Feast: Judgment Is a Merciful Blessing
#FT22-08-AM
Martin G. Collins
Given 17-Oct-22; 63 minutes
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transcript:
I never give a title to my sermon openly at the beginning of a sermon, but I would like to give it to you because I think it helps clarify the whole sermon. The title of the sermon is "Judgment is a Merciful Blessing."
Judgment is a curious thing. It greatly impacts a person's life, whether it is decreed by a human judge or by God Himself. But still most people go through life only half paying attention and not paying attention at all to the fact that all of us are being and will continue to be judged as to how we live our physical and spiritual lives. The church is being judged now with regard to salvation and eternal life, as you all know. The world as a whole will not receive its final judgment from God until the Great White Throne Judgment. And in the meantime, the world has little or no fear of God's judgment. They certainly will not be so nonchalant when they stand before God's judgment.
Revelation 19 introduces us to the magnificent return of Jesus Christ to a war-torn, shell-shocked world to save humanity from itself. What I would like to do is just go through the next five massive events that happen in this time frame just to give us some background here.
Please turn with me to Revelation 20. Revelation 20 covers at least five massive events in God's salvation of most of humanity. The first event is: Christ incarcerates Satan and the demons.
Revelation 20:1-3 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
So Satan is bound for 1,000 years.
Now, the second massive event is that Christ establishes His 1,000 year rule. This is the period of God's master plan that is pictured in the observation of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Revelation 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them [that is, the saints]. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
So the saints reign over humanity with Christ for 1,000 years.
Now, the third massive event is that Satan is released after the Millennium and deceives the willing wicked who are then destroyed.
Revelation 20:7-10 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sands of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever [that is, until they were consumed, then they are gone forever].
So the satanic rebellion is crushed.
The fourth massive event that happens during this time period is that Christ judges the people, now resurrected, who lived during the first 6,000 years of human history on earth. This is the Great White Throne Judgment. And this period in God's master plan is pictured in the observance of the Eighth Day commanded in Leviticus 23:36-39.
Revelation 20:11-13 Then I [John] saw [in a vision] 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 [that is, the grave] delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
So we know that Jesus Christ will be the great Judge seated upon this great white throne.
And the fifth massive event is the Lake of Fire, fueled by God, provides a merciful death for those who refuse to live God's way of life.
Revelation 20:14-15 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.
The Great White Throne Judgment will be a time unprecedented in human history. At no time before or after will so many be resurrected and judged in such a short period of time, and of course, short period of time is relative. How long is that period of time? We can only speculate.
Please turn with me to Isaiah 65. No one knows for sure. But there may be as many as 60 billion people resurrected. What a mind boggling scene that will be when Christ will, by divine authorization, raise from the dead these innumerable billions to a vibrant physical existence. The requirements of this judgment will take quite a while and you have to wonder: is it going to happen all at once or will it happen over a period of time? And if so, what period of time? We can only speculate about some of these things. They are just not absolute. We just have to get our best guess and analyze these the best that we can.
A length of time like this is mentioned in chapter 65 of Isaiah where Isaiah mentions a 100 year lifespan that lends itself to the Great White Throne Judgment period. And this is where speculation comes in. We speculate, and have in the past, that it is a 100 year period. But is it longer than that? That may be. Either way it is speculation.
Isaiah 65:20 No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
This verse appears post-millennial. The context of the 100 year period does paint a setting identical to that of 1,000 year period of times which seems to indicate that the 100 year period follows closely to the Millennium. No other scriptural reference to a millennial setting of peace and prosperity hints at a 100-year lifespan.
Now please turn back to Revelation 20. The question arises in verses 12 and 15: What are the books that were opened? We will read those two verses again.
Revelation 20:12 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.
Revelation 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
And of course, they are burned up immediately and completely. They do not burn forever. It is the unquenchable fire, one that instantly absorbs anything that is thrown into it. No matter how much it is thrown into it, it absorbs it immediately.
Now, we know the books mentioned in verse 12 are the books of God's Word, the Holy Bible. You do not have to turn there, but in
John 12:47-48 "And 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. [Of course, this is Christ speaking and talking about His first coming.] 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."
