[Pastor Jim in Kentucky shares this serious reminder]
“There’s a man goin’ ’round takin’ names. An’ he decides who to free and who
to blame. Everybody won’t be treated all the same. There’ll be a golden
ladder reaching down, when the man comes around. “—Johnny Cash
“Jesus would never judge anyone!” = 95% of Americans [Gallup Poll]
Every now and then I enjoy watching a program called Mythbusters on the
Discovery Channel. The show involves a team of ‘experts’ tackling various
‘myths’ or ‘urban legends’ through scientific study—usually by blowing
something up. As theologians we sometimes have to be involved in
mythbusting. One I’d like to blow up today is the good old myth that to be
like Jesus means being nonjudgmental. We all know that, right? If someone
judges something to be sin, if we question another believer, we are being
judgmental and hence, by definition, not at all like Jesus. Because we all
know that Jesus wouldn’t judge anyone.
In point of fact, Jesus will judge EVERYONE. Not a single person will be
exempt from the burning eye of the Lord Jesus. Wow! How did we miss that
one? We’re not off by one or two, but by billions.
Jesus told his disciples in John 5:22, “For the Father judges no one, but
has committed all judgment to the Son.”
In Matthew 25 Jesus speaks of Himself as sitting on His throne of Judgment
gathering all the nations before Him. He speaks of passing eternal
damnation on some and rewarding others with eternal life. When Peter
preached to Cornelius in Acts 10 he said that Jesus was “ordained by God to
be Judge of the living and the dead.”
How did we miss that?
The thought of Jesus as the all seeing Judge was popular preaching in a past
generation. It is particularly offensive and politically incorrect to make
such a reference to Jesus today. But this Jesus is the Jesus that sinners
will face. They need to be confronted by their accountability to Him. It
is only as we preach and uphold this Jesus, the real Jesus, that sinners
will see their need of Him. Bless God, for myriads upon myriads from every
tongue, tribe, people, and nation, Jesus will say, Not guilty!
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
“Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!”