Word of Salvation – Vol.46 No.20 - May 2001

The Return Of Jesus As Judge

Sermon by Rev M P Geluk on Lord's Day 19B (Q&A 52 Heid Cat)

Scripture Readings: 1Thess. 4:13 - 5:11; 2Thess. 1:3-12

Suggested Hymns:

BoW: 66a; 161:1,2; 73a:1,2; 161:3; 517:1,2; 529

Beloved in the Lord,

We are going to focus on the last great event still to happen on God’s calendar.  The Apostle’s Creed refers to it as Christ’s coming “to judge the living and the dead.”  We will first of all see that some need to fear this; and secondly, that others will be comforted by it.

1.  Some Need to Fear the Return of Christ as Judge

Children know fear when they know their parents are going to punish them for their disobedience.  Adults know fear when they have to face the judge in court and all that is relevant to the trial will be exposed.  Their secret sins will be laid out in broad daylight.  The charges will be read out, and everyone will know what they did wrong.  They worry about this exposure as well as the punishment that will follow.

How much more will people have to fear the Lord Jesus as Judge!  Especially those who have to stand before God in the court of heaven without the Saviour having saved them from eternal judgment by His death and resurrection.  They will have to give account for every thought, word and deed that went against God’s commandments.  The Bible says in Hebrews 4:13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Just allow that to sink in: – God knowing everything.  Imagine that for all the years of your life a tape recorder has picked up everything you have said, and a video recorder has put on film everything you have done.  And another gadget, an imaginary one, because no one is ever able to make it, recorded all your thoughts.  All this information about us will, no doubt, contain some fine words, commendable deeds and wholesome thoughts.

But that is really nothing special.  After all, God made us in His likeness.  Therefore, all this information on us should be all good.  But you and I know that it won’t be.  We may well lose whatever respect we had for one another if we all had access to all this information on us – family quarrels, private sins, secrets of the past, and so on.  We would rather not have that happen really.

Now the disturbing fact is that all this information on us is already known to God, who knows all, hears all, and sees all.  In the last judgment all the secrets will come out in the open.  As Luke’s gospel says, “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open” (8:17).  At the last judgment, God will not be surprised by what the books reveal.  He can’t be surprised, He wrote the books.  He kept an account on us and He will make us face responsibility.

But there is more to God’s judgment than just having to face up to things we did wrong.  God will also judge people for the things they should have done but failed to do.  Think of that passage in Matthew 25:31-46, which speaks about the Son of Man coming in His glory at the end of time.  It says that all the angels will come with Jesus and He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and then the judgment begins.

People will be separated from each other as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.  Jesus will condemn those who did nothing for the hungry and thirsty, nothing for the stranger and the naked, nothing for the sick and the prisoners.  Those who hear this judgment are surprised.  Why would they be?  Well, much of their lives they lived only for themselves.  Their selfish minds never gave much thought as to what they could have done for the hungry and thirsty, for the stranger, the naked, the ill and those in prison.  They knew about these unfortunates, of course, for the church and the media revealed their plight from time to time.  But somehow they did nothing; their lives just went on as usual.  To spend money on new clothes or electrical goods came a lot easier than to help alleviate the needy in the poverty stricken countries.  Lack of concern for the hungry, poor and needy are less obvious sins.  But to Christ they are very obvious.  And He will call us to give account for the things we neglected to do.

Can you now understand how some have to fear the return of Christ as Judge?  Yes, like you, I know that the Bible tells me that when I believe in Jesus as my Saviour, then the final judgment will not hurt me.  He will be there as my Intercessor and He will say to the Father that He paid for my sin with His death on the cross.  So my sins have already been judged and Christ has paid the penalty.

The last judgment, therefore, has no terrors for those who are in Christ Jesus.  And yet, right now, we need to examine ourselves to see if our faith is a true faith.  For if it is, then it will show in obeying God’s commandments as well as a love and care for the hungry, poor and needy.  But if our faith is not genuine, then don’t let me or anyone else tell you that you don’t have to worry about a thing when the time comes to face God as Judge.

It is possible that this fear is stronger with the elderly than with the young.  The young somehow assume that only the old will die.  The elderly are more aware of their age and the end of their earthly life is expected more.  Thus the elderly tend to make up the balance sheet of their lives sooner than the young.  They remember their sins more and fear can take hold of them when they are reminded of Christ as Judge.  But the young must not live in false comfort.  The Lord Jesus may return anytime to judge the living and the dead.  It could even happen while you are young.

