Here Comes The Judge!

"... Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!" (cf. Job 11:6, NLT). 
"... Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?" (cf. Gen. 18:25, NLT).
"He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve," (cf. Psalm 103:10, NLT).  
"For it is appointed unto men to die once, and after this the judgment," (cf. Heb. 9:27).
"God repays us according to what we've done," (cf. Psalm 62:12).
"Who will render to every man according to his deeds," (cf. Romans 2:6).
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad," (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10, NIV). 

"Achievements are eventually surpassed, records are broken, reputations face, tributes are forgotten, trophies trashed," (Rick Warren).  Remember, only what's done for Christ will last! 


Jesus is "coming to judge the living and the dead," according to the creeds.  We must not put God in a box and forget that He's our Judge as well as our Savior.  But take courage believers we shall not come into judgment and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We shall not be judged for our salvation but only for our reward's worthiness.  Jesus may regard our motives or our intent and goals.  Now, judgment is repugnant to us but sin is repugnant to God. He must mete out justice to all sinners.   At the Great White Throne judgment mentioned in  Revelation 20:11ff (which saints are exempt) God gives sinners their due but no more than strict justice will necessitate and require, for God is unjust to no one.

But toward us, He never judges us (cf. John 5:24; Romans 8:1) and we never come into condemnation, and not according as our sins deserve or we expect (cf. Psalm 103:10). The Bible says He metes out justice with mercy or He tempers His justice with mercy (cf. Hab. 3:2)!  But God is unjust to no one and no one can accuse Him of injustice.  There is such a thing as non-justice but not injustice with God.  Mercy and grace are matters of non-justice but are not injustice.  In salvation, God doesn't give us what we do deserve (mercy) and gives us what we don't deserve (grace).  We escape the justice of God!

We are not to be like those who know not God and have no hope in the world as the lost (cf. Eph. 2:12'; 1 Thess. 4:13) but to live in hope and expectation of reward for our labor in the Lord which shall not be in vain, but God has a purpose for it to His glory. We have escaped the wrath to come and knowing the terror of the Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 5:11) we ought to be sober-minded and not overlook or downplay the seriousness of sin, to be sober-minded.   Jesus died for our sins and they were paid for with the precious blood spilled on our behalf.

When we realize this,  we become filled with an eternal debt of gratitude and develop the right mindset to serve God with holy fear and take a serious attitude against sin with low tolerance. The more we realize we have been forgiven, the more that who is forgiven much loves much, we are, and the more willing to serve God. We can be thankful that our salvation is a done deal and we can anticipate meeting our Lord in the air. If we have been wronged, Jesus will make it right!  This is a motivation for good works and helps us to fix our eyes on Jesus. (cf. Heb. 12:2).

Only Jesus is qualified to judge because of His perfect life and that He fulfilled the Law, the perfect standard of conduct.  He is the true qualified Mediator as being both God and man.  He was tempted in all ways as we are but without sin (cf. Heb. 4:15).   Jesus alone is worthy and we can find comfort in this that our Savior will also evaluate our works.  Too many believers say that all they want is justice!  But if God rendered the verdict due them they'd be in hell!  We are never exhorted to become successful in life because that is up to God whether He chooses to bless us or not; it's our place to be faithful and to serve with all our heart, soul, and mind.

We are simply instruments of glory or vessels of honor as Paul said in Romans 15:18, "I venture not to speak of but Christ has accomplished through me."  No one will boast in God's presence for we are saved by grace from beginning to end. But our faith is tested in the fire to see if it's genuine, saving faith.  Jesus doesn't chide for failure but for lack of love or lack of faithfulness.  Our faith must be measured in faithfulness and the two cannot be divorced.  We won't be condemned for failure but our works will be tried in the fire to see how they last and are worthy of reward at the Bema of Christ.

If we take a dim or lax view of judgment, it's because we don't have the right view of sin (sin isn't a bad enough word for it).   God cannot tolerate sin, period, no ifs, and's, or buts.  Sin is loathsome and repugnant in God's eyes and cannot be in God's presence and must be judged. We must hate sin to love judgment of it (even hate our own sins!); the two cannot be together no more than matter and antimatter and God cannot even look upon it. But the judgment is passed to the Son because Jesus has walked a mile in our moccasins and relates to the human condition as becoming a man Himself.

We are never to hope for the condemnation of God's enemies (at one time we were)  but realize God's true nature as Jonah found out after he had preached successfully to Nineveh and they repented and he was in a funk about it but he later confessed:  "I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster," (cf. Jonah 4:2).    I'm sure Jonah would concur:  "Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways," (cf. Romans 11:33).

God must exist for there to be justice! There is righteous indignation with God at evil:  "... their foot shall slide in due time, the day of their calamity is at hand," (cf. Deut. 32:35). But we have escaped the wrath to come!    We hope for justice in the afterlife because we don't always see it in the world we live in, but God is maximizing good and minimizing evil according to Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz.  Justice has as standard and is punitive:  Justice has a standard:  Jesus; perfect nature and life; Justice has a punishment:  hell.

There is only one way to escape the coming wrath of God: accepting the grace of God shed on the cross by His Son in faith.   In the meantime, during the age of grace and of the church, we are not to lose patience or falter at the condition of the world affairs, for justice delayed is not justice denied in God's eternal mindset and frame of reference; His justice will not tarry!  In due time, justice will prevail!  Habukkuk lamented to God that justice is always the loser, but he later realized God's wisdom and had a change of heart (cf. Hab. 1:4; 3:18) 

At the Bema (the Tribunal or Judgment Seat of Christ), there are three certain proclamations of our Lord:  affirmation "Good job!  Well done!" promotion:  "You shall be in charge of  more..."  and celebration: "Enter into the joy of the LORD."  All this as we share the Shiknah of God hidden before but now revealed to us.  Our labor in the Lord is not in vain (cf. 1 Cor. 15:58).  Paul said that the most important thing is that he finishes the mission Christ gave him (cf. Acts 20:24)   At the final audit of our life, might we all say, "Mission accomplished!"  It was said of King David that he had completed all God's will (cf. Acts 13:33). 

CAVEATS: Of whom much is given, much is required (cf. Luke  12:48)!  We don't want to be like Amaziah, who did what was right, yet not with a pure heart (cf. 2 Chron. 25:2). God judges the heart and soul of man (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9; Prov. 15:3; Prov. 21:2).  Likewise, we are not to judge according to appearance but with righteous judgment and to judge nothing before the time (cf. John 7:24; 1 Cor. 4:7).

As for His judgments:  He is too deep to understand, to wise to make a mistake, and too kind to be cruel.  God is the Lawgiver who is also the Judge and He is theonomous and autonomous; He is self-ruling by virtue of being God and Judge; He rules by His Law which isn't arbitrary, capricious, or whimsical like man's,  but according to the rule of Law, His law, that is.  Therefore:  "Prepare to meet thy God," (cf. Amos 4:12).

In sum, God will judge the nations:  "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream," (cf. Amos 5:24, NIV); however, we shall not come into judgment and cannot be condemned (cf. John 5:24; Romans 8:1).
  Soli Deo Gloria!