How Soon? (02/16/23)

I see that even my attempts to break this down to manageably sized portions leaves too much to consider at once.  So, on the topic of judgment it seems we have at least a couple of different questions to consider, the first being one of timing, the second, one of extent.  Then, too, there are questions as to application.  Is it to enemies only, to God’s people specifically, or to all?  And is it the same process that is in view in every case or are there perhaps a variety of judgments that are noted in varying ways in varying places?  Here, I would first consider that matter of timing.  How soon is this judgment to come?  For until we have a sense of that timing, we should be hard pressed to discern how it relates to the Tribulation, the Rapture, or even the current day.

Of course, the first thing we will have to recognize in this regard is that we shall not have precise answer.  This steps me well ahead of my place in this study, but I think it must be brought to bear fairly immediately.  We don’t get a timetable of events.  We shall not find, however hard we look, anything approaching a schedule, anything that would permit us to set forth that we know the time.  We shall most assuredly know it when it comes, but, barring some significant and rather shocking revelation along the course of this study, I shall continue to maintain that we won’t know it beforehand.  We may see plentiful cause for judgment.  We may even long for judgment, at least upon our opposition, but it is not ours to know when.

What we do have, and we have it repeatedly, is notice of its nearness.  But we must also recognize that this nearness has been with us for a very long time, at least as to certain applications of judgment.  Isaiah proclaimed it concerning Babylon.  “The day of the LORD is near!” (Isa 13:6), and it won’t be a happy thing for those under judgment, rather it shall be ‘destruction from the Almighty’.  I shall be coming back to this passage before too long, but for the moment, it is the nearness that is before me.  For Babylon, at least, time was short.  Or, at the very least, this outpouring of judicial destruction was close at hand; close enough as to permit no escaping its determination.  And it is powerful, too, this judicial destruction, such that those upon whom it falls are exterminated from the land (Isa 13:9).

But Isaiah was not the first to observe the nearness of this day.  Obadiah, prophesying concerning Edom, likewise observes the nearness of the day.  The judgment is severe, and it is telling, I think, that we are told the reason for it:  “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter” (Obad 10).  Oh, there is a day of disaster even for God’s people, insomuch as they make it necessary by their own sins.  And the nations are in God’s hands to be used as tools for the rebuke of His children.  But those nations move also of their own accord and for their own ends, and while their actions are turned to God’s purposes, their intentions remain matters for judgment in their own right.  So they are warned.  Don’t gloat at your brother’s distress.  Don’t think to loot them while they are down.  After all, this is addressing the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s own brother.  Surely he should have found an ally in Esau rather than an adversary!  But it’s not only Esau.  The vision expands.  “The day of the LORD draws near on all nations” (Obad 15).  “As you have done, it will be done to you.  Your dealings will return on your own head.”

That sure sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  It somewhat turns things around as Jesus instructs us by this which we know as the golden rule.  But it was there in the old eye for an eye rules of retribution as well.  And we hear it, however well or poorly applied, in the modern day idea of chickens returning to their roost, a phrase wielded against those we perceive as having wronged us in some fashion.  There is this innate sense of justice in man, and no wonder, for we are all made in God’s image however poorly we have worn that image.  However corrupt we have become, yet there is an understanding of justice, and a desire for justice – at least for others – that transcends matters of nationality, ethnicity, age or religion.  When something is not right, not just, however we may measure such things, we feel the lack of balance and we would see it righted.  And nobody appreciates a hypocrite.  By your own measure, so you shall be judged.  This, too, we learn from our Lord.  Care is needed. 

But my thoughts stray.  We are looking for matters of timing.  And I think, as concerns that timing, we must recognize that judgment is ever near.  It was near then.  It is near now.  It may not be that judgment comes for one and all at one and the same time, at least not in these varied earthly manifestations.  Nations rise and nations fall.  Men have their periods of unrestrained pursuit of their ends, or so it seems.  But to each man must come a time of judgment.  Death, in the end, comes for one and all, for it is appointed, as we have considered in other settings, for man once to die.  And then comes the judgment (Heb 9:27).

It is well to be reminded of that verse as we consider this question of timing.  And it may help us somewhat with understanding that this judgment, like so many aspects of prophecy, may come repeatedly, or in stages.  There are these earthly manifestations of judgment, such as we have seen Isaiah and Obadiah proclaiming, and as we will most assuredly find throughout the prophetic writings.  There were such judgments meted out throughout the record, all the way back into the earliest chapters of Genesis.  What transpired at the tower of Babel, but judgment?  What happened to Cain, but judgment, though he was left to roam the earth for a time?  What was the Flood, but judgment?  Or the events in Egypt which led up to Israel’s release?  For all that, what was it that came upon that first generation of Israel in Exodus, but judgment?  Judgment is always near.  And judgment is always perfectly on time.  We encountered it already, that notice given to Abram at the outset that the sins of the Amorite were not yet complete (Ge 15:16).  The time is not yet, though it is always near.

We can look upon pretty much any era we choose throughout all history and discern these occasions.  We see what passes for greatness, what translates as utmost cruelty, and things go on for a time as though they will go on forever.  And no doubt, for those living through those events, it felt like forever.  Those living during the period of Roman persecutions most assuredly saw no likelihood of escaping Rome’s reach.  Even Israel in that period when Jesus first comes on the scene had no real hope of doing so, for all that they hungered for some powerful, warrior Messiah to come make it so.  Those who have faced military conquest through the years, those overrun by the armies of the great wars, be it the trenches of World War I, or the horrors of World War II, likely saw no particular hope of things coming to an end before they did.  Those taken prisoner by Muslim extremists, to be made sport of in their execution, see no real hope of escape.  Not in this life, at any rate.  But certainly, as to that last category, and to those Christians who have faced persecution down through the centuries, and for all that, those faithful Jews in centuries earlier still, there has been the confidence of this:  Judgment is near, and in that judgment, they should be vindicated, and they should see their tormenters paid in full for their crimes.

We, too, can look upon the evils of the present day, and they are indeed many, with this same recognition.  Whatever these opponents may have power to do, however unrestrained and unpunished they appear to be at present as they pursue their malicious ends, Justice awaits.  We need not fear them.  Rather, we fear God, Who alone can kill both body and soul in Hades.  And we know Him.  We know He is perfectly Just.  We know He is, by His own declaration, our Father, our Husband, our Redeemer.  And we know, therefore, that ultimately, we shall look upon the just punishment of all those who have sought to eradicate us from the land.

But let as not lose sight of the reality that judgment remains near at hand for us as well.  That, if I might render it so, eternal nearness of judgment comes as a terror for those who set themselves as enemies of our God.  But it comes, also, as a warning rebuke to us, that we may repent of our own sins and draw near to Him Who has paid the high cost of our crimes, in order that we might in fact live.  To us as well the call comes.  The day of the LORD draws near for all.  And we dare not allow ourselves to become blasé, thinking ourselves so excluded from this day as to have no need to be concerned with it at all.  We may (and I’ll save any approach to firm conclusions in this regard for later) experience a much different judgment with a much different outcome, but we cannot allow ourselves to live as though we get to do an end run around that day.

Lord, I know how readily I can slide into that way of thinking.  And I’m not as yet convinced that there isn’t at least some truth to it.  And yet… And yet, you call us to be ever judging ourselves, and judging ourselves rightly, lest in the end we be judged and found wanting.  There is good reason for You having left us with this warning ever before our mind’s eye.  This day is always near.  Always.  It is always approaching, and we know not when it shall arrive.  But we would be found ready, citizens of heaven in good standing, whenever it may come for us.

I want, before I leave off, to consider again that notice from Hebrews.  Death comes first, and then the judgment.  Whatever earthly manifestations of judgment we may witness, or we may face personally, they remain foretastes, foreshadowings of the real event.  There are judgments, and then there is the Judgment.  We must, I think, recognize that as we go through various prophetic texts, both of these are in view in one degree or another, and we must seek to distinguish, as best we may, which things apply to which.  Of one thing we are assured:  In the ultimate end, justice will ultimately be served, and it will be served fully and perfectly.  What full and perfect looks like may well come as a surprise to us, and that surprise, I must suppose, may either delight or dismay us.  I find it near to certain that looks of surprise will be a commonplace on that day.  “When did we see You and not do these things, Lord?  When did we see You and do them?”  It goes both ways, doesn’t it?  There will be those surprised to discover the depths of their sins.  There will be those surprised to learn of the heights of their obedience.  That counted?  Really?  I didn’t know.  No, nor were you intended to know.  After all, righteousness ought not to depend on circumstance, or who is involved.  Righteousness, like our righteous God, cannot be such as makes distinctions among people.  Right is always right.  Let this guide us, that however near our own encounter with Judgment may be, we may not be found wanting in the assessment of our Lord and King.

