Does Judgment Come for Everyone?

In this episode of Wake Up, Look Up, Pastor Zach reflects on the events in Venezuela to ask a sobering biblical question: does judgment come for everyone? Using Scripture and current events, he reminds us that while judgment may seem delayed, God sees all—and today is the day to seek repentance and mercy. 

Have an article you’d like Pastor Zach to discuss? Email us at [e-mail]

Creators and Guests

Host

Zach Weihrauch

Follower of Jesus who has graciously given me a wife to love, children to shepherd, and a church to pastor.

What is Wake Up, Look Up?

Check out new episodes of our daily podcast, Wake Up, Look Up, with Zach Weihrauch as he interprets what's happening in our world through the lens of the gospel.

00:00:09:29 - 00:00:42:05
Unknown
Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up! Look up a podcast a week. Connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch and today's episode we're asking the question, does judgment come for everyone? Now, this is based on an article I read in the New York Times recently, but it's actually a story that has been everywhere, and that is the United States going into Venezuela and deposing the leader of that country, Nicolas Maduro.

00:00:42:08 - 00:01:11:14
Unknown
Now, if you don't know this story, well, you've been living under a rock. But let me catch you up. The United States in a 2:00 in the morning special operations mission, which involved over 150 U.S. aircraft. So think a ton of personnel as the culmination of the Trump administration's engagement with the Venezuelan government went in to the country to arrest essentially, the Venezuelan president on federal drug and weapons charges.

00:01:11:15 - 00:01:38:18
Unknown
Now, they flew in at 2 a.m., went in, took Maduro, killed around 40 Venezuelans and now are indicting him in federal court in the state of New York and the Trump administration argument is that Maduro and his administration are what they call narco terrorist, meaning in bed with the drug cartels funneling cocaine into the United States.

00:01:38:18 - 00:02:05:01
Unknown
In fact, they estimate that Maduro is responsible for importing over a thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States during his tenure as the Venezuelan president. Now, you might as you might imagine, response to this has been divided. Some are lauding it as a necessary regime change in a country that did not have legitimate elections and needed to be free of a president who was a criminal.

00:02:05:02 - 00:02:26:21
Unknown
Others are saying it's United States overreach. But as you know, here, we always try to take a spiritual angle. And so my first thought when I read this is, what is it like to be the president of Venezuela to be participating in importing thousands of tons of cocaine, to be getting rich while your country is falling apart, and to think you're really bulletproof?

00:02:26:21 - 00:02:49:24
Unknown
I mean, you are the president of your country. You're a terrorist with a country behind him. And then one night you go to bed and you wake up at 2:00 in the morning, and the United States government has come for you. Next thing you know, you are on a plane. A wild story, by the way. Maduro and his wife were on their way to their safe room, and before they could get the door closed, special forces were grabbing them.

00:02:49:27 - 00:03:25:19
Unknown
He must have thought judgment would never come for him. And it did. And that is a major, believe it or not, biblical theme. There's this idea that for certain people, judgment, it is not a reality. For certain people. They are above God's law. But the Bible reminds us time and time again that isn't true, in fact. Think about the words of Habakkuk in Habakkuk chapter one verse two, when he cries out to God for the political leaders of his day who were corrupt, and he says, how long, O Lord, must I call for help?

00:03:25:25 - 00:03:51:08
Unknown
And you do not listen or cry out to you violence, but you do not save. You see, the Bible tells us in situations like this we should be thinking two things. The first is that God sees the evil of our generation. God knows the names and the deeds of political leaders, of terrorists, of criminals, of the who's who, of the bad guys, of every generation.

00:03:51:08 - 00:04:19:29
Unknown
And sometimes we fall into the thinking that because God doesn't bring judgment today, it will never come. We end up crying out, like Habakkuk saying, Hey God, are you paying attention? Do you know what's happening? Do you care? And stories like this are a reminder. Yes, he sees, yes he knows and yes he cares. A murderer went to bed thinking he couldn't be touched and he woke up on a jet on the way to New York.

00:04:19:29 - 00:04:45:06
Unknown
Judgment will be like that for every corrupt leader of every corrupt generation. Of course, by judgment here, I don't mean the United States government or a plane on the way to New York. I mean judgment before the throne of God. So many people have thought that the world is theirs, that they can shape it and do with it what they want without any reference or regard to God.

00:04:45:11 - 00:05:10:14
Unknown
And they're wrong. Judgment comes for everyone when we least expect it. Of course. That's the second point, isn't it? I mean, it's one thing to cry out to God for the judgment of people like Nicolas Maduro, to cry out for the judgment of those who flood the world with drugs, who destroy people's lives, or destroy families who bring violence, to say to God, when will you bring judgment for them?

00:05:10:14 - 00:05:34:07
Unknown
It's one thing to watch from a distance as judgment comes for them when they're least expecting. But the Bible also tells us judgment will come for you and I. Sometimes we think we are bulletproof. We think the sin that we're holding on to, the sin that we're hiding, the things that we're hoping no one knows about, that maybe even God himself doesn't see, is the stuff we're getting away with.

00:05:34:07 - 00:05:56:22
Unknown
But Maduro wasn't, and neither are you and I. Judgment really will come for everyone when we least expect it. Sometimes even at 2:00 in the morning, which means today is the day to cry out to God. Not for the judgment of people like Maduro, but for mercy for ourselves. Today is the day of repentance. Is the day to go to God and to say, I'm sorry for what I've done?

00:05:56:24 - 00:06:09:11
Unknown
How can I be made clean? If you find yourself holding on to something, no, this judgment will come for you, just like it did for Maduro. But today is a day of forgiveness. Ask.