God’s End-Times Plan for the Nations: Judgment, Reformation, and the Reign of Christ

As the days accumulate and we approach the very end, one thing that must be constantly at your attention is that all the nations that capitulate and align with the Antichrist kingdom will experience what I like to call the Great Rightsizing.

God Almighty and Christ Jesus the Son will smash the kingdom of Antichrist and set the nations in order by bringing them into Christ’s 1,000-year Millennial Reign. Much of what will happen during this time will be to correct the damage done to the earth by the wrath poured out upon it during the Tribulation.

God Deals with Individuals Differently from Nations

God deals with individuals differently from nations. This means that a person must be saved by repenting of their sins and following Jesus Christ completely. Nations hold a different position before the Lord. Enter the conversation of reformation. A nation’s reformation not only entails widespread change that leads to God-based principles but also returns it to, or aligns it with, God’s ultimate purpose for that nation.

Revival Precedes Reformation

In the United States, believers are praying for a revival, and yes, we must have that. Salvation is spreading across the land at an unprecedented rate. As a result, society is being affected by a generational shift driven by the influence of many people proclaiming Jesus across every sector. After a revival takes its course, the next step is reformation. It must be recognized that reformation cannot occur without revival—it is imperative.

He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17).

In Luke 1:17, we see that the Spirit and power of Elijah come to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, a powerful word for generational merging in the coming move of God. Also, a crucial point often overlooked is that it moves beyond that form of revival to something highly impactful on culture. Luke 1:17 goes on to say that after the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children, the disobedient are turned to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Disobedient Turned to the Wisdom of the Just

The disobedient who turns to the wisdom of the just offers insight into societal change or reformation. As the Word of God makes clear, not all humanity will experience salvation. Jesus said, “The road is narrow, and few are they who find it” (see Matthew 7:13-14). However, even if a nation does not see the impact of every individual accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior, it will still be affected by the reformation. How? Through the influence and authority of the land standing in a place that aligns with godly principles. As a result, those who are disobedient and follow their own hearts and way of doing things apart from the Word of God will themselves be under the influence of the just.

Revival, reformation, and the disobedient being turned to the wisdom of the just are all part of preparing the way for the Lord. Or, better said, according to verse 17, it makes ready a people prepared for the Lord. It is not a hard leap to say they are being prepared for the return of Jesus!

God Has Dealt with Nations Throughout the Old Testament—And He Continues This Today

Let me use the Lord’s dealings with churches as a point of comparison. In Revelation, the seven churches are warned to follow the Word Jesus gives to each of them, or He will come and remove their lampstand. The disobedient church would cease to function. This does not mean that each believer would be cast away from the Lord and cease to be a believer; rather, my point is that God works in corporate settings differently than in the individual.

Israel is another strong example of this. God has made promises to that nation and to the land they are to possess. Even calling the Jewish people God’s chosen people does not mean they are automatically born again. Rather, on an individual level, both Jew and Gentile are to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, or they will not be with Him in eternity. This is why Peter was sent to the Jews in the New Testament to preach salvation through Jesus Christ.

Additionally, this principle holds true when we consider nations: a per-son is not individually judged by God for what their nation has done. Rather, an individual will be judged by their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Nations can indeed suffer the consequences of not following the Lord’s system of operation and likewise experience the blessings of following God’s principles.

An individual who is a believer in a disobedient nation will experience what the whole nation experiences, no different from a church in Revelation if the lampstand were removed. God wants His individual believers to follow Him regardless of whether the nation or the church to which they belong obeys Him properly.

What is crucial is that the believer knows their role in both the church they attend and serve and in the nation in which they live. We are to be salt and light, bringing the will of Almighty God to pass in every area, even if they are disobedient.

The Sodom and Gomorrah Template

When we consider judgment, even wrath on a nation, region, or the like, a compelling example is Sodom and Gomorrah. A civic region that had committed a violation against God to the point that intervention became necessary. It is a template for what happens when a nation or a people group pushes the envelope to a tipping point. Unrepentant and brazen against God to the point of an outcry from victims and those affected by the evil practiced day and night. There are extreme circumstances in which the Lord will be forced to intervene, as was the case in the Sodom and Gomorrah narrative. Upon crossing the line without remorse and harming people to the point of an outcry heard by heaven, their judgment became absolute.

Angelic Visitors on Assignment to Destroy Sodom and Gomorrah

I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know (Genesis 18:21).

For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it (Genesis 19:13).

Angelic visitors, on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah, spoke to Abraham, saying, “We will destroy this place because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” God heard the outcries, likely from all the victims and those brutalized by these wicked towns. As a result, angels were dispatched to wipe out the villainous inhabitants of those two cities.

The judgment poured out on Sodom and Gomorrah was prompted by the cries of victims and the horrific injustice being perpetrated against the innocent. I want to present to you that, as bad as this breathtaking moment of judgment was upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and even the reality that it was burned off the face of the earth, the world has never experienced a complete outpouring of God’s wrath; it has only been caught in glimpses.

Full-tilt, unbridled wrath from God has never been experienced in all of creation, including humanity, and has certainly not encountered the ultimate wrath of God—but they will.

Intense Judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah

Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground (Genesis 19:24-25).

So severe was this blast of judgment that nothing remained in Sodom and Gomorrah, not even what grew on the ground. It was a clean sweep; nothing survived. All because the men of Sodom constantly performed wicked deeds.

Lot’s Foolish Decision to Dwell in Sodom and Gomorrah

Amazingly, Lot may not have known just how evil these men were, and, ignorantly, made this foolish choice to take up his abode among such very wicked men, which occasioned a great deal of grief, trouble, and vexation to Lot; or if he knew it, the prospect of convenience for his cattle and of enriching himself might have tempted him and prevailed over him to take such a treacherous step; whatever the end motivation was for Lot, he was not restrained from dwelling among them, those vile men of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves (Isaiah 3:9).

These men were exceedingly great sinners, guilty of the most heinous and notorious crimes. They were addicted to the most scandalous and unnatural lusts imaginable, and they committed these crimes openly and publicly in the sight of God, in the most daring and vile manner, in direct defiance of God Almighty, without any fear or shame.

The Targum of Jonathan reckons up many of their sins, as defrauding one another in their substance, sinning in their bodies, incest, unclean copulation, shedding of innocent blood, worshiping of idols, and rebelling against the name of the Lord.