To What Extent? (02/17/23-02/18/23)

I have considered somewhat the timing of this judgment of God, which comes identified by the prophets as the day of the LORD.  I would consider now the extent of that judgment.  And we could immediately answer that the extent is complete.  Judgment comes upon all.  And we should be correct.  But as we have seen already, one could construe this judgment as having come already upon this nation or that.  We have seen that in the larger sense, the day of the LORD is always near.  That would make a certain degree of sense, given that the LORD is always near.  He is no absentee God.  He has not abandoned the work of Creation, but upholds it always by His own mighty right arm.  We are reminded that it is He who sees that the animals are fed.  It is He who sees to it that we have our provision.  It is He, as Paul proclaimed so neatly, in whom we live, in whom we have the capacity to move, in whom we have being in any form whatsoever.  Were He to step away for but the briefest moment, all being would cease of an instant.  So yes, He is ever near, and that being the case, the day of the LORD is always near.

What determines the extent of that judgment, it seems to me, is the extent of sin.  We have considered already that notice given Abram that in due time his descendants would come forth out of Egypt.  And what determined the due time?  It would seem that at least one factor was giving the Amorites the opportunity to complete the number of their transgressions, to render it the time for this judgment, this day of the LORD to come to them.  They wouldn’t be the first, and they assuredly aren’t the last.  Egypt would discover judgment prior to Israel’s release, and it was not something to be desired, certainly.  It was such as a wise leader would have done his utmost to avoid.  But then, had there been a wise leader, there would have been no need for such a day.

So let us consider again a couple of prophecies we have already visited, starting with Obadiah.  As we saw before, his brief prophecy begins with a message for Edom, the near kin of those in Judah, and yet among Judah’s worst enemies.  Okay, well, given the business of their forebears, Jacob and Esau, one might understand a lingering animosity on the part of Esau’s descendants.  They got ripped off!  What Israel enjoyed should have been theirs by rights.  Were they not the sons of the firstborn?  Well, yes.  But Israel were the sons of the promise.  Sorry.

But Obadiah’s prophecy doesn’t remain limited to Edom.  His vision expands beyond the immediate to encompass the bigger picture.  “The day of the LORD draws near on all nations.  As you have done, it will be done to you.  Your dealings will return upon your own head” (Obad 15).  But let me bring to your attention that there is a swift change of observation which follows.  “But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape.  It will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess their possessions” (Obad 17).  I see a distinction made.  We might set it, given our preparations, as the distinction between Babylon and Zion.  And we shall have to remind ourselves that in this distinction, it is not nations or geopolitics that we have in view.  Neither is it ethnicities.  We do well to hear Paul’s message to the Galatians played back into this matter of judgment.  “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female.  For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:28-29).  If this is you, you are of Zion.  By corollary, if this is not you, then you are of Babylon.  There is nothing else to be of.

We could go back to Joshua, with his call to, “Choose you this day.  Whom will you serve?”  To which do you belong?  Well, let’s hear from Isaiah before you decide.  Concerning Babylon, he writes, “lift a standard on the bare hill.  Raise your voice to them, wave your hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.  I have commanded My consecrated ones.  I have called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting ones, to execute My anger.”  And they are many, for the LORD of hosts is mustering His army, and they fill the horizons, come to destroy the land entirely.  “Wail,” he says, “for the day of the LORD is near, a destruction from the Almighty.” 

We have seen where this goes.  Sun and moon are darkened at their coming.  But let us hear the point of it.  “He will exterminate its sinners from the land.”  “I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their iniquity.  The heavens will tremble.  The earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the LORD of hosts in the day of His burning anger.” (Isa 13:1-13).  Thus far, certainly, one could get the sense that this judgment come upon Israel, upon God’s own.  But that is, I think, more because we know how things played out.  Babylon, the empire, grew strong, even so strong as to come and take the people of Judah captive – a thing unthinkable.  Are they not God’s people?  Is not His temple established in Jerusalem?  How could this be?  But the prophecy at present is not in regard to Israel.  The nation being purged, the land laid waste, is not the land of promise.  It is the land of Babylon.  And the Medes come to see them done.  “And Babylon the beautiful, glory of Chaldean pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”

It is tempting, is it not, to discern in all this that judgment falls only on others, on other nations, on adherents of other religions, perhaps.  We want very much to believe that this day of the LORD, with all its terror, is not for us.  And perhaps we are right, at least in degree.  But there remains a very fundamental question, even as to this degree.  Are we of Babylon, or are we of Zion?  That, it seems to me, is the one thing that matters.  Do you belong to Christ or don’t you?

Now, we need to hear this, and hear it with ears opened to the Truth.  Paul, writing to Rome, addresses issues in the house of God.  In some degree, I think we should have to recognize that in that house, even in this newly established family of Christ, there remained a tendency for wariness between Jew and Gentile.  No matter how often that message to Galatia is repeated, yet we feel this difference, and we feel it is somehow important.  We are still trying to assess by physical measures, perhaps because our spiritual eyes are weak.  But it wasn’t just racism raising its head.  It went well beyond that.  Among the Gentiles, one would find division.  Some, it seems, felt that proper Christian piety required behaviors not all that unlike the Pharisees in Judea.  Oh!  We must refrain from meat, because that meat may have come of heathenish sacrifices.  Oh!  We musn’t eat with the Gentiles, for they are unclean.  You can, perhaps, see the similarity.  Or, perhaps already there was tension as to which day should now be considered the Lord’s day (as opposed to the day of the LORD).  One could understand how this might be of some concern when all the days are named for sundry gods.  Which one did Christ want?  The traditional might well wish to keep the Sabbath as the LORD’s day, Saturday.  Others, seeing the new day begun in  Christ’s resurrection, might well be advocating a shift to Sunday.  Oh, but Sunday is the day of Sol worship.  Can you not see the syncretism?  Can you not see that you are polluting the pure Word of God with habits of your pagan past?

How does Paul react?  Does he step in to give the definitive answer to these debates?  Does he come down on one side or the other?   Well, I would argue that yes, he does give the definitive answer, and that answer is that there is no need of coming down on one side or the other.  Does it matter to you?  Then fine.  Let your conscience be your guide, for it is never safe to act against conscience.  Do you consider the matter a thing indifferent?  Fine.  Let your conscience be your guide, for it is never safe to act against conscience.  If you count days special, observe them as unto the Lord.  If you eat as you please, eat as unto the Lord.  And if you abstain from certain things, do so as giving thanks unto God.  “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.  If we live, we live for the Lord.  If we die, we die for the Lord.  Whichever way, we are the Lord’s” (Ro 14:1-8).

But, concerning our question of extent of the day of the Lord, consider what follows.  “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.  For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me; every tongue shall give praise to God.’  So each one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Ro 14:10-12).  Each one of us.  And lest there be any doubt, the message is repeated.  It is repeated precisely in light of the resurrection of mankind.  “In this tent we groan, burdened by the concern of being unclothed, wanting to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (2Co 5:4).  We know there must be something more.  However much we love the Lord, still this body is failing.  Still the effects of sin are felt.  But we walk by faith, not sight.  We are of good courage, finding it preferable to be absent from this fleshly body, knowing that such absence means being home with the Lord, and so our ambition is to be pleasing to Him in all we think, say, and do (2Co 5:7-9).

And that brings us to the point of interest for our current considerations.  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, each to be recompensed for his deeds while in the body, whether good or bad” (2Co 5:10).  There it is again.  We must appear.  We shall all stand before His seat of judgment.  Okay.  But I should have to remind us that at this event, we have this same Christ who is Judge as our Advocate, our privy Counsel.  I continue to wonder if in fact we shall have the least occasion to speak at all on that day.  Much in me is convinced that, for one thing, we shall be stunned to silence by the reality of the event.  Here we are before utmost, perfect holiness.  If we have anything at all to say, will it not be as Isaiah discovered?  “Woe is me, for I am undone!”  And as we hear the record read out, to be sure, we shall have to acknowledge the truth of it, for it will be absolutely truthful, no doubt about it.  Yet, we may discover we are surprised not by God’s awareness of our sins, but by those things counted to our benefit of which we were pretty thoroughly unaware.

I keep coming back to that message in Colossians, or perhaps Philemon.  There is that imagery of the debt wiped from the record, so thoroughly eradicated as to prevent any future reference to it.  There is the image of our criminal record nailed to the cross with Christ.  These are images of finality.  These things have already been dealt with.  Forgiveness has already been declared, as the debt for these crimes has been fully paid.  There will be no further mention of them.  And the accuser of the brethren has already been banished from the hall of heaven’s court.  Who, then, will bring charges against God’s elect?  God is the one who justifies!  Who is there to condemn?  Christ Jesus, who died and was raised, is at God’s right hand, interceding for us.  Who, then, shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Ro 8:33-34).  Somehow, these things hold together with this message of, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to be recompensed, for good or ill, for our deeds in the body.”

