I Believe Jesus Will Come to Judge (and That’s a Good Thing)

by Dave Wilkinson

Hebrews 4:16, 1 John 4:17

January 5, 2003

The first letter was right. "P". The ending was right. "IANS". As a child, I filled in the rest. I was sure that the sign in the crosswalk near my church was the warning to motorists, "Stop For Presbyterians." Later I learned that the word was actually "pedestrians" and that people also had to stop for anyone on foot --Catholics, Lutherans, even Baptists.

But at least learning the word, "pedestrian", helped me make sense of the Apostles Creed after I got into worship. As we said it in worship, we declared our faith that Jesus is going to come back to "judge the quick and the dead." I figured that was also about pedestrians ﷓﷓ for in the crosswalk you are either quick or dead.

I can only say that I was a strange child.

Of course now I know that "quick" is just an old way to say "alive." It still survives in words like quicksilver and quicksand.

The point of the creed is that everyone is going to be judged when Jesus returns. You can't hide from this in the grave and you can't hide from this out of the grave. You can't hide from it by calling yourself an atheist, a Jew, a Hindu, or a Muslim. Whether you believe it or not, Jesus is going to come back. Whether you like it or not, Jesus is the judge. As Paul writes in Philippians 2, someday, "everyone in heaven and earth and under the earth is going to bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." Some will do it willingly. Some will do it unwillingly. But everyone is gonna do it. You can have Jesus now as savior or you can have him later as judge. But you aren’t going to avoid Him.

Next Sunday we begin a new sermon series on Paul's Letter to the Colossians. Now unlike the series I did on Romans which took much of five years, this one should last only two. It will be time well spent. It is a series that is vital for our growth because it will tell us who Jesus Christ is, what He has done for us, and how He calls us to live in response to His love.

Now when Paul says in Philippians 2 that someday "everyone in heaven and earth and under the earth is going to bow and confess that Jesus is Lord" he is writing out of what he explains to the Colossians. Paul knows who Jesus is and he knows that there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved than the name of Jesus Christ. Paul knows that God doesn't have a dual track system for salvation.

Jesus is going to come. Jesus is going to judge. We need to deal with it.

How will we deal with it?

Well the first thing we need to know is that we will be judged by someone who knows us very well. We don't need to be afraid of a superficial judgment based on inadequate knowledge of us and our situation. Many of us manage to keep up an outward appearance that is very different from our real selves. But while we may be able to fool other people, God is not taken in. The Old Testament emphasizes that God knows us totally (Psalm 139:1﷓4) and loves us anyway.

We see this in Jesus. It's especially stressed in John's Gospel that Jesus knows us. In his dealings with Nathanael (John 1:47﷓50), with the crowds (John 2:23﷓25) and with the Samaritan woman (John 4:18), a pattern emerges. Even before people tell Jesus anything about themselves, He already knows all about them.

For some people this is a very disturbing thought. "How awful that God sees through me like that!" But in fact, it ought to be deeply reassuring. It means we can be honest about ourselves with God, in a way that is impossible with other people. If you decide to tell someone else about something that is troubling you, they might say, "I never knew you were like that! I am deeply shocked. I'm not sure I like you any more." God, however, know us. He knows the reality that lies behind the facade. And this means that He's not going to learn some new information about us that is going to cause Him to change His mind about loving us.

The second thing we need to remember is that we are being judged by someone who is passionately committed to us. The cross reveals God's love for us as well as his judgment upon us.

Jesus himself was condemned by biased judges, hostile crowds and an indifferent public prosecutor. But we will be judged by one who cares deeply for us. Our judge lived on this earth as one of us and knows first hand what we have to go through. He is not some far﷓off, distant figure who has no understanding of our situation.

There is a magnificent story told about shepherds in East Anglia, the center of England's wool trade in the Middle Ages. When a shepherd died, he would be buried in a coffin packed full of wool. The idea was that when the day of judgment came, Jesus would see the wool and realize that this man had been a shepherd. He would know the amount of time needed to look after wayward sheep and so on ﷓ and would understand why he hadn't been to church much!

The story makes an important point. We are not dealing with a distant God who knows nothing of what being human means.

As the people of God, we don't need to fear the final judgment. The reason is because of the totality of what Jesus has done for us. This is the foundation of what the Apostle John tells us in chapter 4 of his first letter. Here's what John writes: "We can have confidence in the day of judgement because as He (Jesus) is, so are we in the world."

I have shared before what a Bible teacher named Henry Ironsides writes of the impact of these nine monosyllables in his own life. Listen to his exploration of what John tells us.

Ironsides writes: "As He is." I could not make that out. I wondered if that were the correct translation. Might it not mean, "As He is, so ought we to be in this world"? I read the context and looked it up in the original. No; that was not it! Could it be that this is to be carried into the future? Could it mean, "As He is, so will we be when we get through this world"? No; that was not it. "As He is, so are we in this world." But I am not pure in thought and word and deed as He is. I am not considerate of the feelings of others as He. I do not love God as He does.

There must be something wrong. Then my attention was directed to the fact that John has just been talking about the Day of Judgment. I used to be afraid of the Day of Judgment. How terrible it would be after many years of service to come to the judgment and find I had failed and might be lost after all! But I read, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment; because as He is so are we in this world." It began to open up to me. My relationship to the coming judgment is the same as Jesus Christ's. Is He coming into judgment for sin? No. Then what about me? "As He is, so are we in this world."

Ironsides continues: "John says, "Perfect love casts out fear." I had been looking for perfect love in myself, trying to pump it up looking for perfect love but never finding it. Then, through this verse, the Lord led me to look for perfect love in Jesus Christ. I found it there the love that brought Him to the cross. Perfect love is there and only there. It casts out all fear. Paul wrote: "There is no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ." Jesus said: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he that hears my word and believes in Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but has already passed from death to life." There is no room for fear. "As He is, so are we in this world."

Our brother is the judge. He's not just any judge. He's the One who gave Himself for us. The One who suffered and died for us will be our judge. It isn't our peers who are our judges. It isn't our in﷓laws. Thank God it isn't our own worst critic, ourselves. It is Jesus. The judge is also the savior. And it is at His table that we celebrate as we begin this New Year.