The hour of His judgment has come
Maybe we should write on our calendar: Appointment with
God - any day now! “For the time has come for judgment to
begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what
will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the
ungodly and the sinner appear?’” (1 Peter 4:17, 18).
All of us are accountable to God.
Life is passing by. The time of judgment is drawing near.
God allowed John to look into the future and see the day of
judgment: “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. The sea gave up the dead who were
in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in
them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is
the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of
Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).
Every person who has ever lived, will stand before God in
judgment. Since Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the
Serpent, man has been trying to blame someone or something
else for his deeds. But God holds each person accountable for
his own actions and words.
Jesus warned: “But I say to you that for every idle word
men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of
judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your
words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36, 37).
This is a sobering thought. We are responsible for every
word we speak! Not satisfied with the superabundance of idle
words in real life, we have even made talking machines: radios,
TVs, computers, DVD and mp3 players, to name a few. Who is
responsible for the words spoken by these machines? Those
who create the content are, of course, responsible for creating
the content. But we who operate the buttons, keys and mouse
are responsible for what is actually seen and heard. Since we
must give account for every idle word, will not God hold us
responsible for the words and images we produce with our
machines?
We have an appointment with God: “Do not marvel at
this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves
will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good,
to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the
resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28, 29).
We will be judged by the things written in the books.
“And the dead were judged according to their works, by
the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:12).
If we are wise, we will be concerned about the content of those
books!
Jesus said: “If anyone hears My words and does not
believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the
world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not
receive My words, has that which judges him - the word that I
have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:47, 48).
The word of Christ will judge us on the last day! Yet many
people spend little time or effort to learn what the Holy
Scriptures say. And others who know what the Scriptures
teach, reject and ignore the word of God. How unwise this is.
We are rushing toward the day of our death, rushing toward
the day of judgment when we all must give account to God.
Conscious of the coming judgment, Paul wanted to please
God, and he encouraged others to do the same: “Therefore we
make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing
to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body,
according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing,
therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men”
(2 Corinthians 5:9-11).
The wicked will be punished.
On earth, many who commit atrocities go unpunished, but
no one will escape the judgment of God. The “righteous
judgment of God” is coming “when the Lord Jesus is revealed
from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking
vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who
do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:5-9).
John was shown a vision of eternal punishment: “Then a
third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone
worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his
forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the
cup of His indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends
forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who
worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the
mark of his name’” (Revelation 14:9-11).
Political rulers who wade through blood to come to power will
not escape the judgment of God.
Dirty politicians, unrighteous judges and crooked police
who pervert justice will not escape the judgment of God.
La Casa Nostra Mafia families who corrupt whole nations
and destroy millions of lives with drugs and immorality to
enhance their ‘own thing’ will not escape the judgment of God.
Executives who enrich themselves and their companies at the
expense of the poor, and have little concern for the welfare of
their workers will not escape the judgment of God.
Industrialists who rape the earth and poison the environment
to line their pockets, will not escape the judgment of God.
Manufacturers and users of guns, bombs and land mines
that maim and destroy men, women and children will not
escape the judgment of God.
Shady businessmen and dishonest workmen who cheat
customers and employers will not escape the judgment of God.
Men and women who commit fornication and adultery, who
destroy families, and make children insecure will not escape
the judgment of God.
Abortionists, child molesters, murderers, thieves and
liars will not escape the judgment of God.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18). “And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which
are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual
immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of
envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are
whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning,
untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing
the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such
things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also
approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:28-32).
Now you may be thinking: “I’m glad I’m not a terrible
person like that! Since I don’t do real bad things, I’m ok with
God.” But any bad things done separate one from God.
All are sinners and can be saved only by Christ.
Some people think that just because they are religious
they are saved. That is what the Jewish people thought in the
time of Christ. But listen to what He told them: “There were
present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus
answered and said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these
Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because
they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent
you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the
tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they
were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?
I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise
perish’” (Luke 13:1-5).
Only through Jesus can we escape condemnation on the
day of judgment: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a
propitiation by His blood, through faith” (Romans 3:22-25).
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
We deserve to die because of our sins. Jesus, who was
without sin, died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins, so
we can be forgiven. “And as it is appointed for men to die once,
but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear
the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will
appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Hebrews
9:27, 28).
Jesus said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears
My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life,
and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death
into life” (John 5:24).
After His resurrection, Jesus told His followers to proclaim
this good news to everyone: “Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned”
(Mark 16:15, 16). “Gospel” means “good news.”
When Peter was asked “What must we do?” he replied:
“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38).
After being born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:3-5),
the redeemed dedicate the rest of their lives to serving
God: “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality
judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves
throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear; knowing
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver
or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from
your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised
Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and
hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love
one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born
again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the
word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:17-23).
Yes, the hour of His judgment has come.
We are all accountable to God for what we have done.
One day we must stand before His throne to be evaluated on
the basis of what is written in the books. We are all sinners and
need salvation that is available only through Christ. To escape
condemnation, we must repent, confess our faith in Him and be
baptized for the forgiveness of our sins. Then we must dedicate
the rest of our lives to serving God.
“I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having
the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the
earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people - saying with
a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of
His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven
and earth, the sea and springs of water’” (Revelation 14:6, 7).
Amen.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc.,
Publishers, unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)
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