So, I will ask, is this Judgment Seat of Christ to be held as the same event we see in the nearing day of the LORD?  To phrase it differently, are the Judgment and the Tribulation separate events, or different terms for the same thing?  I don’t as yet have answer.  I don’t know as I shall.  I do, however, get the sense that indeed the day of the LORD and the judgment seat of Christ are distinct, if not in their purpose and function, then at least as to their outcome for the two houses:  Babylon and Zion.   It is perhaps best to recognize that at the judgment seat, that is the question being answered:  Which do you belong to?  Babylon or Zion.  But in the day of the LORD, what we generally see is that assessment already made, and the answer having been found to be Babylon.  And for those upon whom the day of the LORD has come, this judgment is final.  That does not, however, preclude those thus judged from still finding it necessary to make a final appearance before the judgment seat of Christ to receive sentence passed down.  The resurrection of the dead, after all, includes those raised to new life, and those raised to eternal perishing.

Before I can set this subject aside, though, I find it most necessary to consider what Jesus Himself has taught us of this day of His judgment.  As to the question of Tribulation and Judgment, whether they are the same or distinct, I shall defer that for later consideration.  But I reserve the right to reach no clear conclusion on that question, unless it be that I find clear answer in these Scriptures the Lord has seen fit for me to collect up in pursuit of my subject.

The particular teaching I have in mind to consider here is that which Jesus teaches in regard to events at His return.  There are actually a few of those, and Matthew gathers them together in one body of written record.  We cannot conclude from this that these various teachings were in fact taught on the same day, or as part of the same session.  Yet, Matthew, in so arranging them, has acted under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and we must, I think, accept that it is His purpose to see them set alongside one another.  So, while I am primarily concerned with the discussion of separating sheep and goats in Matthew 25:31-46, perhaps I should back up, at least long enough to notice the message to His own in regard to events at His return.  It really is a rather large body of teaching, beginning back at the start of Matthew 24, and all of it concerned with this subject of the Last Day, or of events surrounding the return of our Savior.  Much of it I see I have earmarked farther on in this study.  But let’s just get an overview, at least, to capture the flow of thought here.

We begin with questions brought by the disciples, and they are not so very different from my own.  When will these things be?  What signs indicate Your return and the end of the age?  And the most immediate answer is, “Don’t be misled.”  There’s a lot happening before then, and there will be many claiming to be Him.  Wars and natural disasters multiply.  And yet, these are just the start.  And, I would note, these have been humanity’s story for a very long time.  I could almost take it to be saying that the signs have always been here and will continue to be here, at least as concerns wars and disasters.  When have there not been such things?  We get notice of the tribulation of the saints, hated by the nations.  We hear of false prophets arising, again, something the Apostles were already dealing with in the earliest years, and which was true before and continues to be true even now.  Lawlessness is increased, and love grows cold.  The sharpest image we have is that the gospel will be preached worldwide, ‘and then the end shall come’ (Mt 24:1-14).  But that’s back on the timing question.

Descriptions of this period of great trial are terrifying.  What Daniel prophesied is coming to pass.  There is not even time to grab a cloak before you flee, and the tribulation will be such as has never been known before or after, so bad that unless the time is cut short, not any would be saved.  But ‘for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short’ (Mt 24:15-22).  And even then, the warning.  If you need somebody to tell you where He has returned, then it isn’t Him returning.  When He returns, it will need no pointing out.  All will see it (Mt 24:23-28).  And with that, we’re back at the imagery of Joel, the sun darkened, the moon dimmed, stars winking out.  And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. That’s the point!  It’s unmissable.  It’s worldwide.  It’s immediate, and in stark relief.  It is loud, loud enough to wake the dead (Mt 24:29-33).  So, perhaps we can see that things are near.  But then, as I have been observing, such signs as we are given would tend to always indicate that this day is near, and that, I think, is by design.  Yet, we must hear this and hear it well.  “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Mt 24:36-41).  It will be sudden, and it while it may be sensed that it is coming, yet it will not be seen when.  The comparison is made to Noah and the flood.  Certainly, that imminent judgment was announced boldly by Noah.  Even had he inclined not to speak, the ark he was building would make it needful to do so.  But that doesn’t mean he was believed.  The signs were there, but they were largely ignored by a populace determined to continue on as it had been, and so they did.  Right up to the moment when it all came crashing down on them.

What’s the message?  “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know on which day your Lord is coming.” (Mt 24:42-51).  There’s a reason for that.  This is a test.  Will you be faithful in His absence?  Will you be busy about the business of the kingdom while the king is away?  “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.”  But that one who counts on the king’s delay and pursues his pleasures?  That one will perish with the hypocrites.

Next, we come to the parable of the ten virgins, which one suspects we know well enough, and which we will be coming back to later (Mt 25:1-13).  We may look at this as saying that some even of the elect may lose out come that day, but I don’t think that’s a proper reading of the thing.  It’s a parable, and intended to make a point, and that point is clearly declared. “Be on the alert.  You don’t know the day or the hour.”  That’s the point.  What exactly we are to make of the five wise virgins and the five foolish ones is something of an open question, other than to recognize that wisdom meant being alert and prepared.  Is this judgment in the house?  Is this separating wheat and chaff, or culling the tares?  I know where I would stand on that, and where I would stand is that the truly elect, the true church, if you will, shall be found ready.  If there are those removed, it is those of whom John says, “They were never truly of us” (1Jn 2:19).  If they had been, as he says, they would have remained with us.  They would have been ready.

It gets harder as we come to the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30).  The subjects in this parable are all identified as slaves of their mutual master, and given the overarching theme of these two chapters, we can clearly identify the master as Jesus.  We know the story.  The master entrusts varying amounts of wealth to his three slaves, ‘each according to their ability’.  As an aside, it’s funny, in a dark way, how socialism seeks to play that phrase, and twist it into a demand for equal outcomes.  So much for trying to fit Jesus in the socialist mold.  Anyway, two out of three go out and put that wealth to work, earning more wealth.  But the third hides what was entrusted to him in a hole in the ground.  Eventually, the master returns and calls these three to give account of themselves.  The first two have doubled the value of what was entrusted to them, and the master is rightly pleased with them.  The third comes with that which was entrusted to him intact, but no more than that.  Yet, I don’t think that is necessarily the issue that is found with him.  Listen to his explanation.  “I knew you are a hard man, master.  You reap where you haven’t sown, and gather where you have not cast seed.  So, I was afraid, and I hid what you gave me in the ground.  See?  You have what is yours.”

Listen!  Each was given according to his abilities.  Let us suppose that this last slave really wasn’t skilled in trade, and knew it.  So, he did what he could, and made sure his master’s treasure was secure.  Honestly, if that had been the explanation of it, I’m not sure but that he would have been received.  Rather, it’s his assessment of his master that seems the reason for punishment.  You can hear it in the master’s response.  “If you knew me to be thus, then surely you should have at least put this in the bank to earn interest for me.”  And so, what had been entrusted to him is taken away to be given to one of the others, and he his cast into the outer darkness.

Here’s what I see.  There is a twofold problem with the last slave.  First, he did not truly know his master.  If he had, fear of his master would not have crippled him so.  Neither of the other two appear to have done as they did for fear of their master.  They just did what they knew to do.  And here we have the second issue.  If in fact you knew this, yet you did nothing to act on that knowledge, but rather acted contrary even to what you say you knew.  I have observed before in this study, echoing Martin Luther, I suspect, that it is never safe to act against conscience.  If conscience is telling you that the Lord ought to have value of you, and yet you refuse to give value, what is that but rebellion and usurping his right, just as Satan has sought to do?  Oh, the scale of the act may be different, but the intent is the same.  What is revealed, then, other than that this slave was never a true servant of this master, but rather served another?  Now, I confess that may be an interpretation done in self-interest, but I don’t think so.  May the Lord see fit to correct me if I am in fact wrong.

But all of this comes as setting the stage for the last parable Matthew sets in this group, that of the Son’s return (Mt 25:31-46).  When He comes, He comes in glory, with His angels, and seated on His throne.  And now, we get to the question of extent.  “The nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them like a shepherd separates sheep from goats.”  Keep in view what we have seen in the lead up.  This moment is universal.  It is unmistakable.  Connect it with other discussions of this day, and we recognize that these are events happening above the earth, and involving those resurrected from the grave as well as those resurrected from the living.

Whatever judgments have come about upon this nation or that, upon this individual or that, in the course of human existence, here is the final stage.  Even those who have been punished in this life must yet appear before the Lord on His throne.  Those punishments, however terrible, were not the perishing.  That’s still ahead.  Sorry.  Oblivion’s not on the menu.  Now, I dare say I shall come back to this passage again as we consider distinctions made in this judgment.  I can about assure us of that, as I shall copy the passage into that section for revisit.  So, barring some act of God in the next few days, we should come back to it.