What will the return of Christ be like?  You’d better know, so that you will recognise this great event when it happens.  The Word of God says that the Lord Jesus will be “revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels.  He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2Thess.1:7,8).  Paul wrote to Titus that the appearing of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will be glorious (2:13).  Elsewhere the Bible says that all the nations of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.  He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call (Mt 24:30,31).  The dead will be raised (1 Cor 15:52), and every eye will see Him (Rev 1:17).  Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father in heaven (Phil 2:10,11).

Of course, no one knows when all this will take place.  But maybe we ought to think more about Jesus returning as Judge than with our going to heaven.  Why do I say this?  Well, the early Christian church described in the New Testament seemed to be more occupied with Jesus’ return to judge the living and the dead than the church of the twenty-first century.  The first Christians thought the Lord’s return was imminent but the Lord has obviously delayed His coming.  The number of the saved cannot yet be full.  Obviously there are more elect yet to be called and saved.  But this delay has caused some parts of the church on earth to lose its keen expectation.

It’s like waiting for a train.  You expect it to come real soon and so you have all your bags around, ready to grab them and move forward to board the train.  But it’s delayed and you don’t know for how long.  For a while you remain in a state of readiness.  You put your bags down but you keep an eye on your things and you position yourself somewhere on the platform where there is nothing in the way to obstruct you.  When there is some commotion on the platform you think it’s because the train is coming and you quickly grab your things again.  But it’s a false alarm.  It’s all taking longer than you thought.  In fact, you wonder sometimes if the train will ever come.  You relax, you’re not so fussed any more about your things.  You even got into one of your bags for something to do, read a book, study a pamphlet.  You might even think it’s safe to get a cup of coffee.  You’re not quite so ready any more as you were at first.

It’s like that with the church right now.  In many ways we have lost the desire for all things to be put right.  In fact, that’s really what the Lord’s judgment means -- to make all things right.  To overthrow all evil and all injustice, to banish Satan and his evil angels forever.  And to establish a new and glorious reign of perfect peace and perfection.

But many parts of the church today have lost sight of this.  Especially those Christians like us, who live in an affluent society and are not personally troubled by poverty, injustice and persecution.  In those circumstances we tend to speak more about going to heaven than the return of Jesus as Judge.  But is it certain for you and me that we will go to heaven?  Will Jesus be there for us as our Mediator and Intercessor when we face God as Judge?  That’s the question we have been concentrating on.  Some may well have to fear Jesus’ return as Judge.

2.  Others Will Be Comforted by the Return of Jesus As Judge

You may have noticed that Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 52 is all about comfort.  It asks, “How does Christ’s return to judge the living and the dead’ comfort you?”  Why then did I speak of fear?  Why did I say things that might cause you to worry?  Well, if you look again at Answer 52, then you will see it speaks of distress and persecution.  And that reflects the Reformation times when the Catechism was written.  It was a time in which many faithful Christians were oppressed by dark forces of persecution.  Believers saw and experienced many injustices and wicked deeds.  Like Christians did in communist countries, and now in some Muslim countries.  In such circumstances Christians cry out to God for deliverance, like some of the Psalms do.  They cry out to God to rise up as Judge against those guilty of terrible sins done to their fellow men.

The New Testament also reflects persecution and distress: the book of Acts, the Hebrew letter, Peter’s letters and especially the book Revelation.  Many times in the history of the church it has been terrible for Christians.  Our own time of peace and religious freedom in Australia and New Zealand is unusual when compared to the lot of many of our fellow Christians elsewhere.  We have enough to eat; we have somewhere to sleep; we have plenty of clothes.  We seldom face open persecution.  It may not stay that way.  It’s best to appreciate our blessings while we have them.

But in such times as ours, when life is mostly pleasant, it is easy for our faith to become complacent and selfish.  It’s easy to pursue personal peace and happiness and be less mindful of the hardships of others and about the injustice and corruption in the land.  It’s times like these that we are also less mindful of God’s burning desire to put all things right and to have His heavenly kingdom of righteousness and peace come in full.  When we hear then of God’s judgment, like now, it makes us think.  Have we become blasé about our daily sins?  Have we become indifferent about the sins of the past, the sins of omission?  It may well be so.  Hence we could be uncomfortable with Jesus’ coming as Judge.

