Very little is said today in many contemporary Churches about the judgment of God. The general attitude is it is not nice to talk about God's judgment. Many Local Churches have reservation about presenting God as a Judge. They believe this will offend or frighten people. When people are offended they will not listen to the Gospel. The Gospel is supposed to be "good news" but, judgment is always bad news. Because of this false belief, the need of repentance is also seldom heard of in the contemporary Church. Some Christians even have the notion that repentance is not necessary for born again Christians because their sins have been forgiven after they have said the "Sinner's Prayer"!
Our Savior is also the Judge
The Words of Jesus declared:
"And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8, NKJV, emphasis added).
Notice that, sin, righteousness and judgment together is the basis of the foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. Hence, a Christian who does not believe the judgment of God is not led by the Spirit of God, but instead led by some deceiving spirit.
Peter has this to say about the Jesus the Judge:
"And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead" (Acts 10:42, emphasis added).
Paul also said:
"Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30, 31, emphasis added).
God is Now Shaking All Things
Those who are now convinced that God is the Judge should take heed of what the writer of Hebrews said:
"See to it that you obey God, the one who is speaking to you. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, how terrible our danger if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: 'Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also'. This means that the things on earth will be shaken, so that only eternal things will be left. Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be destroyed, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:25 to 29, NLB, emphasis added).
Notice that, all things which will be shaken include heavens, earth, sea, dry land and all nations. Only eternal things (things of the Kingdom of God) will remain unshaken.
These shakings are right before our eyes. The present end-time phenomena (frequent occurrences hurricane, typhoon, earthquake, flooding, extreme temperature and weather changes, wars and rumors of wars, lawlessness, famines, pestilences, diseases, plane crashes and other disasters) should remind us of the need of the unshakable eternal Kingdom that is offered to us freely.
We should also be reminded of what Jesus said about building our house on the rock:
"I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built" (Luke 6:47, 48, NIV, emphasis added).
In other words, a person's eternal life in the Kingdom of God cannot be shaken if he comes to Jesus and hears His words and does them. This is precisely what James said:
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22).
If we consider the above sayings of Jesus and James together, a person will be deceived if he disobeys the Word of God. Furthermore, his life will be shaken because it is not built on the foundation of the Rock (Jesus). A Christian who believes the doctrine of man and is deceived by man's unbiblical teaching and the teaching of false prophets (Matt. 24:11) belongs to this category.
Christian's Response
Peter, painting a picture of the Day of the Lord said:
"Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, ... " (2 Peter 3:11, 12, emphasis added).
These verses of Scripture speak volumes. Notice the emphasis is not on what we can do for God or for His Church but what kind of persons should we be! God emphasizes on personal attitude, conduct and character.
The three important things required of God are: Be holy in conduct and godliness, looking for the Day of God and hastening the coming of the Day of the God.
1. Be holy in conduct and godiness
Paul said, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).
Filthiness of the flesh speaks of sexual immorality, unclean habits and overcome by all forms of lust. Filthiness of the spirit speaks of the involvement of the occult, horoscopes, and false philosophies.
2. Looking for the Day of God
Paul said, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ ....." (Titus 2:11 to 13, emphasis added).
Christians are looking for the blessed hope when they are looking for the Day of God.
3. Hastening the coming of the Day of God
Two questions come to mind. One is, why do we need to hasten the coming of the Day of God and the other is, how do we hasten the coming the Day of God?
My answer for the first questin is, by hastening the coming the the Day of God we are shortening the period of suffering of humanity in this time of shaking (the beginning of sorrows - Matt. 24:8) leading to the "Great Tribulation" (Matt. 24:15 to 28).
The Gospel according to Matthew gives us a clue how to hasten the coming of the Day of God. There are many signs of the Lord's Second coming, but no one knows when. We should focus our eyes on the last sign.
Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matt. 24:14, emphasis added).
Therefore, the last sign is "The Sign" of His coming again. It depends on the completion and fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16 to 20).
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