There are two aspects of this I want to look at before I wrap up this part.  First, there is this response to the assessment, both by those approved and by those rejected.  When did we ever do these things?  If it were only on the part of the goats, we might hear an excuse being attempted.  If we’d known it was You, Master, surely we would have acted.  Well yes, I dare say you would have.  But then, it would not have been from anything like right motive, would it?  And that, it seems to me, is the telling point.  Neither action nor its absence were matters of conscientious, conscious thought for the Master.  They were simply the characteristic response of the individual.  When did we serve You, Lord?  I don’t recall any such event.  And the response is simple enough:  To the degree you did it to any of Mine, you did it to Me.  To the degree that you declined to do it to any of Mine, you declined to serve Me.  It’s not about careful attention to acts of piety.  That’s the Pharisaical game.  For all that, it’s the game every pagan plays before his idols.  Appease the gods, and maybe things will go better.

In that sense, it’s a continuation of the problem that one-talent slave had.  You didn’t ever really know God, and you didn’t act on what you thought you knew.  All excuse is removed.  But I am rather more intrigued with the sheep.  I suppose that’s natural enough, for we all would prefer to be accounted sheep, wouldn’t we?  And their unawareness of those events which counted in their favor is something valuable to us to recognize.  It’s in keeping with the idea that you won’t know the day or the hour.  You just get on with living the life of a believer, with your character informed by this renewed spirit within you.  You just do.  It’s not some agonizing wrestling with what should be done, and what not.  It’s simply getting on with it, and it’s simple because God has renewed your spirit.  God is speaking in your conscience, and you have matured sufficiently to accept the voice of conscience and be guided by it.  You don’t look for reward.  You just do what you know to do.

One last aspect of this, before I leave off.  I observe that for the sheep, their inheritance was ‘prepared for you from the foundation of the world’.  Likewise, it seems to me, we can hear this ancient determination on the part of the goats.  “Depart into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”  That is, perhaps less distinct in its previously established certainty, but I think the certainty is there.  If, in fact, Christ has prepared an inheritance for you from the foundation of the world, can there be anything more certain than that you shall come into your inheritance?  If He has not, is there anything more certain than that you shall not?

I have addressed this matter of there being, in the end, only two possible realms of residence for any man, either Zion or Babylon.  But recognize this:  You were already a citizen of whichever realm long before this scene.  The day of Judgment, it seems to me, is not an occasion for determining one’s true citizenship.  It’s an announcement of what had been determined long ago.  Frankly, if we take the whole scope of the thing, it was determined long ages before ever you came to be.  Oh!  But that’s fate!  We don’t do fate.  No.  No, we don’t.  But we do Sovereign God.  We do God Almighty, unopposable in power, unfailing in wisdom.  We do God, Who speaks and it is.  We do God, whose word does not go forth without accomplishing all its purpose.  And were this not so, we should be yet without hope in this world, and doomed in the next.  For, if salvation depends on our perfection, salvation is yet entirely out of reach, and there shall be no sheep for our Lord to put on His right.

“When did we do these things?”  It’s not for us to know, any more than it’s for us to know the day and the hour.  I have heard some prayers seeking that God might show us the fruit of our labors, and I understand that.  We would like to have some sense that our actions haven’t been futile.  I can readily imagine that poor missionary, laboring long years in the field and seeing no visible evidence of progress.  And yet, that poor missionary, though he may never see the result, has indeed been sowing the harvest.  Well done, good and faithful servant.  I recall something RC Sproul had said about his own experience, and it was something of a caution, even as it was celebratory.  One had come up to him at some conference or another, and observed how powerful it had been when he said such and so on some prior occasion.  And to RC, it had just been some off the cuff comment.  He wasn’t in teaching mode at that moment, wasn’t delivering some carefully crafted message.  It was just casual conversation.  His point was much in keeping with this parable.  You don’t know which of your words are going to have impact.  You don’t know which of your most casual acts may in fact be the planting of holy seed.  It’s not always the intentional evangelism programs that get the job done.  Indeed, I sometimes wonder if it’s ever such programs.  But the Lord can use all the works of His children (and even the works of unbelievers, for all that) to further His purposes.

Ours, then, is not to act in hopes of reward.  Ours is not to try and polish our credentials before the Lord.  Ours is to live as we have been taught, to function as children of the Most High, but children who have matured, children who have taken on the character of their Father, and do as He would do by nature and habit, not by way of currying favor with their Lord.

Father, I hope that in these reflections I am indeed reflecting You truly.  I hope, also, that in some quiet moments of my day, I am doing the works of my Father, being true to You, heeding your leading and so speaking and so acting as will see Your kingdom served and Your glory upheld.  I know too well how imperfect a record I have in such things.  But I think perhaps I’m making headway.  This much I know:  I love You dearly, and would indeed be found pleasing in Your sight.  Oh, but the flesh is weak.  Let me come to the place of not being guided by fear, neither fear of Your disapproval, nor of man’s disapproval, but rather, guided by right, by knowing the thing to do and then doing it.  Is this not every father’s desire for their children?  Surely it is Yours as well.  And just as surely, I know You are working in and on me, to fashion me into the true son You intend me to be.  So be it!  Even so, Lord, do as You must to shape this child in Your image.  May I be malleable clay in Your most capable hands.

In the House (02/19/23)

This morning  I am turning to the question of judgment coming within the house of God’s own.  In doing so, I suppose, we must again ask whether the judgment spoken of here is of a piece with the judgment we associate with the Last Day.  Judgment, after all, can have a range of meaning and application.  In the sense with which we are concerned, I think we shall always find there is an assessing of rightness and wrongness, a weighing of evidence and a delivering of verdict.  But sometimes that assessing is done in regard to those arrayed against God’s people, and therefore against God directly.  Other times, it is done between God’s people.  And there are times, as well, where judgment is not so much between right and wrong, but between good options, as to which one is to be pursued.

While it is not quite the first use of this term, or at least its first appearance in translation, I want to begin this exercise by considering the attire of the high priest.  Going back to Exodus 28, we find Moses laying out the details of its components, and among these, we find the breastpiece of judgment (Ex 28:15).  The term translated, mishpat, speaks of a judicial verdict, a giving of formal decree or determination.  And given that we are considering the uniform of the high priest, that decree or determination is surely to be understood as expressing divine law, whether as directly assessing that verdict, or declaring such penalties or privileges as may apply to the one seeking judgment. 

Among other aspects of this particular piece of the high priest’s clothing, we learn that it was set with twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes (Ex 28:17-23).  We learn as well that here were kept the Urim and Thummim, those rather mysterious tools for determining God’s decision.  The first translates as lights, and the second as perfection.  How these were used we don’t rightly know, for we see so little of them.  Were they cast as lots, as some have supposed?  It’s possible.  But we have only conjecture as to the way in which they were used, and how one was to discern God’s answer in them; that, and that in some cases, no answer was forthcoming, whether for misuse of these items or simply because God did not see fit to answer in that instance.  So, perhaps we can say this much:  that they were not some sort of magical token by which to coerce God into action.  Far be it from us to ever suppose we have such a tool, whether in some religious token, or in our use of prayer!  God remains sovereign, and we remain His loyal subjects, His children.  Perhaps He doesn’t answer because we shouldn’t need to ask in this or that particular instance.  Perhaps He simply reserves the knowledge we seek for Himself, and who are we to insist otherwise?

At any rate, here are the stones represented as being like a seal in which each of the twelve tribes is engraved.  Here we have these tools of determining God’s answers.  And here, we have this, which is the reason I have come to this passage.  “Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment over his heart when he enters the holy place, for a memorial continually before LORD continually.  And you shall put in the breastpiece of judgment the Urim and the Thummin, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD; and Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually” (Ex 28:29-30). 

Okay.  Get caught up in the idea of judgment as being ever a negative thing – for even the innocent have cause for concern when brought before the court of civil justice, imperfect echo that it is – and we may indeed come away with the view that judgment is always on the horizon for God’s people.  One slip-up, and boom!  The hammer is coming down, and you will be cast into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  But look more closely.  This is your high priest we are talking about.  And what we see established in Aaron we must recognize is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our eternal high priest.  And unlike this earthly echo, He fulfills His office in perfection of holiness.

And see the purpose given here:  It is for a memorial before the LORD; a memento, a reminder.  Whether or not it fits in this instance, BDB notes a usage as indicating proof of citizenship.  It is a continual bringing to mind of these, the tribes of Israel, the citizens of Zion, if we wish to carry it forward.  These who are God’s own are on the heart of the high priest continually.  And here, I really must insist we move from Aaron the type to Jesus the antitype.  He has entered into the holy place, and bears upon his heart these memorial, this constant reminder of God’s children – all of them.  They are here in this breastpiece, in which He carries the judgment of these sons of the kingdom.

