Judgement
When we look at this subject, it is certainly covering a very wide arena, but let us explore a wee bit. Here is a Poem that was written a fair while ago, but it is still well worth pondering consideration once more;
“God lives a sheltered life”
“At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God’s throne. Some of the groups near the front talked heatedly – not with cringing shame before God’s throne, but with embittered belligerence.
“How can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?” snapped a brunette, jerking back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp.” “We endured terror, beatings, torture, and death!”
In another group, a black man lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing the rope burns. “Lynched for no crime but being black! We’ve suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones, and toiled ’til only death gave release.”
Hundreds of such groups were visible across the plain. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in His world. How lucky God was, they all seemed to agree, to able to live in heaven where all is sweetness and light, without weeping, fear hunger or hatred. Indeed, what does God know about man? What does He know about being forced to endure the trials of life? After all, God leads pretty sheltered life.
So each group sent out a leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. There was a Jew, a black, an untouchable from India, a person who was illegitimate, a person from Hiroshima and others who had tasted life’s bitterest dregs. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather simple: Before God would be qualified to be their judge; He must endure what they had endured.
Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man. But because He was God, they set certain safeguards to be sure He would not use His divine powers to help himself.
* Let Him be a Jew.
* Let the legitimacy of His birth be questioned.
* Let Him champion a cause so just, but so radical, it brings upon Him the hate, condemnation and destructive attacks of political and religious authorities.
* Let Him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge.
* Let Him see what it is to be terribly alone and completely abandoned by every living being.
* Let Him be tortured and … let Him die.
* And let His death be humiliating; let it take place beside common criminals, while He is jeered at, mocked, and spat on.
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throng of people. But suddenly, after the last one had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly, all recognized the stark reality; God had already served his sentence.” – Author unknown
2 Corinthians 5:19 “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” Matthew 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.” The way you treat your Spouse, Children, Family Members, Employers or Employees, just on anybody and everybody, you have just done that to God Himself, as well as to his son Jesus Christ. Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Matthew 7:2 “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” 1 John 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Matthew 12:37 “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
Proverbs 9:17-18 “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread [eaten] in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead [are] there; [and that] her guests [are] in the depths of hell.” The Philosopher once said; “What you eat today walks, talks and thinks tomorrow.” Romans 8:12-13 “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Quote; “Every passing hour of the present life is shaping our future life. These moments spent in carelessness, in self-pleasing, as if of no value, are deciding our everlasting destinies. The words we utter today will go on echoing when time shall be no more. The deeds done today are transferred to the books of heaven, just as the features are transferred by the artist onto the engraving plate. They will determine our destiny for eternity, for bliss or eternal loss and agonizing remorse. Character cannot be changed when Christ comes, nor just as a man is about to die. Character building must be done in this life. We fear that repentance will come to the self-indulgent, tainted soul all too late. A few resolves, a few tears, will never reverse a guilty past life nor blot out of the books of heaven the transgressions, the willful, knowing sins of those who have had the precious light of truth, and can explain the Scriptures to others, while sin and iniquity are drunk up like stolen waters. As though written with an iron pen, they may be found as lead in the rock forever. {TM 429}
You therefore Judge yourself, you are your own Judge, Jury and Executioner. Matthew 7:2 “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” God does not need to judge you; your life has already completed your judgement, for or against you.
Quote; “The thought should be ever present with us that we must meet the record of our lives, that we are building characters for eternity. The lines traced by our pens will be read when the hand that wrote them is lying idle in the grave. The influence of our words and acts will live, and will decide the destiny of souls. Angels of God are writing the history of our lives; let us be careful that the record is such as we shall not be ashamed to meet when the Judgment shall sit, and we shall receive according to the deeds done in the body. {RH, 17/6/1884} Your every idle word, is being carefully recorded, the record of your life is there in the Books of Heaven, they will come up in “Judgement” against you, your Character, Words, Deeds and Actions are your Judge, Jury and Executioner, so what is the “Verdict in your own Judgement?”
Hosea 13:9a “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;” ongoing sin, stubbornness and rejection of God and his pleading to repent of our sinful ways, will make this verse unfortunately becoming true. Hosea 4:17 “Ephraim [is] joined to idols: let him alone.” Reject God and he will reject you, God will honour and respect your wishes, and Matthew 12:37 “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” By your lifestyle and choices, we all judge ourselves, God just honors our decision, and the verdict is unto life or unto death, what are you choosing, and what is that Judgment? Hosea 13:9 “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me [is] thine help.” Matthew 19:17 “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 12:37 “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” So, God does not need to Judge You, you already have done the job for him, so what is your “Verdict?” Do you need to quickly change a few things right now to achieve a new verdict and a much better outcome?