So people will be judged using the inspired written Word of God, the Holy Bible, the Old and New Testaments.
We know that the names of the faithful, those being mercifully judged during the White Great White Throne Judgment, will be recorded and preserved in the Book of Life.
(And I would like to make a comment about the Last Great Day comment. And that is that I always found it curious (as long as I can remember) why the day was called Great. I mean, we can come up with some speculations, but I always thought that it referred to the throne, the Great White Throne rather than the Last Great Day. I also find it interesting, and not to put down any of the other groups, but the Church of the Great God emphasizes that God is great. But when you go with something like Worldwide Church of God or any of the others (I do not want to mention any because I do not want to put any down), their emphasis is of the people. And I find that curious and I find that also important because we do glorify God and we try to show everyone how great God is. So why are those other churches naming themselves names about the people rather than God? I was always curious. I am not saying that it is wrong. I am just saying that there must be a reason for the difference, but that is the only thing I can come up with—that we are emphasizing God especially. Not that they are not. I am just saying that we are showing it in our name.)
Revelation 21:27 But there shall by no means enter into it [that is, the Kingdom of God] anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Of course, it is the firstfruits who are written in the Book of Life and then later on others are able to be put in the Book as well.
Since Christ will be the great Judge then and since the same Christ will have ruled and judge for 1,000 years previous to this period, it is no surprise that the White Throne setting will be a continuation of the conditions to prevail during the Millennium. It will be a millennial setting during the Great White Throne period as well as it was during the Millennium. It will be carried over into that. Of course, there will have been war with Gog and Magog. But still, because people will be living God's way of life, many people will be blessed in a similar way.
Whether this 100 year lifespan is the time segment for the Great White Throne judgment, it is sure that this special judgment does follow the Millennium, just as the Eighth Day festival follows the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles. The existence of this annual feast day indicates a separate and distinct period for judging billions of human beings.
So many people are under the impression that judgment consists of Christ lining up humanity in a long line and pronouncing them either sheep or goats. It is much more complex than that, as you know. Deciding their eternal fate in that way would be ridiculous and unmerciful. But this is not Christ's judgment process. There must be a judgment time period to account for the possibility that a sinner could live for 100 years under Christ's rule. Isaiah supports that, as we read earlier in Isaiah 65:20, "but the sinner being 100 years old shall be accursed."
The judgment requires a judge; it requires laws, a group ruled by laws, time to be judged, a verdict, and execution of the verdict. It is not just a one item thing. God's judgment is not knee jerk impulse but deliberate evaluation based on truth and love for the participant's benefit. We can certainly see the profound mercy of God in using this method.
Romans 5:6-9 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
The judgment is a necessary blessing. It is something necessary and it is something that is merciful for either the one who gets a positive judgment or a negative judgment in the case of Jesus Christ being the judge. God, the Judge, is on His great White Throne, which symbolizes His righteousness, purity, and sovereign rule.
What does the vision in Revelation 20:12 mean, "standing before God"? We have an idea of what it means and we generally understand. Whoever a man or a woman stands before is the standard, or test, or source of judgment for his life. Everyone is responsible for his own actions and judged accordingly. We are judged by man according to how we react to man's changeable laws. Sometimes man's laws conform to God's laws; often they do not.
Proverbs 24:21-22 Do not associate with those given to change; for their calamity will rise suddenly.
We certainly see in the world changing laws constantly. And the more corrupt the government is, as we have today, the more the laws change or the good laws are ignored. And we are seeing that very same thing, that warning in Proverbs, "do not associate with those given to change" and that applies to in the church as well. That happened especially toward the end of the Worldwide Church of God years where they were changing one doctrine after another to the point nobody knew what they believed.
God's laws are righteous and eternal and they do not change. And He judges each person righteously by His immutable law according to the person's conduct.
I Peter 1:17-18 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear [or reverence and awe, and that element of fear, righteous fear, that we should have toward God]; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible [that is, material] things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, . . .
I find it interesting (and I have mentioned it before) that the false Christian religions out there (called mainstream as well) base their doctrines on tradition, and their tradition supersedes God's inspired written Word. If you have a discussion with them about any of the doctrines, they will agree with you. And the next word out of their mouth is stating what their traditions are because they supersede God's Word. It is the major difference; and from that point on they are in a false state of Christianity when they have rejected God's written Word.