Given this setting, I think we must recognize that here, in this passage and application, what we have in view is not some assessment of good and evil on the part of God’s people, but rather a reminder of that which is the inheritance, the privilege of those who have already been judged, already determined as truly belonging to God.  For it is these who belong to God that He represents as He takes up His office and enters the Holy Place.  It is for these that He intercedes, for these that He has paid the due penalty of the court, these for whom He has purchased robes of righteousness, and these that He is perfecting for that glorious Last Day.

So, then, what do we do with the prophets?  For we have passages like that in Hosea 5, which seem clearly directed inward, to the people of God.  “Hear this, O priests!  Pay attention, O house of Israel!  Listen, O king!  The judgment applies to you!  You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor” (Hos 5:1).  You!  This is clearly in the house, is it not?  And it is not just the religious leaders, nor is it just leaders of any sort.  It’s the whole people.  And house of Israel?  How are we to hear that as anything else?   Oh, well, there is that little business of the northern kingdoms splitting off, and in context, it would appear that it is this rebellious people that are particularly in sight.  “I know Ephraim.  Israel is not hidden from Me.  You have played the harlot and defiled yourselves, and your deeds do not permit of your returning to your God.  For a spirit of harlotry is within them, and they do not know the LORD.” (Hos 5:3-4), and they have been causing Judah to stumble.  These who were the people of God have become a snare and a temptation to those who still are.

And it’s not just the northern kingdom, for Judah has in fact stumbled, and she must take responsibility for her own sins, even when they have been due to such familial temptations.  “Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke… and Judah has become untrustworthy, so I will pour out My wrath like water.  I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rottenness to the house of Judah” (Hos 5:9-12).  There will be none to deliver.  But behold!  Even in this there is hope held forth.  “I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face.  In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” (Hos 5:15).

It’s interesting.  As we move into chapter 6 of that book, we have this given as coming from the voice of the people.  “Come, let us return to the LORD.  For He has torn us, but He will heal us.  He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.  He will revive us after two days, raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him.  So let us press on to know Him.  His going forth is as certain as the dawn, and He will come to us like the rain watering the earth” (Hos 6:1-3).  You know, I have heard this put to song, and the song is truly beautiful.  And we can see clearly enough that there is a certain Messianic sense to this.  That bit about reviving and raising up on the third day is a bit of a foreshadowing, isn’t it?  And to be sure, in His raising up, we who are called to faith in Him have found the only healing that really matters, and have come to know Him and love Him.

But in setting, I have to say, this comes across as rather a false confidence on their part, or a call falling on deaf ears.  For the assessment continues from this point, and it continues to be bleak.  “Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, yet they have neither returned to the LORD their God, nor have they sought Him, for all this” (Hos 6:10).  It goes on chapter after chapter, as God reviews the many ways He has sought to bring them to their senses, and just how stubbornly they have continued on the course of their sins.  Truly, it’s a terrible read.  And yet, even with all this, the heart of God cries out to them to turn it around.  On the way there, we stumble across yet another passage that rings out to us in light of what we learn of our coming resurrection.  “Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?  Shall I redeem them from death?  Oh Death, where are your thorns?   O Sheol, where is your sting?” (Hos 13:14).  Of course, Paul makes reference to those last two questions in observing Christ’s victory over death, and praise God we learn of this!  But here in the original, the news is not so good, for God continues from those questions to declare this:  “Compassion will be hidden from My sight.”

Yet, we do arrive at a call to return.  There is a call to recognize their true situation, to recognize that earthly benefactors are no help, and can give no rescue.  There is one way, and one way only.  Return to the LORD, reject your former ways.  Seek His forgiveness.  Cry out!  “Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.  Assyria won’t save us.  We will not ride horses, nor look to the work of our hands as our god.  For in You the orphan finds mercy.”  And God responds.  “I will heal their apostasy.  I will love them freely.  For My anger has turned away from them” (Hos 14:1-4).  And comes the prophet’s conclusion.  “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things.  Whoever is discerning, let him know them.  For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them” (Hos 14:9).

What do I see in all of this?  To be sure, God’s people are not immune to being punished, and most severely, for their rejection of His ways.  We cannot claim to be His and yet go our own way.  We cannot continue in sin, who have, through Him, been made dead to sin.  May it never be! (Ro 6:2).  And yet, we know all too well that whatever strength our spirit may have gained in Him, yet the flesh is weak.  Like Paul, like the patriarchs, like all who have ever come to Christ at His call, we come to recognize that there is war within us, as flesh and spirit pursue their disparate ends.  “I don’t understand my own actions.  What I practice is not what I would like to do, and too often, I do the very things I hate.  But in this, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.  I must conclude that it is no longer I doing this thing, but sin which indwells me.  I know that nothing good dwells in my flesh, for the wishing to do good is present in me, but the doing is not… There is a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind, making me prisoner of the law of sin in my members.  What a mess!  Who will set me free from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So on one hand, my mind serves the law of God, but on the other, my flesh serves the law of sin” (Ro 7:15-25).

It’s a dilemma.  And it’s a dilemma I do not see resolving until such time as we are resurrected and standing before the Lord as He sits upon His throne in the heavens.  Then, this body of flesh will have been left behind, and the resurrection body will be our eternal abode as we take our place in His heavenly temple.  How does that play out against the message of the prophet which we have pursued?  Well, at minimum, we must recognize the call to repent of those fleshly deeds, to not give up the fight.  We must seek to improve that which has been renewed in us, and to make subject that which has not.  We must recognize that if our habit has been to excuse the flesh, then discipline must come.  And that, for all its ferocity, is what I see transpiring in Hosea.  If that discipline proves final, it is only because the one thus disciplined has proven to be no child of God, regardless any apparent heritage.  His stone is not found in that breastpiece, though he names himself among the tribes.  This is not citizen of the heavenly kingdom, and so, must be purged from its lands.

But for those who have stumbled in the snares of their like?  There, it is a different story.  Trials may come.  Tribulations may threaten to overwhelm.  But hope is not cut off.  The punishment is not downpayment on final sentence, but rather a discipline come to restore.  If, then, there is judgment in the house – and it seems clear that there is – it comes in order that those who are of the house may shift course and get back on the Way.  It is not a cutting off, but rather, the Shepherd guiding His flock.

A Distinction Made (02/20/23-02/22/23)

Okay, I have a lot of ground to cover in this section, and I cannot bear the thought of subdividing still further, so here we go.  I will begin by returning to that message of our Lord as regards His separating of the sheep from the goats (Mt 25:31-46).  Immediately, even in the notice that there are sheep and goats to be separated, we are given to understand that a distinction is being made.  And we recognize that there is rather a significant difference in how those two groups are going to experience that day.  I have already looked at this passage as regards the essence of this judgment, and seen how it depicts not so much the assessment and decision as it does the sentencing phase.  That is to say, the judgment was already determined.  The court had already decided.  Here, I am more interested in looking at that sentencing.

To those on the right, the sheep, Jesus, the Judge, declares, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father!  Come and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”   Again:  This had long since been determined.  But it had already been determined for the sheep.  It occurs to me that in pretty much any court case you would care to consider there is one party that comes out as vindicated and the other as guilty.  No, I suppose that is not entirely true.  There are occasions where the accused party is indeed vindicated without there being guilt implied upon the accusing party.  And here, I think we must find the aggrieved party is in every case the Lord Himself.  He, most assuredly, is not going to be found guilty.  But my point is simply that coming before the court, while likely to be cause for emotional stress, need not be counted a terror for every defendant.  The court is only a terror for the guilty.  For those who have done no wrong, those for whom the accusations are found meritless, this trial may be found a cause of rejoicing when all is said and done.  The accused has been found not guilty.  The charges have been dropped, and you are free to go!  What relief comes upon the defendant.  How joyously he goes forth from that court.

And here, we are seeing something far grander than merely a dropping of the charges.  Here there is an inheritance involved.  Here there is citizenship in the heavenly kingdom, a place prepared for the defendant from the very outset.  This is not unavoidable fate, but it is every bit as certain.  God, Who knows the end from the beginning, declared from the beginning that this one was going to make it.  A place has been prepared for Him, and God is not one to prepare unnecessarily, nor to be disappointed in His expectations.  For His expectations are certainties, and in Him, our hopes are likewise certainties.

But then we come to the goats.  For them, the scene is much different, the sentence much darker.  “Depart from Me, accursed ones!  Off with you into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”  In short, you chose your team.  Go join them.

Now, I have already considered the aspect of surprise for both parties, the relative unawareness of those actions which have led to such an outcome.  I do think this is highly significant for our understanding and our approach to life in the interim.  It’s not those conscientious exertions done in hope of godly approval that earn His praise.  I might put on my Calvinist hat and say it’s not the works at all.  It’s not.  It’s the faith which has come to bear on that life, leading to character reflective of our God, such character as does what is pleasing to Him, as it were, by nature.  These were not efforts at gaining approval, simply the innate doing of what is right.  They didn’t require a program.  They didn’t require signs from on high saying, “Here is the way, go you in it.”  They were the now normal expression of the new man, a new man rebirthed by grace.  For who ever had a hand in his own birth?  Natural birth is a thing effectively forced upon the newborn.  Or to put it in more positive terms, it is a gift of life given that newborn.  So, too, the spiritual rebirth.  It is something irresistibly gifted to the reborn, inevitable in its outcome, and happily so.

