JUDGEMENT
Introduction
Of the great doctrines of the Bible, it is perhaps the doctrine of God as Judge
that has caused most difficulties for Christians and proved a stumbling-block to
those inquiring into the Christian faith. It cannot be sidestepped or ignored -
the New Testament alone has over 300 references to judgement. But how are we to
reconcile such an emphasis with the picture we have of a God who is loving,
merciful and gracious, and with the commands to forgive one another, to judge not,
that we be not judged?
The reason for judgement
Judgement stems from God’s character of perfection. An inspector in a factory
should, if he’s doing his job, reject any item that is blemished or imperfect. So
with God - He is absolutely good and pure; when He made this earth He "saw that it
was very good" (Genesis 1; 31). He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil" - that
is, He would compromise Himself and would be going against His very character,
were He to condone imperfection. It is easy for us to jump to the conclusion that
this is hard or unfair, but we must be careful not to apply human criteria in
trying to assess God’s character. We never meet people who have the absolute
qualities of God (goodness, fairness, purity) and so must remember that His
character is on a different level altogether. He is unaffected by bias and other
human characteristics which tend to colour our views on judgement. The effects of
judgement which follow from God’s character of perfectionism are inevitably bleak.
But how bleak? Would God really destroy His creatures simply because they fail to
meet His standards of perfection? The Bible gives an emphatic (but sad) Yes. God
judges and destroys with a flood; He destroys Sodom and Gomorrah. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, far from overruling the Old Testament revelation of God, actually
tightens up the standard, insisting that we will be judged on inner thoughts and
motives as well as on the outward act. He repeatedly spoke of the possibility of
Hell and separation from God (eg Matthew 7; 23or 25; 46). The inevitable effect
of judgement, then, is to be dismissed from God’s presence and to suffer an
eternal spiritual death.
Judgement transferred to Jesus
But, and this is the great ‘but’ of the Gospel, our judgement was transferred
to Jesus: "upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole" (Isaiah 53; 5);
"Christ became a curse for us" (Galatians 3; ij), so that on the Cross He
experienced that judgement and consequent separation from the Father - "My God,
my God, why hast thou forsken me?" (Matthew 27; 46). The Cross illustrates
perfectly both God’s love and His justice: being a perfectionist and fully
righteous, He cannot condone sin; yet He loves us and longs for us. The Cross
is therefore the perfect meeting place of God’s love and justice: He can forgive
without compromising Himself, because in His Son the full penalty has been paid.
The meaning of the Cross is never clear until the awful reality of judgement is
understood: then, and only then, does the wonderful good news of the Cross go
home to our hearts.
Judgement Day
The question on judgement day, then, in the light of Calvary, is not so much
"Have you reached my standards of righteousness?" - the answer to that is sadly
too obvious; rather, the Question will be "Given that you’ve failed to reach my
standards, what has your attitude been to the gift of forgiveness in my Son
Jesus? Have you accepted Him in your life on earth as the only means of
entrance to my kingdom?" The great division on judgement day will not be
between good and bad, religious and non-religious, but simply between those to
whom Jesus says "I knew " and "I never knew you" (Matthew 7; 23). The faith
of those who know Him is evidenced by the Quality of a changed life (Matthew 25;
34ff). It is true that one could accept Christ as a sort of insurance policy
against judgement; but as C.S. Lewis put it, we don’t do God much of a service
if we come to Him out of fear rather than out of love - but even on those terms,
He will in His love accept us.
The judgement of unbelievers, then, is really a matter of self-inflicted
judgement. "This is the judgement, that the light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John
3; 19). That is, in view of the fact that God has provided in Christ the way
for everyone to be free from judgement and Hell, the fault must lie with man if
he is to go to condemnation. God certainly doesn’t want that to happen, "not
wishing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3; 9), but His love risks being
rejected, and if man so chooses, then he is bringing condemnation on himself.
If a man is sitting in a room with the curtains drawn shut and the sun rises
and the rays of the sun peep through, wanting to get into the room to bring
light and warmth, and that man deliberately keeps the curtains shut, then he
remains in a self-imposed darkness - it’s certainly not the sun’s fault.
That’s the picture of John 3; 19.
But what about those who have never heard. of Christ?
The Bible doesn’t speculate much on this question, partly no doubt because
all those who have the Bible have heart But we do know that God is absolutely
fair - "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18; 25), and so
we can trust that a man won’t be condemned simply because he happens to live in
a part of the world where the Gospel has not yet arrived. Indeed a man in such
a position is a law unto himself and will be judged according to the light he
has seen (Romans 2; 12 - 16). But we ourselves can provide the best practical
answer to this Question, by going and taking the Gospel to those who have never
heard.
No Judgement for the Christian
For us who have heard and responded, judgement is a thing of the past. There
is no judgement for the Christian; "he does not come into judgement, but has
passed from death to life" (John 5; 24). A Christian can look back at the Cross
and know that his judgement and penalty were paid for there, so that now "there
is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8; i). We can therefore
look forward boldly to the life of the world to come, knowing that all our future
sins (which we are boand to commit) are already paid for and covered by the
blood of Christ. This confidence and assurance cannot lead to a life of indolence
and complacency, since we know that although we will not face judgement, we
will face assessment as Christians: that is, we will be called to account for
ourselves, not as sinners for our sins, but as stewards of the gifts and opportunities
given to us. This concept of assessment is seen most clearly in 1 Corinthians
3; 10 - 15, where Paul takes the metaphor of a building: the man who builds
with good material will stand the test of time and receive a reward, whereas
the man who builds with flimsy material will be seen to be a shoddy workman,
will receive no reward, but will himself, of course, be saved. So the Christian,
far from being complacent about being exempt from judgement, is concerned to
build a good foundation, to forge a steadily closer relationship with Christ
(which is a reward in itself), graciously to warn others of judgement and to
point to the way of forgiveness through the Cross of Christ.
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