I Peter 1:19 . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.
So we are saved from God's condemnation by the blood of Christ. And even though we are saved by grace, there are certain conditions that we must meet. Does that mean God's judgment is not certain? No, of course not! God's judgment is as certain as if it were already accomplished. Judgment is part of the moral character of God.
In verse 17, the meaning of the word judge in the Greek is krinota, transliterated from Greek to English, and it means separates; divides; distinguishes; discerns; selects; or forms an opinion after evaluating the situation. So God evaluates people and their situations or circumstances but His favor or disfavor may not be demonstrated immediately. It takes time. He has the capability and the mind power to make decisions or judgments immediately, but He takes time.
II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
That is what God would like to see. Of course, He knows—we know—that there will be individuals that absolutely will not bow to Him or submit to Him there at the end. Two of those individuals we know for sure are the Beast and the False Prophet. We know that they will not and they refuse.
Time is not the same to God as it is to humans. God sees time with the perspective we lack and an intensity we lack. And He can see the broad sweep of history in a moment. But God is so powerful that He can patiently stretch out a day as long as He wants or needs to, as you well know. Why did Peter feel it is important to remember this? Because God was being accused of slowness at the time of Peter or even being slack. So Peter stresses in the next verse (verse 10), "that the day of the Lord will come." It is as sure as if it has already happened.
Now, whether those who perceive the slowness are the recruiting false teachers or some weak Christians who are starting to be swayed, does not affect their accusation against God of being slack. God has clearly promised to judge. So why the lack of action?
Peter says that the answer lies in correctly understanding Psalm 90. The psalmist was inspired to write, "You turn men back to dust," which takes us all the way back to the creation of Adam and Eve. God forbade them to eat the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He said, when, not if, you eat of it, you shall surely die. And although they did eat, they did not die immediately because the Lord mercifully and patiently extended the possibility of salvation for them. Instead of dying on the day of our disobedience then, the length of our days is 70 years or 80 if we have the strength, but all our days pass away under His wrath.
Both the Old and New Testaments teach us that God is merciful and patient. And in contrast, it is interesting that the scoffers are convinced that if there is a God, He is quick to judge and destroy—the very opposite of the way He really is. Deep down, scoffers fear the idea of God's wrath because of the possibility that He may exist. And that is why they work so hard to destroy Christianity and to rid the name of Jesus Christ from existence in public speech and use His name in vain. It is amazing that some of the people who use His name in vain are some of the most atheist of all. Why do they use His name if He does not exist? It is an insanity, no doubt.
So that is a lesson which false teachers deliberately forget. We must never forget it. It is for our benefit that God measures time on His time frame rather than ours. And He does the same thing when it comes to healing. We ask for a cloth, for the prayers of the ministry, and we ask that He will intervene immediately. We know though, it has to be according to God's time frame and God's will for Him to heal us at the right time. There may be lessons to learn or maybe that somebody else or a whole group needs to learn certain lessons. That God will heal us, absolutely. He will absolutely heal us. But it has to be according to His will.
Never forget what Peter says in verse 7 about the destruction of ungodly men. Back two verses to verse 7.
II Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
So there is a judgment, which we might call a result or effect, that is immediate, and that comes when we obey or disobey God's laws. It is the principle of cause and effect. So God has designed into life or it is automatically designed in the way He designs things, that if we sin we are going to receive something bad happen to us; sometimes great, sometimes not so great. But there is still a result which is what we call cause and effect.
When dealing with spiritual laws, however, things may not happen in the same way. The mercy of God sometimes postpones the execution of judgment. But this should not be understood as a cancelation of judgment. The consequence is certain unless we repent it. And then still, there are times where we have to suffer the consequences, but we are forgiven and are not under the penalty of the law.
This judgment cannot be made by us. It is made by God who is absolutely impartial, as are His laws, and He cannot judge individuals by different standards of the law. He has to use what He has established as His law. A human judge is a respecter of persons when he favors one of the parties on account of private friendship, or because the favored is a man of rank, influence, power, money, or because he belongs to the same political party, and so on. Our concept of God must be that of a just judge. In His fairness God, also acts as a Father. Observe how I Peter 1, verse 17 begins,
I Peter 1:17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, . . .