Now, I think it is important for us to recognize that while this teaching from Jesus may have turned the thinking of many on its head, it did not come as reversing the declarations of Scripture from of old.  How could it?  Not one jot or tittle, says our Lord, will pass away.  God’s Word, being the expression of God’s Truth, is as unchanging as is He.  But we, in our fallen and limited thinking, are ever inclined to misunderstand, to twist the Truth into a shape more to our liking.  We need reformation from time to time, to shed those misconceptions we have latched onto and come back to the pure, sustaining power of the Truth.

This morning, as it happens, Table Talk turned my attention to a passage from Ezekiel which has long been among those that shape my understanding, but  which I had not thought of in regard to this question of the Last Day.  But as it has come about, it hits exactly at the right time for this matter of distinction made.  I will not hit it at length, but it’s worth the read.  In Ezekiel 18, God, through the prophet, undertakes to correct His people.  They had this proverb.  “The fathers eat sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge.”  They were of the opinion that for the child, outcomes were a foregone conclusion.  There was no escaping the traits of one’s parents.  Others have expressed similar ideas through the years.  “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”  And I do think we can make a reasonable case that parental example does in fact play heavily on the character of the child.  Heavily, but not inescapably.

So, that text takes great pains to make it clear.  Be the father ever so righteous, if his son is determined to pursue a sinful life, that son will obtain a sinner’s reward.  The father will not be punished as if the failure was his.  The son will not be rewarded as if righteousness were some transferrable inheritance.  Likewise, if that son’s son returns to a righteous path, rejecting the way of his father, he, too, will have a righteous man’s reward.  He does not bear his father’s guilt, nor does his righteous outcome offer any exculpatory evidence for the father’s case.  The whole is rather summed up in  this.  “The person who sins will die.  The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity.  The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself” (Eze 18:18).  This, it seems to me, puts paid to that stubborn idea of generational curses.  Again, yes parental example may set one at significant disadvantage, as well as advantage.  But this is no excuse, no guarantee.  You remain as you were, a moral agent, possessed of the power of choice, and informed by the very world around you that there is a God.  Your decisions are on you, and no attempt to blame them on another, whether parent, or devil, or God Himself, will succeed in lessoning your guilt.

And so, that lengthy observation of our Lord concludes as it must, with a call to repentance.  “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies.  Therefore, repent and live” (Eze 18:32).  And again, given all that we see of the Last Day, I must find that Scripture is very clear that while God has no pleasure in such an outcome, yet such an outcome will come to pass for many.  Otherwise, the parable of the sheep and the goats is but a fairy tale worked up to scare children straight.  Otherwise, entire swathes of Scripture must be accounted false.  And that, I assure you, is not the case.  Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, “That Thou might be justified in Thy words, and might prevail when Thou art judged” (Ro 3:4).

Okay.  While we are here in the Old Testament, let us consider another portion, this from the Writings, in the words given to Asaph.  “The Mighty One, God the LORD, has spoken.  He has summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.  Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth” (Ps 50:1-2).  Whatever Asaph may have thought, I dare say Zion is something far grander than the earthly Jerusalem.  Something far more beautiful in its perfection.  Perfection, after all, belongs not to this present order, but to the heavenly kingdom.  But Asaph is painting a scene, a scene of universal judgment.  “He summons the heavens above, and the earth, to judge His people.”  He gathers His godly ones to Himself.  This concerns those who have made covenant with Him, who have offered sacrifices to Him.  “And the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge.”  And what is His assessment?  “I will testify against you.  I am God, your God.  Your offerings are fine, such as they are, but I don’t need them.  I own everything.  Every bird of the mountains, every creature in the fields:  They’re all mine.  What need have I for the bull taken from your herd, the goat from your flock?  Hear Me!  Offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving!  Pay your vows to the Most High.  Call on Me in the day of trouble, and I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me” (Ps 50:7-15).

Observe the flow of that.  He is testifying, He says, against His own, and yet, this is not judgment rendered so much as truth laid bare.  You’ve been doing these acts.  They’re all very nice.  Thank you, and all.  But they aren’t enough.  They were never the point.  You can’t just drop your offering in the plate come Sunday and figure you’ve done your bit and can get on with life, now.  No!  Thanksgiving is a constant offering.  Being true to your word is a constant offering.  Trusting in God rather than riches, strength, politics, or whatever other prop you have to hand, is a constant offering.  And with these, He is honored.

And then, the picture changes.  Attention turns to the wicked.  Okay, so perhaps we need to reassess the opening.  “He summons the heavens above, and the earth to judge His people.”  This is apparently not limited to those who constitute Israel, or Zion, the people who have covenanted with Him – more properly, those with whom He has made covenant.  It’s everybody.  Happily in the covenant, or unrepentantly outside that community, yet you are His people.  You are His by the very simple basis that He made you.  Yes, I know, we have pretty detailed understanding of conception, and means to bring that to pass where what we might call natural causes have failed to do so.  It changes nothing.  The spark of life remains His to give, and comes to pass as He determines, whatever means man may have applied to the task.

But to the ungodly:  “What right have you to tell of My statutes?  How dare you take My covenant in your mouth?  You hate discipline and throw My words aside.  You celebrate the thief and the adulterer.  You speak evil and deceit at all times.  You’ve been at it a long time, and I kept silent.  You thought I was just like you.  But no!  I will state the case against you in order, here before your eyes.  Hear this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, and there be one to deliver” (Ps 50:16-22).  And even in this, there remains a call to repentance!  Finality is not yet established, but it threatens. 

The Day of the Lord is near.  As I have observed.  It is always near.  And we know not the day or the hour.  The call, then, is to live right today, every day.  The call is to repent of your sins today.  And it is always today.  The time is always right to repent of sin and to pursue righteousness.  Do so not for fear, though if this notice puts sufficient fear into you as to move you to action, by all means act.  But know this God Who threatens in love, who threatens in hope.  Understand Him.  He takes no pleasure in any man’s death, vastly preferring that all would come to repentance.  And yet, He is also all wise and all knowing, and He knows full well that man, left to his moral agency, will more often than not choose death.

This is not the only place in which Jesus makes a division, a distinction amongst the peoples.  Elsewhere He speaks to crowds gathered in Jerusalem, saying, “I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.  And if anyone hears My sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, not receiving My sayings, has one who judges him:  The word I spoke.  That will judge him at the last day” (Jn 12:46-48).  There, too, is the determination in judgment.  You heard, but did not receive, did not heed.  God spoke to us in His Son, Who testifies that, “I speak just as the Father has told Me” (Jn 12:50), and you thought nothing of it.  You throw My word behind you, ignore it.  Clearly, then, this is not addressed to believers.  Yet, it is spoken to the sons of Israel.  Yes, and clearly, to be counted a son of Israel, to bear the mark of circumcision on your body, was insufficient.  I could say it this way.  Clearly, whatever faith may have belonged to your parents, who thus circumcised you, you do not possess it yourself.

I don’t for a moment think that Jesus was speaking to views on generational curses or inherited holiness in this case, although that was something of a societal norm of the day.  We are Jewish, of course we are to be saved.  We have the temple, of course God will protect us.  We needn’t concern ourselves with anything to do with obedience or true, heartfelt worship.  We need no relationship with Him.  He is our God, and that’s that.  Be careful!  We can easily slip into a very similar mindset.  You hear it often in regard to America, that shining city on a hill.  God took such pains to see us planted, He would never abandon us.  But He hasn’t.  We, on the other hand, have been doing quite a job of abandoning Him, even amongst those who seek to retain some claim to His name.  It’s not about what you call yourself.  It’s not about the associations you claim.  It’s about the reality of the thing.  If you are a people of faith, is your faith truly in God?  Or is it in some vain imagination that you have set up in His place?  If you believe in Him as you say, how is it that you not only pursue things that are entirely opposed to His clearly declared Way, but rejoice with and encourage those who do the same?

This is the message we need to take away.  Many who call themselves Christian are not.  Many who think themselves Christian are not.  Many use the term but have no real understanding of the meaning.  Many have simply set up their own system of beliefs, perhaps borrowed a passage or two to support themselves, and gone their merry way, believing about as effectively as the devil.  And even we who are truly of the elect are not immune to such thinking.  We must ever be ready to hear the corrective voice of our Lord and shift accordingly.  I feel that particularly, as I pursue this study, for I am keenly aware that there are certain understandings I would prefer to be right.  But I’m not here to reinforce my preferences.  I am here to hear what my Lord has actually said, and to receive it as it was actually meant.

