WA-POW! "He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people."
Nope, I don't really want to broach that subject. So I flipped again... "Rise up, O Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve."
And again, "He will judge the world in righteousness..."
And again, "But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away..."
Flip, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God know your hearts."
Flip, "Instead He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly."
I'm not kidding. Each random Bible-opening found yet another verse on judgement. The final straw came in with: "I will gather all nations and bring down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter in judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel..." (Joel 3:2).
So I gave in. I'm writing about Jehoshaphat. It's an unpopular baby name these days, but it means 'the Lord judges'.
The concept of the Lord's judgment is not popular with most Americans (and perhaps too popular with a small minority). Biblically, the Lord's judgment is the end of the world, the final judgment of earth. The imagery isn't very appealing. The sun turns black; the moon turns to blood. There is blood and fire and billows of smoke. Destruction. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. The grapes of wrath are trampled. "The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare." (2 Peter 3:10)
Ouch. Now you see why I wanted to avoid this altogether.
But in the midst of devastation, there's something seemingly out of place.
Praise. Thanksgiving. Joy.
Revelation has the heavens rejoicing, and in 19:1-2 goes on to say, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments."
True and just are his judgments.
Our perfect God made a perfect world, and gave it to us. We proceeded to destroy it for personal gain. He made us in his image, his highest creation. We proceeded to kill, exploit, ignore, scorn, and abuse each other. He gave us the words of absolute Truth, and we proceeded to discredit and judge them based on our desires. Is it not right that He justly looks at our conduct and finds us wanting?
So often we don't take our own misconduct very seriously... a little white lie, a moment of temper, minor gossip with a friend, improper change collected, harmless piracy of movies or music, a moral slip, a bad habit, it just happened once, just looking out for myself...
When we compare ours to the obvious sins of others, we can't possibly be judged as evil. And even if we know we've screwed up, nothing we do now can undo our pasts. A true judge will see us clearly. Our hearts will betray us. Shouldn't we praise him for being a true judge?
Then also, there are all these unsatisfied debts, all these wrongs committed that have never been righted. "Will not God bring justice about for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you He will see that they get justice, and quickly." (Luke 18:7-8) The Lord will avenge the helpless, the victims. Again, isn't this just judge worthy of praise?
I think this is the point where the gleeful minority shout out, "That's right! Stick it to 'em! Give them what they deserve. Bring it on!"
But lest we be hasty in wanting fire to rain down, remember that the Lord waits patiently to make his final judgment, "not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). God himself says, "Do I take pleasure in the death of the wicked? Rather am I not pleased when they turn from their ways (a.k.a. repent) and live? "(Ezekiel 18:23). Delight over the destruction of the this world is not aligned with the heart of God. He clearly isn't of a mind to rush things, and gives us all kinds of opportunity to come back to Him. Talk about unconditional love.
Praise and lament seem to go together in the case of final judgment, but praise ultimately wins the day. Included in the Revelation revelry is salvation: "For Christ died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God." (1 Peter 3:18). His sacrifice opens the door to repentance, so that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The debt of death is paid. We're given Grace and mercy we cannot earn. We can be reconciled to God. We can escape judgment and live. At the final judgment and destruction of this world, God will bring forth a new heaven and a new earth: beautiful, glorious, free of pain and sorrow. Hallelujah indeed!
The Final Judgment will fill us all with dread and awe. The Lord will judge in perfect fairness and understanding. He will be praised for his rightful justice in response to the corrupt. He will be praised for His mercy towards repentant hearts. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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