For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back.

What an extraordinary statement!

Yet, if we think about it, it is true. Consider the horrendous sins being committed in America today. We wonder why God doesn't come down and put a stop to the outrages, the fraudulent practices of those in positions of authority, the murder of babies, the lying, stealing, and perversions of justice that are common.

There are awful practices taking place in Sudan as the Muslims attempt to stamp out Christianity. Yet leading nations keep on trading with Sudan and the abuses are not being publicized sufficiently and dealt with. The love of money nullifies conscience.

Child prostitution is widespread in many nations in our day.

God remains silent. He has held Himself back.

Does God know? Indeed He does! Does God care? Indeed He does! God is patient, not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance.

In the meanwhile God is building the Body of Christ, the army of judges that will put an end to sin in the earth.

But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.

Woe to the wicked of the world when God cries out, gasps, and pants. What will be brought to birth? Righteousness, justice, obedience to God.

The whole creation is in the throes of birth. Eventually every person (who is saved) and every thing will be made new in Christ. We are on the threshold of life, of a new day, of a new world. Have you been made new in Jesus Christ?

God will visit the earth. The blood of the innocent is speaking from the ground. If God knows the sparrow that dies, how much more is He concerned with the babies that have been aborted, the children that have been molested, the poor that have been denied their proper wages, those who have perished from famine while the wealthy of the world are spending billions of dollars to get rid of their excess fat?

We are near the birth of the Kingdom of God. The signs are all around us. Our redemption is drawing near. It is not a redemption from life on the earth but from sin and self-will.

I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools. (Isaiah 42:15)

God is not going to attack the physical mountains, the hills, their vegetation, the rivers, and the pools, at least not in the context of this verse.

The mountains and the hills are the mighty of mankind that are lifted up.

Their vegetation is the fruit of their doings—doings not sponsored by or approved of the Lord. The works of the flesh.

The rivers and the pools portray the life of the flesh, the "waters" of education and information in which people trust. Ours is a day of rivers of information and pools of knowledge. There never has been a time in history when so much information has been available to so many people.

To be continued.