By: Dr. Jonathan Hansen
As with all rules or laws from God, whether it be gravity, electricity, momentum, mathematics, cancer, etc., they are always true. Rules/laws control the orbits of the planets, the movement of electrons, the behavior of chemical substances, etc. The rule or law cannot be made up by man; it must be discovered. Sir Isaac Newton did not make up the law for gravity–he discovered the law. He then wrote down an equation expressing how the law operates.
We need to understand the laws (the rules of design) for prophecy and judgment.
In mathematics, two plus two equals four whether a student agrees or not.
In Noah’s day, most people denied that the flood was coming, but their denials and refusals to listen to the laws and conditions of God concerning judgment did not stop the science of judgment.
The promises offered by the covenant are not exclusive to the Jews but they are available to “whosoever will!” Galatians 3:28-29: “There is neither Jew nor Greek [Gentile], slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (covenant).”
Genesis 17:2-7: “And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him saying, as for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”
Abraham was not identified as Jew or Gentile at this point. He was a friend of God because he lived by faith.
God’s everlasting covenant with mankind has always had conditions. “If you will be my people, I will be your God! If you obey then…if you disobey then…”
Deuteronomy 6:5 and 28:1-20
We must never forget that God’s covenant with mankind is everlasting and conditional.
God’s covenant is not between equals, but between God Himself and mortal man. The Creator with the created. God first gave the covenant to Adam, then to Noah, then to Abraham, and now to Abraham’s descendants.
Genesis 17:4 tells us: “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.” Again, God tells us that it is His covenant and that Abraham is the father of many nations, not just Israel.
Galatians 3:28-29 reads: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
The Scriptures warn us about the “full cup of iniquity” law. When God’s mercy and grace runs its duration, then God’s anger and wrath boils over, and His judgment starts to fall. Judgment is first meant to lead to repentance (redemption). If the person is beyond redemption, God’s judgment is finally for total destruction. God sends utter destruction upon people and nations when their wickedness takes them beyond redeeming love. There is a point of no return when the unpardonable sin has been committed. Even this is mercy and grace because if God did not utterly destroy the unrepentant, then extended mercy only allows evil, violence, and needless suffering to continue upon the innocent. The principle is simple: God breaks His silence when a person, a city, or a nation reaches a certain level of wickedness, and He uses one or more of His divine judgments. If the situation is redeemable, His judgments are for redemptive purposes. If the situation is beyond redemption (repentance), then His judgments are utterly destructive.
The following are just a few examples of the cup of iniquity reaching full measure:
Genesis 6:5-7: “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth; men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air; for I am grieved that I have made them.’” God destroyed the inhabitants of the world in Noah’s day because the antediluvians cup of iniquity was full.
Genesis 15:13-16: “Then the Lord said to him (Abraham), ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years, But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.’”
God does not give Abraham’s descendants the land until after the Amorites had failed to repent, taking advantage of God’s mercy, compassion and grace. Therefore God’s judgment instead. God is the same for all peoples. Judgment only comes after man continues in sin instead of repenting, thus filling the cup of iniquity and bringing on God’s wrath! Remember that ancient Israel’s possession of Canaan was based on the same conditions applicable to the Amorites!
MOSES KNEW GOD’S LAWS OF JUDGMENT AND CONDITIONS TO KEEPING THE LAND
Deuteronomy 9:3-5: “But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly… After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations…”
THE CANAANITES LOST THEIR LAND WHEN THEIR CUP OF INIQUITY BECAME FULL. GOD BREAKS HIS SILENCE AND HIS WRATH STARTS TO FALL. JUDGMENT COMES WHEN GRACE IS CONTINUALLY REJECTED BY REFUSING TO REPENT AND OBEY GOD’S COVENANT.
Ancient Israel and Babylon both filled up their “cups of iniquity” separately, and judgment fell on them both accordingly! God is no respecter of nations or people. God has no favorites!
Jeremiah 25:7-12 reads: “But you did not listen to me…and you provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves…Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon…and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin…This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt…and will make it desolate forever.”
America is coming under judgment for their continual, habitual sins of abomination that brings guaranteed judgment. Romans 1:18-32
God is predictable. There is a scientific pattern for the rise and fall of nations throughout history. There are reasons and explanations why 9/11 and Katrina happened.
