God acts so mercifully toward us because he is our Father. For many years now I have been an attorney with a fair amount of criminal law cases. I find myself constantly amazed at the parent who will spend his last dime, even mortgage his home, in order to pay the legal fees for his reprobate son or daughter charged with a crime ranging from drug pushing to theft to assault to even murder. If a natural father acts with such mercy and care for his evil child, how then can we expect our heavenly Father to act? With mercy.

And so we see that our Father, for now, has held back the first trumpet judgment and moved instead to the second. So far only our sea has been affected. But, what will happen when storms and hurricanes pick up the oil and the dispersant poisons and dump them upon man, beasts, trees, and grass? Will that not begin the literal fulfillment of the first trumpet judgment?

The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. (Revelation 8:7 KJV)

Until then, though, God’s mercy remains. And the purpose of that mercy is to bring his people to repentance. Yet, it seems so far that Christians, and certainly the rest of the people of the world, have not taken the Gulf disaster very seriously. People continue more interested in their pursuit of pleasure than in understanding the times. Most refuse to even consider that the Gulf oil catastrophe could be a fulfillment of God’s judgment. And to this Jesus says, “O you hypocrites, you can discern the appearance of the sky; but can you not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:3)

But, God’s mercy is not like man’s mercy. Men do not know when to withhold good from their wayward children and so they often confirm and embolden them in their sin and rebellion. God actually brings judgments upon men in order to cause them to repent. Repentance of sin, and repentance alone, restores the relationship of the child to the Father. Thus we see that God’s mercy actually leads him to bring judgment upon his creation. We live in that sad time when all men’s thoughts have turned to evil.  We live in days like the days of Noah. And as in Noah’s day, men continue to sing and to dance and to marry, never realizing that the mercy of God has now led to judgment.