There is a great day coming and it will be the most stupendous event in all history. So momentous is the day that it is sometimes referred to as just “that day”. I am referring, of course, to the day of judgment. That day will host the judgment of the world and it will be the greatest trial for any number of reasons. First, God will be the Judge, not a retired judge from the High Court. Second, all who have ever lived will be there. That will be quite a number since there are presently over seven billion living on the earth. Though the number on trial will be staggering, you will not be able to lose yourself in the masses – Christ will see you, hear you, and you will stand alone, not behind your mother’s apron. Third, the verdicts will be final with no appeals and they will stand for eternity. All of this makes so much sense, because the privilege of life demands an accounting.
It is described in different ways: separating good fish from bad (Matt.13:47-50); a king returning from a long journey to examine his servants (Matt.25:14-30); a shepherd dividing sheep from goats (Matt. 25:31-46); reapers gather wheat into barns and burning up chaff and weeds (Matt. 13:24-30). There was a time when many in the world paid attention to this but now judgment is an appointment many seem to forget. In 1927 Bertrand Russell observed Belief in eternal hell-fire was an essential item of Christian belief until pretty recent times. In 1954 he said Even highly religious people in the present day hardly expect to go to Hell for stealing. They reflect that they can repent in time, and that in any case Hell is neither so certain nor so hot as it used to be.
Students like grading “on the curve” – the highest mark gets 100% and the rest are adjusted accordingly. It actually means you lower the standard and all students get better grades than they deserve. A little while back a reporter interviewed a liberal clergyman about his thoughts on the Clinton/Lewinsky sexual relationship. He whitewashed what may have occurred and then made a statement to the effect that if God graded on the curve, the President would do just fine. But God is going to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31), and that verse says He will delegate judgment to Christ.
But this truth is taught many times in Scripture. ( Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1,8). It is to be noted that judgment will not be on the curve – the word that I have spoken will judge a man (John 12:48). In Matt. 5:20 Jesus said, except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not pass muster. Gal. 2:16 says man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Christ, and 2 Cor. 5:21 says He (God) has made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Heaven will be the home of those who have been justified, not by their self-righteousness, but the righteousness granted as a gift by God through Christ.
So what are we to make of the statements in 1 Cor. 6:2,3? Paul says that Christians will judge the world and angels! Two statements are not necessarily contradictory because they are different. For example the admonition in Matt. 7;1 to not judge does not conflict with John 7:24 which says judge righteous judgment. The information contained in both cases leads us to see that hypocritical judgment is being warned against. Heb. 12:23,24 describes God as the judge of all, but in delegating judgment to the Son He is still in control. Jesus, in turn, delegated judgment to the apostles (Matt.19:28) but it is important to understand how the apostles carry out this judgment. When the apostles revealed the New Testament, the things they bound will have been bound in heaven (Matt.16:19) and the things they wrote were the commandments of the Lord (1 Cor. 14:37). And so it is that a judgment scene in Rev. 20:12 contains the image of books being opened. Jesus’ words will judge us (John 12:48), but we only know them from the inspired pens of the apostles and prophets. Whilst the role of the apostles is clearly seen in the word they delivered, is there anything to the idea that Christ will delegate judgment to Christians?
There is nothing to support the idea that Christians will be sitting on judgment seats handing out verdicts to people of the world. 2 Cor. 5:10 declares that we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and, besides, who would feel comfortable and capable of judging the world? Maybe the scenario might have appealed when young and considered “cool”, but the gravity of eternal judgment is such that wiser heads shrink from the responsibility.
So what is it then? Consider Heb. 11:7 where Noah is said to have condemned the world. Condemned the world? Surely it condemned itself! Absolutely it did by its disobedience and Noah’s obedience exposed their culpability. In Acts 13:46 the people in Antioch were said to have judged themselves unworthy of eternal life by rejecting the Word of God. Luke 11:29-32 says the Queen of Sheba will judge the Jewish generation of Jesus’ day, as will the men of Nineveh. How? By her tenacity in seeking Solomon and by their obedience. This is how the christians will judge the world. To put it succinctly, Christians will judge the world by rendering every excuse invalid! What’s an excuse? – the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.
Mark Twain went to borrow an axe from a neighbour. The neighbour said, “No, I am going to use it now, and when I get through with it I am going to use it to eat soup with”. “You don’t eat soup with an axe”, said Twain. “Well when you don’t want to do something, one excuse is as good as another”. Sometimes it not a question of “don’t want to” – it’s a question of “I’d like to….but…”. During an engagement one of Wellington’s officers said of a certain stronghold “It cannot be taken”. “Cannot?!” replied the Iron Duke. Turning to the instructions he had given, he found that he had ordered it to be taken, and turning to his officers he said; “It can be taken for it is in my order book!” And it was taken. Often “cannot” means simply “cannot without an effort”, and the effort alone is wanting.
What excuses do you hear? Not one of these excuses will stand on judgment day (whereas they may appear weighty and watertight here and now):
“It’s too hard to believe!” There are few atheists, but many agnostics who sit on the fence with “we cannot tell”. God will point to Rom.1:20 where the very existence of the universe leaves man without excuse. He will point to 1 John 5:10 and the record of His Son He has provided. He will point to 1 Pet. 1:8 and the Christian who, without having seen Christ, believes and loves Him.
“It’s too hard to live right – sin is too powerful”. I remember reading of a Church of England minister who said, We cannot condemn fornication since so many of our young people are doing it! God may point to Heb.11:25 and the example of Moses who chose to suffer affliction in the wilderness rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Some might say that Moses didn’t live in our world where our affluence, mobility and technology make sin and opportunities to sin so pervasive. But God can point to a faithful 21st Century Christian and declare it is possible to love God more than sin.
Modern excuses are old excuses. Luke 14:16-24 records some: v.18 – who buys land without looking at it? v.19 – who buys a team of oxen without testing them? (or a car for that matter) v. 20 – was ever a man so hen-pecked? Today as well, people use family as an excuse (cf. Luke 14:26ff) Some allow the cares of this world to get in the road of following Christ, and take refuge from the cares of the world in the pleasures of the world. This is not an excuse but simply misplaced emphasis. A man can be blinded by the deceitfulness of riches – thinking about what a great crop he will produce on his new piece of land with his new team of oxen, and after all, a man must make a living and there’s only so much time in a day.
But trot out all the old familiar excuses: “the church is full of hypocrites”; “Religion is so confusing”; “I have an image to uphold”; “The preacher was too long-winded”; “I tried but it was too hard”. All God will have to do is point to a bunch of Christians – they who have exposed the way of the world as sinful and its wisdom shortsighted – and all excuses will be rendered null and void.
In Revelation chapters two and three, the faithful are called the “overcomers”. What do they overcome? In short, they overcome the excuses that the Devil provides and do the Master’s will. Congratulations faithful Christian – you shall judge the world!