That is how He wants us to view Him, just as our own father, or when we are under his authority when we are young. And when we do something wrong, he punishes us or we do something right, he rewards us. We are to look at God as our Father. And that certainly softens the type of judgment that the world looks at God as bringing upon them.
Now, it is important to understand that God's judgment is without partiality. As we mentioned and saw there in the scripture, there is nothing arbitrary about the awards given by God. His judgment is inherent in the nature of the very act of giving rewards. And what we do is either of faith or not of faith. So this judgment cannot be made by us. It is made by God who is absolutely impartial. Now, this does not mean that He will not make a difference in their character and then treat them according to their character or that He will not pardon whom He pleases. That is a different question altogether.
The interpretation of the passage there in I Peter 1:17 should be limited to mean that God will not accept or save a person on account of external rank, privileges, or talents, but according to what we do in our life, in our thinking and our actions. There is no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles in regard to the way of salvation, only in the timing. So God would not save a man because he was a Jew, nor destroy a man because he was a Gentile. Paul maintained that God has a right to exercise the prerogative of a sovereign and to have mercy on whom He will have mercy.
Similarly, Paul says in Romans 12:11, "For there is no partiality with God." So this affirmation should be limited solely to His dealing with people as their judge and in this sense, this is affirmed often of God in the Scriptures. He does not affirm that He must make all His creatures equal in talent, health, wealth, or privilege. It is interesting that man is attracted by politicians who say that they want to bring equality to the world or to the nation. And equality is just unfair if you try to make everybody equal because then you do what is happening today. You favor one race over another race or you favor one group of people, like immigrants coming into the country, over citizens, and that type of thing.
So all these are actually not done out of any partiality for the rank, function, or wealth, but according to His own sovereign good pleasure. This passage refers the actual exercise of the office of the Judge of the world. This is a frightening truth for guilty people. God will not be influenced by partiality but will treat them just as they deserve. And every man and woman should tremble at the prospect of falling into the hands of the just God, who will treat them just as they deserve.
It is important to understand that God's judgment is Christ's judgment. Jesus is also a judge.
John 5:22-23 "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."
Christ is seen as a judge in other places as well. For example, in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats, it is the glorified Christ who is the judge. In Paul's speech at Athens, it says that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world by Jesus Christ. In II Timothy 4:1, Jesus is the one who is about to judge the living and the dead. So the unity of the Father and the Son is such that there is no difficulty in describing the action of one to the other. Jesus said, "I and My Father are one." They judge the same way by the same standards.
The phrase, "things done in the body" includes both thoughts and actions. The idea is simply that a record of everyone's thoughts and deeds are kept by God. And if a person genuinely and faithfully repents and overcomes, his sins are forgiven. However, if not, all through life we are writing our own fate. In a sense, a person writes his own judgment by how he lives his God-given life or not.
That God's judgment is Christ's judgment is clearly stated by Christ Himself in John 9.
John 9:39 "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."
The word translated judgment in verse 39 is not the regular Greek word krisis, which is the normal word used for judgment. That is not what this word is here. This word here is krima. Krisis, first of all, means "the act of judging in the future." But krima means "the present act of judgment due to the mere presence of Jesus Christ in the world." So that is the answer to John 9:39 is that word specifically shows the meaning of it, that it is a present judgment.
Man is judged according to his acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ.
John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
So he who has not exercised living, true faith in Jesus Christ has not been living God's way of life. Therefore, he has brought about pending judgment by his own unbelief.
Now, the future judgment at the Great White Throne will only be a confirmation of a person's belief or unbelief in God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, as shown by his subsequent good and bad works. Nevertheless, the White Throne judgment is the final judgment with eternal consequences; and the world is not being judged the final judgment yet. But God's church is being judged now according to each one's work, as you well know.
The apostle Paul shows that Christians are being judged today and our judgment is a process. God gathers all the facts of our life and deliberates all the evidence. Today, God is putting us through trials and tests to see if we are faithful to Him and His way of life.