THE SCIENCE OF GOD – Part 2
King Belshazzar of Babylon, grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar, was personally judged by God when his cup of rebellion (iniquity) was filled! Daniel also warns King Belshazzar that his grandfather also personally came under divine judgment by God and temporarily repented.
Daniel 5:18-28
We are all servants of God whether we realize it or not. One can be a slave without their agreement. King Nebuchadnezzar did not know that he was serving God’s purposes when he destroyed Jerusalem. But, when Israel’s cup of iniquity was full, God used King Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Israel, and God used King Darius to overthrow the Babylonian empire.
Daniel 5:30-31:“In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.”
King Cyrus of Persia was another unwitting servant of God (Ezra 1:1-2: “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”
Isaiah 44:28 reads: “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure…” (also see Isaiah 25:1-12).
As we can see, God raises up military leaders to take the sword and use it to bring judgment on those whose cup of iniquity becomes full, even though the leaders chose to do what they wanted.
In Romans 2:5, 6, 8 Paul warns the sexually immoral Romans of “the full cup principle”: “…you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed, God will give to each person according to what he has done. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”
Paul clearly understood the “full cup of iniquity” rule. Colossians 3:5,6: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”
In I Thessalonians 2:14-16, the believers in Thessalonica are encouraged to be patient until the enemies of Christ had filled their cup of iniquity. “…You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches (in Judea) suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They (the Jews) displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.” At the time of this writing Paul knew that the Jews had “filled up their cup” and that they were doomed to destruction by the Romans, which began in 70 AD.
Jesus warned about the “full cup rule” during a discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees after pronouncing seven curses (woes) upon them for their hypocrisy.
Matthew 23:32-33 states: “Fill ye up then the measure of your forefathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?”
When a nation, city, people or a person’s cup of rebellion has been filled, then divine love manifests itself in judgment. God breaks His silence, for divine mercy has its limits, and out of divine grace for the innocent, His wrath is poured out.
Revelation 18:4-8 warns of the principle of the “cup of iniquity,” and of redemptive and utter destructive judgment: “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and god hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
God’s behavior toward the nation of Israel is no different than toward any other nation. God’s behavior is universal and unchanging. The “full cup principle” with Israel is as follows: Israel becomes wicked; Warnings are sent from God through prophets; When the warnings are repeatedly rejected by the people or nation, then God sends destruction!
Note: For example, God sent eight prophets to Israel over a period of 130 years prior to the destruction of the ten northern tribes to warn the people to repent and obey the laws of God or He would send destruction. God sent the prophets Elisha, Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Mica. When the majority of the people continued to reject the warnings of God, which is the grace and mercy of God, finally the cup of iniquity became full. God broke His silence and used the Assyrian king to bring His judgment upon Israel by destroying the ten tribes of Israel in 722 B.C. Later, when the Assyrian’s cup of iniquity became full, God sent another nation to destroy the Assyrians. The cup of iniquity principle always takes place as it is a rule/law of design by God Himself. It is the Science of Judgment!
Prior to the destruction of the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, God sent five prophets out of compassion to warn them to repent. For 65 years the prophets Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah and Ezekiel tried to warn them of God’s anger toward their sins, but they continued to reject the warnings of the prophets. We must realize that God is predictable. There are certain patterns of apostasy that are scientific for all nations. God’s character of justice and mercy is known and balanced into what I call divine love.
When patterns of apostasy continue and the cup of iniquity becomes full, then first redemptive and finally destructive judgment falls. God sends a destroyer upon a nation to judge it. God uses kings of nations as His arm of destruction. He uses them as His destroyer to conquer and destroy that nation in apostasy. The people of Israel were warned about violating the terms of God’s covenant!
THERE COMES A POINT OF NO RETURN!
Jeremiah 14:11-16: “Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword: and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.”
Jeremiah 30:12: “For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.
Ezekiel 5:11-12: “Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.”
Ezekiel 14:13,14: “Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God”Nahum 3:19:“There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous; all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?”
In my book, THE SCIENCE OF JUDGMENT, there are 29 chapters including GOD HOLDS PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE and GOD HOLDS NATIONS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT LEADERS DO. Please go to my website: worldministries.org and join Eagles Saving Nations to stop the judgment on America with another Great Awakening.
