After that comes judgment

“ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world”

Genesis 50:19    But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?

Deuteronomy 32:35     Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’

Romans 12:19    Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Job 34:19-29     who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?  In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.  “For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.  There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.  For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.  He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place.  Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.  He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see,  because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways,  so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted—  When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?—

Hebrews 10:30     For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

Hebrews 9:27  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Ecclesiastes 11:9     Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Acts 17:31    because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

2 Corinthians 5:10    For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Matthew 25:31-41    “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

The easiest way to get through life without out worry of judgement from God is to deny God exists.  To do this one must look at all of creation and believe it happened by chance.  They must deny the complexity of the vast galaxies down to a single atom.  They must deny Jesus Christ existed and that His purpose on earth was to redeem mankind.  They must deny the love of God.  They must deny existence of angels and demons.  They must deny the written word of God and that it was given to mankind through men inspired and led by God.  The denial of God has eternal consequences.

Denial of God can take on many subtle forms.  Neglecting His word.  Not being intentional in living for Him.  Not seeking to be led by Him. Not desiring Him.  Not listening to Him.  Not placing Him first in all your thoughts, words, and actions.  Not allowing or acting on the conviction of the Holy Spirit to walk blameless before Him.

How can we humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow and obey God if our walk with Him is shallow, self centered, and with our eyes focused on what this world has to offer?  How can we grow in our walk with Him when we think we are good enough as we are and in need of no change or understanding of what it means to walk with and humbly serve God?

Judgement is coming, but it is not for the judgement of God we seek to do right and good, but rather because of who God is and His love for us.  Some children grow up with the fear of punishment from their parents and this keeps them from doing wrong.  Others fear getting caught and that keeps them from doing wrong.  Others do not do wrong so as not to disappoint their parents.  Yet these are all self serving reasons.  Oh how great the child who not only seeks not to do wrong but chooses to do good to bring honor their parents.

Commit to living intentionally to bring honor and glory to God rather than advert judgement.

3 He is coming

Psalms 98:9    for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

Psalms 96:10     Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”

Psalms 96:13     before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Revelation 1:7     Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen

Psalms 67:4     Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.

Acts 17:31     because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Romans 2:5-6    But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  He will render to each one according to his works:

He is coming.

He has fixed a day.

He will judge.

Every eye will see him.

He comes to judge the earth

God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

He will render to each one according to his works

Some will cry and wail at His coming for they have rejected Him and the light of salvation knowing they have chosen to live in darkness.  Others will be glad and sing for joy for they have heard His calling and have chosen to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey.  Our Holy Creator lives and is coming again to bring His chosen into eternal fellowship with Him.  He also is coming to exert His stored up wrath and anger on those who have rejected Him and His plan for salvation through faith in the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Judge with equity

Psalms 96:10  Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”

Psalms 46:10     “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Malachi 1:11     For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations,

Isaiah 49:8     Thus says the LORD: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages,

Hebrews 1:3    He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Acts 17:31     because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Romans 2:16     on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Jude 1:14-15     It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,  to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

2 Peter 3:7     But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Matthew 25:31-46     “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Being recognized and separated can be a good thing or bad thing.  A line up as it were. Scripture speaks of those who are separated and will be with Jesus Christ and those who will be judged and found convicted of rejecting redemption.  For those of us who are saved it is a glorious day when sin is fully put to rest at the final judgement and we are forevermore with Christ in His kingdom.  If you were the person able to give this gift of eternal life and someone accepted the gift, how would you expect that person to live out their time this side of eternity?  Give thought to this.  Give thought to this in light of scripture.  Give thought to this in light of the willing sacrifice Jesus gave on the Cross for our redemption.  Live humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying the author and finisher of life.

Times of Ignorance

“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”

“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Psalms 18:46
The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation

Jeremiah 10:10
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

Psalms 42:2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalms 84:2
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Daniel 6:26
I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.

Matthew 16:16
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Acts 14:15
“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

Hebrews 10:31
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Nahum 1:6
Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him

Revelation 20:11
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Malachi 3:2
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

God is the true God, living God, everlasting King who in times past has overlooked our ignorance but now has commanded all people to repent.  You don’t have to dig very far into science literature to see the concept “There is no God”.  Just because science smart people say there is no God does not mean it is fact or true.  I fear all of this talk has diluted many Christians to a very shallow faith for the simple reason of not wanting to seem uneducated. I can not see the wind but I can see the effects of it in the leaves moving on trees.  I can say there is wind because of the effects I see.  On this same thought I can see the earth and everything that has been created.  I can see stars in the sky.  Science has allowed us to see the formation of a baby in the womb.  Some say that all of this came from a big bag somehow and spend their entire lives searching for what they call the “God Particle”, the building block for all things seen and unseen.  Why is it so many are willing to believe that something like a “Big Bang” can come from nothing.  Doesn’t there have to be a “start.”  Something that created order in the universe.  To say this is not true and to even say those who believe in God are foolish is ignorance.  It is believing a lie.  God said He will no longer overlook ignorance and the time of repentance is now. Wisdom of this world will not find God.  A heart full of pride will never find God for their heart sees no need.  And yet God gives them opportunity after opportunity to humble themselves, repent, yield, trust and follow after Him. He gives many promises and warnings in His word, knocking at everyone heart’s door reaching out to give them true purpose and meaning in this life, plus life ever after with Him.  God is alive!  He will call everyone into account for what they have done and to those who have repented and follow Him, He gives the promise of eternal life.  To those who choose to neglect this promise of everlasting life – they will experience God’s wrath and forever be thrown into hell.  Look around at what has been created and know it was created by the one and only living God.  He is knocking at the door of every heart.  Open your heart, mind and soul to Him, repent, yield, trust and follow after Him.