I Peter 4:17-18 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?"
So God judges true Christine's today by how faithfully we live by His Word. And He will judge those who rise in the second resurrection the same way. They will be given enough time to live a life of overcoming and repentance in the life of humble submission and faithful determination. Just as God's firstfruits are doing in this age. The major difference is Satan will not be around for those 1,000 years to influence them. That is why our resurrection, we being the firstfruits, has the better reward because we have a tougher time of it because we are also fighting Satan's influence. And sure enough, he wants to influence us as members of God's church even more than the world. He already has the world, but he does not have us. He is not going to get us because God will not let him. But we do punch holes in the hedge that God puts around us, in a sense. Lots of holes sometimes.
We must live a life of sacrifice to God by our conduct. And we are to "present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship"—by our faith, by our gifts, by our tithes and offerings, by offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
God is judging us right now according to each one's work, that is, how well we glorify God in our lifestyle, in the way we live and think in our life. We have to ask ourselves when we are about to do something: Is this what Jesus would do? We have to ask ourselves, will this glorify God in whatever we attempt to do?—in all of our relationships with one another as well.
Now, you are familiar with some of the parables portraying the unfaithful. They will be shocked when they are barred from entering into glory. Their presumption gives way to astonishment and disbelief when the Eternal dismisses them with the judgment, "I never knew you! Away from Me, you evildoers!"
To emphasize this somber truth, several of Christ's Kingdom parables present a group or an individual who was initially in a place of special privilege, but being excluded at the end. In the Parable of the Ten Virgins (which you are very familiar with, we hear about it on a regular basis), the familiar tone "Lord, Lord," used by the foolish virgins when they request entry into the wedding banquet, indicates that they fully expected to be let in. Instead, the bridegroom rejects them. And He says, "I tell you the truth, I do not know you."
Christ's emphasis on the sifting at the judgment was meant to warn us against becoming complacent about a relationship with God. And it is so easy. The older we get, the more tired we get, the more we hurt, the more frustrations we have with the world, we wear out. So the wearing out of the saints, we cannot let that happen to us. We still have a mind and we still have to keep it sharp and we have to keep it active and connected with God by reading His Word on a regular basis.
Mercy is one of God's most generous attributes. His merciful behavior is among the actions in which biblical writers most noticeably rejoice. While God's mercy encompasses all of His benevolent acts toward His creation, if we trace the references of God's mercy, the two areas that dominate by God's mercy in Scripture is God's acts of providence, by which He sustains His vulnerable creatures, and His forgiveness of sins. And this is a way of saying that God's provision for the physical needs of people is a merciful act, as is His provision for their spiritual warfare. God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, as Psalm 103:8 says, and we see a similar passage here in Exodus 34.
Exodus 34:6-7 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation."
That should raise the hair on the back of our heads because we never are doing enough, are we?
We see here that God's mercy does not mean that He overlooks or cancels the penalty of sin. Not until we do what we are supposed to do—repentance, overcoming, humility, obedience.
God can be described as being "rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loves us," making us "alive together with Christ." As Paul explains here,
Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy [that is in the Greek eleos], because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
The apostle Paul makes an interesting comparison here between the harsh rebellion of human beings in the rejection of God, and God's gracious acceptance of the members of His church made possible by being in Christ. So we know God cannot approve of sin if He is to remain righteous. Nevertheless, God is not unsympathetic toward those He has created. He knows we have human nature. He knows we are going to sin, but He expects us to resist it with all our might and with His help—especially with His help.
We know God cannot approve of sin. He loves us and He has made possible our reconciliation to Himself. Had He decided to destroy His disobedient children He would have been entirely justified, and nothing could prevent the tragedy. Because of His mercy and love for us, He does not destroy us and He does not destroy the world because He is going to give them an opportunity to obey Him. Instead, love leads to mercy because of God's compassion for the helpless. He takes action to provide relief for them.
The same Greek word eleos in classical Greek that is translated mercy can be used regarding human beings. But in the New Testament, it has a special reference to what God does in Christ. There is an inexhaustible abundance of such mercy available in God, as we just read in verses 4 and 5. So this side of God's character is expressed in the description "Father of mercies." It is an intimate term. We should think warmly and we should think highly when the name of the Father is applied (except when it is in the Catholic religion because that is breaking the Scriptures).
