What is God Like ?- Part 6

Not only did God create the universe and everything in it, He is ruler and judge over all that He created. If you don’t believe this writer, believe scripture:

“Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25)

“The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the power of his anointed.” (1 Samuel 2:10)

“But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.” (Psalm 9:7-8)

“For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many.” (Isaiah 66:15-16)

God as Judge is not a very popular topic these days, but His righteous judgment is a theme that flows throughout Scripture, beginning with the judgment of Adam and Even and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), and culminating with the final  judgment of all mankind spoken of in Revelation 20. God judged the corrupt world of Noah’s day, sending a flood to destroy the earth (Gen 6-8). Later in Old testament, we have the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18-19).God judged the Egyptian taskmasters with a series of plagues (Exodus 7-12), the worshippers of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:26-35), those who who offered God ‘strange fire’ (Leviticus 10:1-3), and the nations of His chosen people for her unfaithfulness, sending them into captivity in Assyria (Israel) and Babylon (Judah).

While we don’t see God’s judgment demonstrated in the same way in the New Testament, we have this from the Apostle Paul:

“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10)

Another expression of God’s judgment in the New Testament comes from Jesus himself during his encounter with Nicodemus:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18)

Among the persons of the Trinity, the office of Judge is occupied by he Son, at the decree of the Father. (John 5:22) In Jesus’ words to some religious leaders of His day, we have the criteria by which men are judged for eternity – their belief or their unbelief.

Since God is creator, He has the authority to judge His creation. Because God represents all that is good, and right, and true, He is certainly qualified to judge that which is evil. Since God possesses perfect wisdom, He will always judge fairly and without error. Because God is the supreme authority, because He represents all that is good and right, and because He possesses perfect wisdom, He needs no jury.

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” He most certainly will! A more pertinent question is, are you ready to meet the Judge of all the earth? 

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To be continued. . .

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5