Delivered from the Fear of Judgement, Part IV

Delivered from the Fear of Judgement

God, being the unquestionable supreme Lord of the heavens and earth has jurisdiction over the world as indeed all creation and inherent power to seat as judge over it. This power he naturally acquired since he created all of it by his power.

This also presupposes that prior to judgement and its execution, he must have set boundaries of interaction among the member species that inhabit creation. This is in exercise of his legislative powers as creator who determines the purpose of his creation and defines their limits.

The Bible teaches and we believe that God created the world and everything in it.

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Psalms 100:3
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people , and the sheep of his pasture.

Not only is God (the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) the creator, this role confers on him legislative power to guide its operations. The clearest demonstration of this power is in Genesis 2:15-17 where God commanded the limit of mankind, restricting access to the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Psalm 115:15-16
Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

Deuteronomy 32:7-8
Remember the days of old , consider the years of many generations : ask thy father , and he will shew thee; thy elders , and they will tell thee. When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

Daniel 4:17
This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Acts 17:24-28

The God role also gives him exclusive judicial power to judge those who contravene his set order perfectly complementing his legislative power. The one who has power to create must possess power to set boundaries and punish contraventions. Don't you think so?

These powers of the invisible Most High God is manifestly seen in his Son Jesus Christ. Whether it be the creative power, legislative or judicial, all is visible only in the Son of God.
Creative power - John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-19, Hebrews 1:1-3, 10
Legislative power -
Judicial power - John 5:21-30, Acts 10:42, 17:31, Romans 2:12&16, 1 Corinthians 5:12-13, Hebrews 12:23

2 Timothy 4:1
I charge thee therefore before God , and the Lord Jesus Christ , who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

Hebrews 12:23
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

The focus of this lesson is the exercise of God's judicial power, to judge at a set date in the very near future those who broke his will. This power to judge exercised in his Son who has made an appearance, the first time not to judge the world but to save it from God's righteous judgement - John 3:17, 12:44-50, Luke 9:56, but will appear a second time, this time to bring judgement on disbelievers. 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9

This righteous judgement has been announced. We know what it is. Death!
Death is the wages of sin.
Sin is contravention of God's set order.
The soul that sin shall die!

Apart from the knowledge of this offered in religion, that people die is the most significant indication of judgement. Natural death (a state in which the breathe of God is taken from man and ceases to be a living being) is a pointer to eternal death, a state of perpetual separation from God without any hope of redemption.
People who die naturally on earth and does not have their names written in (or rather their names are blotted out of) the Son of God's book of life, will be subject to second death.

Why would their names be blotted out of the Lamb's book of life? Because they did not do the Father's will.

What is the Father's will? To believe in His Son, Jesus Christ whom he sent.
John 6:28-29
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

This offer of salvation by Jesus Christ grants eternal life to those who believes but the offer itself as I often say is not eternal. The offer lapse some day.

He offers everyone a certain shot at eternal life not needing any effort from the recipient other than to believe the message he brought, that if you repent turning away from satan and darkness towards the Lord to put your trust in Jesus the Son of God, whom is approved of God through His death, burial and especially resurrection, he will give you His Holy Spirit, a foolproof your inadequacies are forgiven, and in fact, taken away, leaving you with power to lead life under the will of God.

If you subscribe to this message, you are born again and saved from the judgement of the ungodly to come. Jesus is the one authorized by God the Father to execute this judgment on the world. It would however profit you to know that there are precedents of God's judgement on global, national, city and personal scale.
The global flood of Noah's era. Genesis 6-8, Hebrews 11:7, 2 Peter 2:4-5
The destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha. Genesis 18:16-33, 19:1-29, 2 Peter 2:6-8
The destruction of Ninevah. Jonah 1:1-3, 3:1-4, 5-10 ( Ninevah repented), 4:1-4, Nahum 2:8, 3:7, Zechariah 2:13
The death of Belshazzar. Daniel 5:1-30

While the world ought to panic at the severity of what is to come and justifiably so as the Bible teaches us (Romans 2:4-5, we as believers have confidence in the day of judgement because there is nothing to worry about. Of course, the judge is ours, he is for us and we are for him. He paid the price of our redemption and we believe him. Hebrews 9:27-28, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 1 John 3:2.

Hebrews 9:27-28
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

This confidence is unique to Christianity. There is no other way in this world that offers the certainty of your status in the afterlife. For others, you will have to wait till then to find out. What if you realize at the gate of eternity that you were wrong? Can you retrace your steps? You confine yourself to an eternal future in hell for refusing the goodness of God that cost you nothing!

For the unbelieving, as long as you have life, the choice is yours. Unfortunately, we are not able to determine how long we live. So, every day of indecision is a risk you are willing to take on your eternity. Too much of a risk I would say though.

For those of us in Christ, our heart of full of thankfulness to God for his indescribable gift.