All that having been said, when I turn my attention to that most famous of verses, John 3:16, I have to say I see much more even yet to be glad of in that passage.  We know the beginning of it well enough, most likely, to recite it without bothering to read.  God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever should believe in Him might not perish, but have eternal life.  Let’s see how close I got.  Ah, forgot ‘begotten’.  Not bad, though.  And then, there is something of an echo of that other passage I just looked at.  “God didn’t send the Son to judge the world, but to save it through Him.”  I say an echo, but there is the likelihood that this is the earlier declaration.  I say likelihood, for we must remain aware that the Gospels are not chronologies, but histories of the old form.  That Jesus truly spoke this message is not a matter for doubt, but where exactly it fell in the period of His ministry is something of an open question.  It does seem relatively early, coming as He speaks with Nicodemus, but how early or how late, we don’t rightly know.  For all that, I’m not entirely certain we can say we know the setting.  As the narrative flows, we are still up north in Galilee, and it would seem very early on, at the outset of ministry.  Yet, Nicodemus is of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body in Jerusalem.  Perhaps he came north to investigate this new sensation.  But then again, perhaps John has transplanted the encounter to reinforce his message.  Can’t really say.

But let us continue, as Jesus continues.  And this, really is the central message I wish to take into consideration here.  “He who believes in Him is not judged.  He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  This is the judgment:  Light is come into the world, and men preferred their darkness, for their deeds were evil.” (Jn 3:18-19).  Hear that again:  He who believes is not judged, and he who doesn’t is already judged.  Here, it seems to me, we are very much considering the assessment, the weighing of evidence.  There are a few ways we could hear this, I suppose.  We could hear Jesus as saying that their inability to receive this light is already an expression of punishment.  But that feels off to me.  That would seem, on the face of it unjust, although I think we could readily make a case for it being entirely just.  We, after all, are sinners from conception, let alone birth.  But here, such a reading would seem to imply an inability to repent, a lack of moral agency imposed before ever the opportunity arises.  And that is, I should have to say, unthinkable.  Rather, it seems to me what we have is a presenting of the evidence for the verdict.  Just look!  God has sent His only begotten Son, the living Light, and rather than be drawn to this One who alone can save you, you’ve run from Him, fled back to your darkness, lest your deeds be exposed.

And we have that first part.  “He who believes in Him is not judged.”  The term is krino, and at least in most common usage, it includes not only trial, but condemnation and punishment.  It is not required that it be understood so.  It can have the sense of approval and esteem.  But that is clearly not the idea here.  That would turn the whole passage on its head.  It’s pretty clearly a determination against, in this case.  Neither is this looking to an occasion of making such determination.  It has already been made.  But here is explanation given for the decision, as concerns the unbeliever.  For the believer, no such judgment is rendered, because, well, they have believed.  They have come to the light, allowed their sins to be exposed, and thus to be cleansed from them.  They have admitted guilt, confessed their sins, and sought with earnest heart to repent of those wicked ways.  “He who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (Jn 3:21).  Now, obviously, that is not suggesting that for the believer, even his sins are wrought in God.  Far from it!  But it indicates a distinction.  Repentance has become reality.  There is a newness of life in such a one, new practices that need not cringe away from the Light of God, but rather encourage us to draw near to Him.

This is, then, Jesus speaking, and He speaks of a hugely significant distinction, and of that distinction having already been made.  Believers are not condemned.  Unbelievers are.  We aren’t at sentencing stage.  There may be nothing of note in the passing of their days to suggest any such determination.  The wicked oft times seem to prosper and the righteous to suffer.  But this is not the end of it, and the balance of Justice shall indeed be found true in the Last Day.

And here, I would just note that this particular phrase, ‘the Last Day’, is something unique to John’s Gospel.  It arises nowhere else that I can find.  That last day, is more clearly in view, I think, with the John 12 passage.  Here is the sentencing phase.  Here is the final outcome.  Here is how things stand when, as the song says, it’s all been said and done.  But again, I come away with the strong impression that the determinations have long since been made.  This last day is the conclusion, not the start.

It’s a distinction we find made repeatedly in Scripture, and it didn’t begin with the ministry of Jesus.  David saw it, or whoever authored the first Psalm.  The blessed man doesn’t follow the ways of sinners, but delights in God’s Law.  He is ever mindful of it, ever considering how it directs him, and he will be like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in season, and leaves not withering.  “In whatever he does, he prospers” (Ps 1:1-3).  Okay, so right off, let’s be settled in this:  The psalmist is not promoting some prosperity gospel.  Neither is he giving this blessed man carte blanche to do as he pleases.  Whatever he does, being as he shapes his course by the law of God, will be godly.  If he veers off into sinful pursuits, then frankly, these words no longer apply to his case, as he has failed of the first clause, walking in the counsel of the wicked and standing in the path of sinners.

But comes the distinction.  The wicked will not stand in the judgment.  They will not remain at the end.   They are like chaff, blown away by the wind.  They will not be found amongst the assembly of the righteous.  “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish” (Ps 1:4-6).  He knows, yada’.  He has observed the righteous, and recognizes, acknowledges their acquaintance with His ways.  The wicked, however, perish, ‘abad.  They wander away lost, and will, in the end, be destroyed, and I think we must recognize, be destroyed utterly.  God cannot, will not tolerate the presence of wickedness before Him.  Surely, in His kingdom there is no place for the like, and He will not have it.  We can wonder at the recognition that Satan was, at least at one time, able to come before Him and seek permit to go test this person or that.  We can wonder, for all that, how such perfect holiness can take up residence in the likes of us.  But we cannot posit a kingdom of heaven that leaves space for wickedness.  It cannot be.

Paul turns the eyes of all rather forcibly upon this day of God’s judgment.  The opening chapters of Romans are a rather thorough inditement of all mankind.  We are all of us without excuse, and stand accused – rightly so – by the evidence of our lives.  Even you who judge practice the very things you condemn in judgment (Ro 2:1-11).  And you know it is right for God’s judgment to come upon all who do such things.  Oh dear.  You know.  You pronounce the verdict yourself, and in so doing, you declare your guilt.  He continues.  Do you think so little of God’s kind forbearance, of His patience?  Don’t you recognize that it is His kindness that urges you to repent?  But you are stubborn and unrepenting, and as such, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.  He will render to every man according to his deeds.

I am caught by that phrase; ‘the day of wrath and revelation’.  It leads me to ask whether that final clause, ‘of the righteous judgment of God’ points back to revelation or more to the day.  That is to say it is the day of God’s judgment.  That much seems clear enough, but is His judgment a revelation, or is revelation an outcome of judgment, as is wrath?  Look!  “To those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life results.  But to those who are selfishly ambitious, disobey the truth, and obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation” (Ro 2:7-9).  “Not the hearers of the Law, but the doers will be justified” (Ro 2:13).  There is, then, a revealing of the justness of action, of the righteous motive that drove the believer.  This is a revelation, for we are not given such insight as is needful to weigh motive.  We try, but we cannot see the heart, only its outward manifestation.  God, on the other hand?  He can see.  And as such, His judgments are true.

So, we must weigh this evidence of Scripture carefully.  We have distinction made, and we have assessment already completed beforehand, and yet we also have clear declarations such as this.  “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to be recompensed for our deeds in the body, whether for good or ill” (2Co 5:10).  “Each man’s work will be evident.  The day will show it, revealed by fire, tested by fire” (1Co 3:13).  There again is that revelatory nature of this day.  But again, I would have to insist that the determination is from long ages ago.  Only, in this life, it was not always clear to us who was sheep, and who a goat.  We can mistake tares for wheat, and I must suppose we can just as readily miscategorize wheat as being tares.  Our discernment simply isn’t there.  We see the outward act, and we assess by the outward act, but the outward act may not in fact represent the inward urge.  The appearance of obedience may mask a heart dead set on going the other way.  And for all that, our assessment of sinfulness may well misunderstand the real situation.  How often have we thought ourselves sinned against only to discover the wholly innocent intentions of that one we thought had wronged us?

Let’s look a bit more at Paul’s assessment here, that the day of our Lord’s assay will be as by fire.  This, we should note, comes amidst a call to be of good courage, and of good courage particularly in the understanding that this life is short.  We are of good courage, he says, because we recognize that so long as we remain in this body we are absent from the Lord, walking by faith not sight.  We would be pleased were it the other way round, were we absent from this body and at home with Him, but thus far, it is not so.  So we make it our ambition to be pleasing to Him while we are here, that it may be pleasing to Him to have us there (2Co 5:6-9).  That’s the lead-in.  And then comes the news that we shall all appear for assessment, whether our deeds in the flesh have been good or bad.