This side of God's character is expressed in the description Father of mercies.
II Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.
Mercy comes according to God's will. Among Paul's several themes of mercy, we find an emphasis on God's freedom and dispensing mercy to whom He wills.
Romans 9:14-15 [the caption in my Bible for this section is Israel's Rejection and God's Justice] What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
So mercy is the aspect of God's love that causes Him to help the miserable, just as grace is the aspect of His love that moves Him to forgive the guilty. Those who are miserable may be so either because of breaking God's law or because of circumstances beyond their control. God shows mercy upon those who have broken His law. Although such mercy is selective, demonstrating that it is not deserved, God's mercy on the miserable extends beyond punishment that is withheld. Withheld punishment may suspend a person's due, but it does not give him salvation.
God also shows mercy by actively helping those who are miserable due to circumstances beyond their control. And we see this aspect of mercy especially in the life of Jesus Christ. He healed the blind and the lepers. Now these acts of healing grew out of His attitude of compassion and mercy, and in an even greater way from His desire to glorify God. Our motivation for showing mercy on others should be to glorify God, not to glorify ourselves.
Romans 9:16-24 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me, "Then why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will? But indeed, oh man, who are you to reply against God?
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also for the Gentiles?
So men and women are receptacles of His divine mercy. While some are vessels of wrath made for destruction, others are vessels of mercy which He has prepared beforehand for the glory of God the Father. And anytime God the Father is glorified, so is Jesus Christ.
Christ is the merciful and faithful High Priest who became like His brothers in every way.
Hebrews 2:14-18 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. [that is to the church, the spiritual Israelites] Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
He had to become like us in a physical sense because He had to understand what we are going through. He only lived to age 33 and He did not experience the aches and pains of the elderly, but He did experience aches and pains on Passover way more than anybody else has. So He understands our ailments, or pain from everything no matter what it is, because He had the most excruciating pain of anyone.
Mercy is the act of not administrating justice. When the justice is disciplinary because of our sinfulness, we deserve death and complete separation from God. But God provided an atonement for sin and through it shows us mercy, that is, He does not deliver to the true Christian the natural consequences of the final death for sin.
Jesus became sin on our behalf and bore the punishment due to us. It was to deliver us from the final death.
I John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
John refers to confidence before God in view of Christ's return and the execution of His righteous judgment against sin. The idea of God's judgment is an unpopular one. And the problem is simply that people do not like the idea of having to account to God for their actions. In fact, people do not like to have to account to anyone for their actions. And that is why people do what seems right in their own eyes—to avoid that.
But judgment is the only logical idea of the three ideas usually associated with the end times. In most systems of theology, the end events focus around three things: the return of Christ, the resurrection, and the judgment. But neither the return of Christ nor the resurrection is logical by human reasoning. Jesus came once and was rejected. He was crucified. If He never came back, this would be logical according to human nature and no one, least of all ourselves, could blame Him. Yet against logic, He is returning.
The resurrection is not logical either, for even the Bible declares of our bodies in Genesis 3:19, "Dust you are and to dust you will return." So logically, no one could expect more. But judgment? That is the most logical event the future holds for any man or woman.
It is interesting that even human nature understands judgment where they cannot understand Christ being resurrected or resurrecting us or anything else. That is what we might call a paradox in God's way of life.
Furthermore, the day of judgment is as fixed in God's eternal timetable as any other day in world history. And this is the significance of the word "day." Technically speaking, the day of judgment is not necessarily a 24 hour period. At all events it certainly includes a series of judgments upon the earth (Revelation chapters 6—16 show us that), the Beast and the False Prophet, the Gentile nations, Israel, and all individuals at the judgment of the Great White Throne.
The reason it is called a day is that it is fixed in God's timetable and will surely come. In view of this logical and unalterable day in which the thoughts and deeds of men and women are to be judged, an individual might well fear. But John says that in the case of Christians, "perfect love casts out fear."
I John 4:17-19 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is so, are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
By love for God any unreasonable fears are calmed and we come to rest in the fact that the Father, who was for us in Christ, will allow nothing to destroy the eternal relationship that the death of Christ has established in those who are in Christ; who have Christ and the Holy Spirit embedded.
