Judgement

“In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Anyone who does not honour the Son is certainly not honouring the Father who sent him.”
John 5:22-23 NLT

God’s judgement isn’t a popular subject, particularly amongst people who don’t believe in Him. After all, they say, isn’t this God all about His love for people, and surely such a God of love would never judge and punish anyone. Even Christians, sitting in our pews, won’t hear many sermons preached about God’s judgement. But Jesus spoke often about God’s judgement and the verses before us today are such an example. Jesus said that He had been given “absolute authority to judge” so we seriously need to take note of this. It is very true that God is a God of love. But He is also a God of righteousness and justice, as we read in Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He”. Psalm 9:8, “He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness”. So we mustn’t be surprised that Jesus warned the Jewish leaders that He had the authority to judge.

We see the evil and sinful ways of the people in the societies in which we live, and can mourn the fact that there are many people who, at first sight, would seem to be evading the consequences of their sins. People who commit crimes but are never caught. People who lie and cheat their way through life. People who treat their spouses and families in violent and despicable ways. But God knows what is going on, and we should not be surprised that one day there will be a time of reckoning. It may not happen in our lifetimes but happen it will.

According to the Bible, there are two judgement occasions – one for believers and the other for unbelievers. For believers, we read in Romans 14:10b,12, “ … For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. … So then each of us shall give account of himself to God”. This will not affect our salvation – this is assured by faith alone – but it is to bring out into the open an account of all the things we have done, or haven’t done, for God. So, our lives will come under the spotlight of Jesus’ gaze, and we will be rewarded for the good things we have done. Everything else will be burned up, as of no consequence.

For unbelievers, however, there is a terrible time coming, as we read in Revelation 20:11-12, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books”. 

God is a God of love but we have to overlay that truth on the fact that He is also a God of righteousness and justice. Everyone has an opportunity to turn to God and respond to His love but there are consequences for those who don’t. We are perfectly free to make choices, but we need to be aware that by doing so, we also choose the consequences for the choices we make. If we choose to follow Jesus, then we are assured that we will spend eternity with Him. If we turn our backs on God, and don’t believe in Him, then we will find ourselves facing the consequences in front of a Great White Throne.

Jesus exposed some hard truths before those Jewish leaders who dared to harass Him for telling a healed man to carry his sleeping mat home on the Sabbath. We don’t know how they responded in the end, but if they continued to reject Jesus and His message then there was a time coming when they would have to stand before Him to account for their choice.

We pilgrims must take every opportunity to remind our listeners that God loves them. But if our Good News is rejected and we are harassed and ridiculed for sharing it, then we can remind them of the Great White Throne. Perhaps our gracious words will lodge in their hearts and one day will bear fruit as another soul born into God’s family.

Dear Father God. We thank You for Your grace and mercy – where would anyone be without it? We continue to pray for our friends and families, that none will have to experience Your throne in person. In Jesus’ name. Amen.