But I see I have backed up to the wrong verse.  I had meant to return to 1Co 3:13, which is rather a different context.  There, we have seen the foundation laid, which is Jesus Christ, and we see that having this foundation, what gets built upon that foundation is on us.  “Let each man be careful how he builds” (1Co 3:10).  There can be no other foundation, and whatever it is you build upon it will be revealed with fire, tested by fire.  If what is built remains, there is reward.  If what is built is burned up, there shall be loss.  But there is this note of consolation:  Regardless, he shall be saved, yet so as through fire (1Co 3:13-14).  That’s a curious note, and some would no doubt try and make it an argument for universal salvation, but that cannot be the case.  The foundation having been laid, we must assume those in view are in fact believers, living stones in the temple of our God, and it is to that image that Paul directs attention immediately.  “Don’t you know that you are a temple of God?   Don’t you know that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1Co 3:16).  But we are not here to study that book, rather, to consider this day of judgment, of assessment.

As to the question of some universal salvation, I think we have already put paid to any such idea, but just in case, let us consider the next passage I had set aside here, coming from the prophet Zechariah.  The picture he paints, at least in the immediate context of chapter 13 of his book, is dark.  Prophets will be ashamed to be known as such, refusing the label.  And we come to this, which is as startling now as it must have been then.  “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man, My Associate.  Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones” (Zech 13:7).  What?  What?  Where is the merciful, loving Father God?  This is horrible!  He calls for the death of His own Son, and threatens the little innocents!  How can this be?  Well, as to His own Son, we come to understand that this was a necessary step in our own rescue.  But the little innocents?  What is going on here?  Well, what is going on is a culling of sorts.

“It will come about in all that land, that two parts in three will be cut off and perish.  But the third will be left in it, and I will bring that third part through the fire, refining them like sliver, testing them like gold.  They will call on My name, and I will answer them.  I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God’” (Zech 13:8-9).  Chapter 14 turns more directly to events of the day of  the Lord, a day of battle, with Jerusalem itself captured, and yet… And yet!  Though the city is half in exile, “Then the LORD will go forth and fight.  His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives in front of Jerusalem on the east.  That mount will be split east to west, and you will flee by the valley thus formed.  Oh yes, you will flee as you did when the earthquake hit in Uzziah’s day.  Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!” (Zech 14:1-5).  And with that, we’re back to that day of darkened skies.  “For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but in the evening there will be light.  And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, and the LORD will be king over all the earth, the only king” (Zech 14:6-9).

My goodness!  But I am looking at distinctions, and in some degree, looking forward (as concerns the flow of this study) to the question of how this plays out for the elect.  There is a remnant.  There is ever a remnant, for God will not leave Himself without a testimony.  And in all fairness, a third is fairly large as remnants go.  But what is interesting is that this remnant does not escape the trial.  Rather it is preserved and even purified through the trial.  “I will bring them through, tested and refined.”  That sounds pretty horrible.  The crucible is not a comfortable place to be.  Yet the result is pretty wonderful, isn’t it?  And could it not be said that after its fashion, the whole of this redeemed life has been spent in that very crucible?  Are we not in the process of refining, as our Lord purifies us from our sinful ways?  We have been renewed in spirit, to be sure, but it has not been some instant transforming into one of perfect holiness of habit, has it?  Thus far, it hasn’t even been a slow transforming to such state.  But we feel that He is making progress in the process.  The crucible is slowly burning off the dross, and it is being scraped off the surface of us to leave the pure ore of righteousness unsullied.

I don’t know that this experience ameliorates the impact of Zechariah’s vision.  I don’t know if we should account this present situation as that time of trial and tribulation, but I can certainly see an argument for it.  Unless that time had been cut short, He said, no life would have been saved (Mt 24:22).  I don’t know.  Perhaps it’s wishful thinking on my part, but we do see that the lifespan of man has been shortened from its original, and it may very well be that more than a punishment for sin, this has come as an act of mercy, lest our sins outstrip all hope of redemption.  As so often happens, Hezekiah comes to mind, with his desire to extend life past the point God had indicated.  Sadly, it seems to me, he got his desire.  God granted him an extension.  But that extension proved to be pretty much the undoing of all the good he had achieved to that point.  Sad the man to whom God says, “Have it your way.”

One more, and perhaps I can bring this portion of my exercise to a close.  I turn to the penultimate Psalm, Psalm 149.  It is a shout of praise unto God, a call to sing a new song to our LORD., to praise His name with unrestrained exuberance.  “For the LORD takes pleasure in His people, and will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.”  Well, that is certainly cause for rejoicing!  And the call comes.  “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishment on the peoples; to bind their kings in chains and their nobles in fetters; to execute on them the judgment written.  This is an honor for all His godly ones” (Ps 149:6-9).

Observe.  They have been afflicted, but they receive salvation.  They have been wronged, but they shall become the executioners of God’s justice.  Observe as well that they are not the ones rendering judgment.  That judgment has been rendered and written.  They have their orders.  And they go forth with the praise of God in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in hand.  There’s an image we don’t see all that often in Scripture.  And the most familiar point of reference is bound to be Hebrews 4:12 – The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  But I don’t know that we can equate these two.  For there, the message is of making judgment, not executing sentence.  But perhaps.  And we know it is our Jesus Himself who has the sharp two-edged sword (Rev 1:16, Rev 2:12).  It is His to judge.

What is most intriguing in that Psalm is our role as prosecutors of His judgment.  I’m not sure exactly how that fits, or where.  I’m also not all that sure I really like the idea, not that it matters a great deal whether I do or not.  It’s His call, not mine.  But consider the scene.  There will most assuredly be those even in our own family who will come under judgment.  And we know too well the commandment, another disturbing aspect of this faith of ours.  “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Mt 10:37).  We have the example of Aaron; one I turn to often.  His own sons were put to death for their abuse of office, for taking it upon themselves to offer unauthorized offerings before God.  And they were struck dead for the offense.  And what of their father?  He was strictly instructed that he should not mourn.  They would be mourned.  God would see to that.  But he could not be the one to mourn even his own sons, when they were felled to glorify God and proclaim God’s Justice and Holiness.

As we go forth, then, in keeping with this Psalm, are we not likely to find ourselves in similar circumstance, called to execute and even celebrate God’s fierce wrath, even should it necessarily fall upon our own nearest kin?  Many of us know the concern and sorrow of a child who as, at least to date, refused to walk in the faith we have.  Many of us have known our parents’ passing and wondered after the state of their soul.  Were they saved?  We want to think so, certainly.  And we shall find many who will comfort us with assurances to that end.  And yet… We are not so sure as all that.  We want to be, but we are not.  We want to know our children saved and alive in Christ, but we are not in control of that outcome.  We have done our part, however well or however poorly, but the end result is really on them, more properly, on Him.  If He has determined their salvation, they shall be saved, even if it must be in spite of our failings.  If He has determined their perishing, they shall perish, even in spite of our most strident and oft-repeated prayers on their behalf.  And should that turn out to be the case, and if we are called to ride forth in the execution of God’s perfectly Just and Righteous decision, still we must do so with the high praises of God in our mouths.  And I dare say, if it must be so, He shall in fact make it so.  We shall in fact be so absolutely absorbed with the glory of His immediate and full presence with us as to know every lesser love utterly swamped by our devotion to this most glorious God.  It’s hard, even painful, to contemplate from this earthly perspective.  But however it is that this all plays out, I think we must recognize that we, having been renewed in body and forcefully snatched from this existence to join Him in the air, will see things very much differently in that day.  For we shall all be changed, in the twinkling of an eye.  And we shall all behold Him as He truly is.  What shall be left but to sing to the LORD a new song, to praise Him endlessly in unbounded joy?

Lord, these are hard things to contemplate, and hard to understand.  It is difficult for us to get our earthbound perspectives out of the way well enough to see Your purpose and to appreciate Your wisdom.  There are aspects we would wish were otherwise, and as You have made clear, You Yourself would have preferred they could be otherwise.  But You have made us as You have made us.  You have given us at least so free a will as to make our own decisions and to bear the consequences of them.  Yet, You have so graciously provided for the salvation of some, of many.  Not of all, no, but of many.  And You shall be glorified.  You shall be glorified in our salvation and perseverance, however it is that these come to their conclusion.  You shall be glorified in that perfect Justice is upheld perfectly, and those who have seemingly gotten away with murder in this life will find themselves brought to true justice at last.  It is wonderful and yet it is dreadful.  It is a time for rejoicing and yet, how can we look upon it without sorrow for those who perish?  There is no place here for celebrating the defeat of our enemies.  We may go forth with high praises in our mouths, and every tear washed away.  But I cannot help but think there will yet be a place for sorrow that it must be so.

I want to end this portion by once more begging of You that if my own preferences and imaginings are distorting the picture You have set before me, You would clear my eyes and my thoughts to see clearly what it is that You have declared, what it is that You have told us.  And may I see clearly how I should pursue my days, and seeing, may I find strength in You to do according to what I have seen.  May I remain mindful that however it is that this all falls out, it is an honor for all Your godly ones.  And may I be found ready to praise Your Name, and already doing so.  Amen.