God's Judgements Part 2
By
Rick Sutcliffe
for AFBC Bible Class Fall 2002
The scriptures have much to say about God's judgements against sin, perhaps more than they have to say about his love, grace, and mercy.
Table of Contents (Links)
- Introduction
- Some history of God's past judgements
- Judgement in the here and now
- Future Judgements of God
Some history of God's past judgements
a. The first instance of judgement was when Satan fell, and God condemned him, ejecting him from heaven. We are not told a lot about this, but we find in Genesis 3 the adversary of God already at work in the guise of a serpent. There are numerous comments throughout the scripture about a coming judgement of this evil one, culminating in the description:
Re 20:10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
b. After Adam and Eve fell into sin, God judged the one who tempted them and he judged their sin (Genesis 3:14ff). The penalty, as he told them ahead of time, was death, though he did not execute the penalty immediately. Even then, his judgement was tempered with mercy, for he made the initial promise of the one who would come to crush Satan.
c. Later, he judged Cain after he killed his brother:
Gen 4: 9-12 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?Ó "I don't know,Ó he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?Ó The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
d. God also judged the whole human race after humankind became given over to violence in opposition to Him.
Gen 6: 5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them."
e. There were numerous judgements of Israel, in the desert wanderings (themselves a judgement for disobedience), during the time of the judges (when other nations were given dominance over them, and later when the nation was ruled by kings (culminating in the destruction of the nation and seventy years of exile). Rather than rehearse these in detail, note a few general comments on the subject, particularly from Ezekial:
Eze 7:3 The end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices.
Eze 7:8 I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices.
Eze 18:30 "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall.
Eze 20:36 As I judged your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign LORD.
Eze 34:22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another.
f. The scriptures distinguish between unintentional and intentional sin, allowing a sacrifice for the former, but not for the latter, as expressed in
Heb 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
This refers to a longer passage in Numbers 15:22-31. However, although the two categories of sin are distinguished, it is important to note that every sin is judged by God, whether deliberate or not. This principle is also enunciated by Christ in
Mt 12:36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
Such passages drive home the truth of Romans 3:23 (quoted above) which declares that we are all sinners, fallen short of the glory of God. It is enough to fail to be perfect to fall under God's judgement, for he says on several occasions, including
Le 19:2 Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
Do we all fall short and come under the judgement of God? Of course we do.
Still in all it is better to come under the judgement of God than the judgement of men, especially for our words, for God knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and judges correctly.
2Sa 24:14 David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men."
g. Likewise, there were numerous specific judgements against various nations in Old Testament times. Notable examples include the judgement God visited on the Canaanite tribes by having Israel invade them in the first place
De 20:17 Completely destroy them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the LORD your God has commanded you.
De 9:4-5 After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.Ó No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Moreover even when God allowed a nation to oppress Israel as a judgement against His people, He still judged the sin of that oppression. (This ought by the way to settle the question of whether God will judge sin even though he allows it to be committed in the first place.) Again, some general comments:
Jud 11:27 I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites."
2Ch 20:12 O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."
Ps 96:10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns.Ó The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
Ps 110:6 He will judge nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
Isa 2:4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.
Isa 41:1 "Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment.
Jer 25:31 The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,'Ó declares the LORD.
Although some of these passages undoubtedly look ahead to events that have not yet happened (and will be mentioned again later) they establish the principle that God holds nations responsible for their actions as nations, and will judge them accordingly, both in the here and now and also in some final wrap-up at the end of all things.
The judgment of the believer's sin.
Earlier we established the principle that God judges and condemns all sin, and therefore all people, because all have sinned. Thus we are all under the penalty of eternal death and perpetual separation from God in a place of torment the Bible calls hell, unless something can be done. Moreover, we ourselves cannot on our own escape this judgement, for righteous acts do not cover up sin. In the Old Testament, God established with his people of Israel that sin could indeed be covered by the shedding of blood. He instituted a system of animal sacrifices for sin, the idea being that the sin of the believer could be symbolically placed on the animal, which then took the penalty for that sin by dying and being offered to God. However, all this was a precursor to the coming of Christ, of whom John said:
Joh 1:29 "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
The point for this topic of judgement is that in Christ on the cross, the judgement of God was made for sin. He took the punishment for us. Because he was also God, that punishment was sufficient, and because he was a man, it could be applied to us. He could become our substitute. We need to do in our hearts as the Israelites did in symbol: lay our hands on the lamb and place our sins on Him, so that His sacrifice can indeed apply to us as individuals, and the judgement for sin in general will count for our sin specifically. Here is what the scripture has top say about sin, the cross, judgement, and condemnation:
Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Joh 5:24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Ro 5:16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
Ro 5:18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
Ro 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Ro 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
He who knew no sin, became sin for us (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). Through this substitutionary death all who receive God's Christ can have their sin immediately forgiven, because it has been judged at the cross.
Is 53: 4-6 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
11-12 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
2Co 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
1Jo 1:7 ... the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1Pe 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
This judgement for sin is finished, as Christ Himself cried from the cross. It is interesting to note that although Prov 17:15 observes Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent--the LORD detests them both. God has found a way to set the guilty free by visiting their punishment on The Innocent One. All that remains to be determined is to whom salvation will apply, for if there is one to whom it does not apply, judgement still has to be executed and sin punished.
Next part: Judgement in the here and now
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