Now we must not ignore this fear.  We must not ignore that little voice in our conscience.  We must not say too quickly:  Oh, we're fine, we're Christians.  We have nothing to worry about.  No, let Jesus' coming as Judge lead us to repentance and faith.

There is a reason for the New Testament to speak about Jesus the Judge in a threatening way.  It’s to restrain us.  God even scares His children a little with the coming judgment, in order to keep us on our toes.  Just so that we often go to Him for forgiveness and renewal.

And now it’s right here that we will also experience the comfort of His coming.  For how do you see Christ right now?  Yes, He will return as Judge and it will be bad for all those who must face the withering fire of God's justice all by themselves.  However, now is the day of salvation, now is the time to look to Christ as Saviour and be saved from God's justice.  Therefore, when Christ reminds us of His coming as Judge, then at the same time He comes to us in His grace and calls on everyone to repent of their sins and believe in Him as the Saviour.

Do we ever think that God may not approve of some things we do?  If so, then it must be sin, whatever it is.  Do these sins ever worry us?  Are we burdened sometimes by guilt?  Well, we should hope for each other that we do because then we will also be wanting more to look again to Christ the Saviour.  You may have turned to Him in the past, but it could be that you have allowed your faith to become a mere thing of custom and routine.  Well, turn to Him again.  Maybe you are more conscious now of the wrong things in your life than you were before.  Or doubts may trouble you and unbelief may challenge your faith.  Satan may be after you when he seeks someone to devour like a roaring lion.  You may be at the crossroads of your life.  Which way are you going?

Well, how do you see Christ?  Did He not also come for you when He came into the world to save sinners?  When He died on the cross to take away the guilt of sin, was He then not also dying for you?  Yes, a lot of people take Christ's death for sinners as being automatically for them.  So how do you really know He loved you and died for you?  Well, He has called you, too, hasn't He?  He has also said to you that you should repent and believe, hasn't He?

If you don't think He has, then you will have to face God's judgment all on your own and it will be terrible.  But if you believe God's Word when it speaks of God so loving the world that He gave His one and only Son, then you will not perish but have eternal life.

So it really comes down to one thing and one thing only.  Do you believe God’s Word?  Do not just sit back and wait for things to happen.  If you do believe then you will turn to God, you will seek Him, you will hunger for the light of His Word to guide your way, then you come and hear the preaching of the Word even when it’s inconvenient.  Do you believe?  Yes?  Then put faith to work, fight the good fight of faith and practise love to God and neighbour.  When you’re busy with believing, then you’ll also see the needs of others.  How can you love your neighbour and not see their needs?

As all that happens with you by the sovereign grace of God, then would you still be afraid of Christ as Judge?  Would the same Saviour who suffered and died for you, who rose again to give you a new life, who is standing at God’s throne as your Mediator and intercessor, would He now still condemn you and not speak up for you?  Would you still worry, after all what Christ has done for you?  Surely God’s Word teaches us that He who saved us will never, never cast us out!  Even this you have to accept by faith.

None of us here can say to anyone else, you don’t have to worry; you will go to heaven.  We cannot by our judgment of each other, deciare one another saved, for our judgment is imperfect.  It is Jesus alone.  Only He can give us the assurance that He as the Judge has already stood condemned in our place as our Saviour.  Only Jesus can say, I have saved you and therefore you will be part of the new heaven and earth.

What we can say to each other is this: if you belong to Christ, then the judgment will be a comfort to you.  If He has brought you into the kingdom, then He will never condemn you out of it.

We should also remind one another that this present world will end soon.  Yes, Christians have said that many times before us.  But it’s one of those things Christians must keep on saying.  This world is important, of course, for here we must live and claim all things for King Jesus.  God said to look after it and take good care of it.  But this world is not everlasting, it will pass away.  So because there is a new world coming, be sure that the things you treasure most are not of this world but of the world to come.

The things of this world all pass away with time but the treasures of the kingdom of heaven, like perfect love, peace, righteousness, and justice will remain forever.  And for however long God gives us life in this world, for as long as it takes Jesus to return, you and I had better be sure that the Lord and ourselves have the same enemies, and that those who love Jesus are our friends.

Amen.