason her plagues will come in just one day—death and grief and famine. She will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty. Famine was also used as a judgment against Israel when King Saul broke his covenant with the Gibeonites in 2 Samuel 21. They suffered a famine for three years.
7. Darkness
One of the ten plagues of Egypt was darkness. In Exodus 10:21-23, CSB, “the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.
We know this was a judgment against Egypt because God tells us in Exodus 12:12, CSB that He was executing judgment against all the gods of Egypt. Darkness was a judgment against Egypt’s sun god.
God speaks of darkness again as judgment in Ezekiel 32:7-8, CSB. It says, “‘When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. I will darken all the shining lights in the heavens over you, and will bring darkness on your land. This is the declaration of the Lord God.
We saw darkness come across Puerto Rico on NYE. Only a fraction of the 1.4 million power customers had power that morning. I’m not saying this is God’s judgment because I don’t know but I just want to show you what this can look like in today’s time.
8. Plague
In Ezekiel 38:22, CSB, God says that He will execute judgment on a person with plague and bloodshed. The Hebrew word for plague means pestilence. The English definition of plague is pestilence as well.
Pestilence is “a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating;” it is destructive and causes a high rate of mortality. One of the judgments we explored in the last episode when an angel executed judgment was in 1 Chronicles 21:12; 14, CSB God sent a plague on the land that brought destruction to the whole territory of Israel. Seventy thousand men died as a result of that plague.
9. Death
When I speak of death in this context, I am speaking of death to the body. We see this in the old and new testament. We see it in the old testament when the angel stood between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, bringing death as an execution of God’s judgment of destruction against Israel because of King David’s sin.
We see it in the new testament with Ananias and Saphira who fell dead after lying to the Holy Spirit.
10. Eternal Destruction
The final form of judgment we will look at is eternal destruction, which is death to the soul and spirit. This judgment is for those who do not [seek to] know God and to those who ignore and refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus [by choosing not to respond to Him]. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, CSB breaks this down for us.
This particular chapter focuses on God’s judgment and glory. Here’s what the text says, it tells us that when the Lord Jesus returns from heaven with his powerful angels to take “vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength.”
Want More?
If you enjoyed this episode, then you may also enjoy the episode of the show about the fear of success and how it hinders purpose or this episode detailing what to expect when operating in your purpose.
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