Are you fearful of God’s judgment? Surely the thought of His judgment is something to be afraid of. However as believers in Christ who have been redeemed by His blood; who have received His atoning sacrifice for us, are we still fearful that somehow we will not escape His judgment? For many, the answer is still “yes.” There are many believers today, who still in one way or another, for one reason or another, believe that God’s judgment can still come upon them – or that they are even under His judgment right now. This often gives them a crippling fear and sabotages the wonderful relationship that Jesus Christ came to restore us to with God.
This is why in this study today we will be examining the Biblical truth, that because of what Jesus has done, you will never be subject to the judgment of God. Jesus took all of the judgment upon Himself in your place. He drew all of God’s holy wrath and punishment for sin to Himself and bore it all in His own body on the cross so that you would be spared. And as I like to say, there’s no reason for two people to pay the same debt twice! This is what we will be taking a look at today.
Now although I have just told you the truth right in the opening of this study today, it is of very little benefit if you do not see the truth for yourself in the scriptures themselves. There is a reason why our studies are not completely done in five minutes – because you cannot do what the seven sons of Sceva attempted to do in Acts 19; that is, you cannot properly stand if your foundation is “The Jesus which James preaches”… you must know the truth for yourself to be able to properly stand in it and rest on it.
So let’s begin by looking at the character of God, because at the heart of this question regarding His judgment and who will experience it, is the character of God. Is He a wrathful God who takes pleasure in inflicting pain on the widest group possible? That question may seem silly at first, but it is better to ask the seemingly silly questions up-front and remove all doubt, because if we are truly honest with ourselves, there are a lot of people who have this question about God – they may not verbalize it for fear of being ridiculed by the spiritual elitists, but the question is a valid one. The question is so valid in-fact, that the Holy Spirit saw fit to record the question in the Bible, as well as the LORD’s response, which can be found in Genesis 18:23-25:
“And Abraham drew near, and said, Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: will you also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
That be far from you to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from you: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Here we see Abraham asking a question of God, and doing so in a manner that honestly some would find a bit irreverent… it almost sounds like Abraham is questioning God’s goodness, first by asking Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? And then at the end of verse 25 by saying Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Most of us would not dare to address God in such a way, but this is an aspect of our relationship with God that cannot be overlooked. Some people would say “How dare you question God! Don’t you know He is the Lord of all! He is the King of kings! He could snuff your life out in a nano-second!”; and while that is certainly true, is that what God did here? Did God even get angry at Abraham for asking the question? Did God even show a hint of being offended? Look at verse 26:
“And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
The LORD answered Abraham. And He didn’t answer Abraham with indignation; He didn’t answer Abraham with a rebuke for stepping out of line. In-fact He agreed to spare the city! And it doesn’t end there! In verses 27 through 32, Abraham proceeds to play what I can only describe as a game of mercy-limbo, using increasingly low numbers to see how low God will go in sparing the city, and through none of this does God even show the slightest hint of displeasure. What on earth is going on here? Could God really be that nice? Well go all the way back to the beginning of verse 23, and look at the first four words… And Abraham drew near. This is the reason why Abraham was able to speak so freely with God. This is why Abraham was able to have an open dialog with God apart from fear. Abraham came near to the LORD, (v’Avraham na-gash). The phrase is used usually for personal intimacy among family. In verse 25, you will see that Abraham uses the phrase “far be it from you LORD” – he knows the goodness of God and he knows the character of God. That God certainly will not slay the righteous along with the wicked. God will not bring judgment upon those whom He has already pronounced justified through faith.
In order to come near to someone in this manner, you cannot be afraid of them. In order to come near in the personal way and make the statements that Abraham made, you can’t be in fear of retribution. Though indeed God is all powerful and His wrath is indeed terrifying, Abraham was not in any danger, and he knew it.
Well, you might be thinking “That’s Abraham. He had a special relationship with God. He was God’s friend.”
Do you know that today, you also have a special relationship with God, and He calls you His friend, too? Check out John 15:15:
“From now on I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.”
Just as God shared His plans with Abraham and called Abraham His friend, so too has He made known to us all of His plans and called us His friends as well. He wants us to embrace this relationship to its fullest; but the majority of believers today are still treating their relationship with Him as a Master / slave relationship… living in fear of doing the wrong thing or speaking out of turn and getting lashed and beaten as a disobedient servant. They are living in fear of God’s judgment – not understanding that through faith in Jesus Christ, He has taken all of the judgment. Can I prove that from scripture? Absolutely. From God’s own mouth in Isaiah 54:9, and also Colossians 1:21-22:
“For this is as the waters of Noah to me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with you, nor rebuke you.” (Isaiah 54:9)
“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and unreproveable in his sight” (Colossians 1:21-22)
So to put it all together, God has sworn to never be angry with us. And if we are to take God at His word, never means never. Again, as I love to say, don’t put limits where God does not put limits. He said that He will never be angry with me, and I choose to believe that He will therefore never be angry with me. Full stop.
He also promised to never rebuke us. The word for rebuke used here is ga’ar, meaning, chide, reprimand or reprove.
I know that some of you are thinking that this is simply too good to be true; and I understand that sentiment. However we must realize that this is true for us today in Christ Jesus because He took upon Himself all of the punishments already. When He died on the cross, He died as us. He didn’t have any sin of His own. He died as us and today we live as Him. God the Father sees us in Christ.
This same statement of our status before God is echoed again in our verse from Colossians, where it is again stated quite plainly that because of the reconciliation through Christ, that we are presented before God as holy, blameless and unreprovable in His sight! Oh thank you Jesus for such a wonderful work!
My friends, this is not just high-minded fantasy, this is your reality in Christ Jesus today! Embrace it with both hands and never let it go!
Now in closing today, there is one more area of God’s judgment for us to address, and it is the area of His final judgment upon the earth. There are many believers who aren’t sure whether they are still going to experience the great tribulation or not.
This question is actually addressed in scripture in two places that make it the most clear in my view, and so I want to share them with you now. The first being in Romans 5:8-9, and the second is in 1st Thessalonians 1:10:
“But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5:8-9)
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” (1st Thessalonians 1:10)
We can see from both of these texts, that through Jesus Christ we are saved from the wrath to come. That is, namely, the final judgment. The great tribulation includes God judging the unbelieving world and pouring out His wrath against sin. If we were to be included in that, it would be as though Jesus never took our sin upon Himself. It would be as though He never suffered the judgment and punishment due us in our place in the cross. Remember, there’s no reason for two people to pay the same debt twice!
The scriptures here basically use the exact same reasoning. He suffered it, and as a result, you are saved from it. There are other places such as 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, where Paul goes into a more lengthy discourse on how we are saved from the tribulation. However the simple explanations here are more than sufficient. The end-all answer is Christ Jesus and His finished work.
Because He suffered for you, my friend, rest assured, you will never see judgment. He has promised it, and He finished the work to make it so. Now rest in it.