Romans 8:31-39 [the caption in my Bible here is God's Everlasting Love] What then shall we say to these? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wow! That is some promise, that is some situation and some condition to be in. It is where we all want to be and we all are, if we live God's way of life and submit to God in humility.
The sinner must begin by fearing and reverencing the God against whom he has sinned. But, having believed in Christ, who has atoned for sin, he may put away wrong fear and grow in confidence before Him.
By the time of the Great White Throne judgment, the elect, the firstfruits of God's Kingdom will have had eternal life and ruled for 1,000 years. For human beings, which we will not be, we will be spirit beings, that is quite a bit of experience. By the time of the White Throne Judgment, we will have been ruling with Christ over all that time during the Millennium and we will be helping people do that, live God's way of life. Wow. How exciting! How anxious we are to be there? At that time, of course, our focus is the Kingdom of God, which will eventually come in its completeness, but we will have God's Kingdom on earth at that time. And wow, it is hard to be patient for it.
This day looks forward to a time after the Millennium when an awesomely wonderful period of salvation will take place. During this time, the majority of mankind—rich and poor, young and old—men and women—will be resurrected and have an opportunity to inherit eternal life. Billions of people will qualify with the help of God's Holy Spirit to enter the God Family.
On the other hand, those who will not repent of sin, who will not submit to God and His way, will be cast into the Lake of Fire and die the second death, which is the merciful final death. God judges righteously and mercifully.
Even death can be a judgment of mercy. In the case of sinners, death can be seen as a judgment of mercy, a judgment that prevents heightened and continued misery. You can see Satan's influence in the doctrine of hell in the world. People think, "I'm good" but they are going to hell and I want them to burn forever. That is satanic and it is as full of human nature as you get. But God is merciful. He does not want that. He does not want people to suffer. Sinners are miserable! The result of sin is sickness, disease, insanity, violence, agonizing death. And you could make a whole scroll of a list of things too.
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 For I proclaim the name of the Lord: ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.
God is the epitome and essence of true love and He is perfectly just; and we should be eternally thankful that He is our God, and we should thank Him for being our God. We should be thankful for God's righteous judgment.
We worship on this day with the spiritual sacrifice of praise and thankfulness for His abundant spiritual gifts and mercy. The apostle Paul instructs us that it is God's will that we are thankful.
I Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
From this perspective, we should always be able to recognize a reason for thanks all day long. First thing is you wake up and you take a breath and God has just performed a miracle of life. It is an ongoing miracle, but it is still nevertheless an amazing thing.
We should always be able to recognize reasons for thanks. Failure of thankfulness is a symptom of faithlessness. And this is similar to the way our prayers work. When they are based on the divine promise of salvation, our prayers are expressed in anticipated thanks. And it is a way of giving thanks for what God has promised with the faith that His promises are so sure to happen it is as if they already have.
After the time of judgment that this day represents, God will create a new heaven and a new earth, a clean and pure world fit for the God the Father Himself for all eternity. There will be no more death, no sorrow, no crying, and there will be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
Revelation 21:1-7 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And he said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son."
All those who have accepted God's way of life and submitted to Him will have been glorified members of the God Family, as citizens of the Kingdom of God, and will live forever. Like God, we will create, beautify, and spread God's way of life over the entire universe. What a glorious potential we have ahead of us, thanks to our awesome God and Father and His Son! We have so much for which to be thankful: things like His mercy and our privileges and responsibilities as the elect of God as a whole.
Paul calls us to a holy lifestyle consistent with our new identity. We have been chosen by God and stand before Him as His beloved holy ones. We are to live up to what we are in Christ. When wrong and betrayed, we are called to forgive others even as we have been forgiven for our past unfaithfulness to Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul describes what our responsibilities are as the elect of God and these responsibilities will continue on for the rest of eternity.
Colossians 3:12-15 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
So we need the calm peace of Jesus Christ. The peace of God will calm our restless minds, subdue our worry, and promote a healthy mind in us.
May our loving God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ bless and keep you safe, and grant you peace throughout this coming year.
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