“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’” (Hebrews 12:28-29).
“Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that He made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:23-24).
The very most important understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God is love. The unconditional love of God for all people is the reason He sent Christ to die for us. That love is demonstrated by Christ and is expected to be seen in all those who profess to follow Christ. A Christ-like love is to be the telling mark of God’s children, and that love for God is demonstrated in the way we treat others around us.
Having said all this, we neglect the holy righteousness of God at our own peril, for it is this holy righteousness that enables Him to be a most fearsome Judge of all humanity. As Judge, the Bible indicates that God will be swift and accurate in His judgment. Without the saving grace found in Christ, we stand before God at our own peril.
But is that really such a bad thing, to stand before a loving God to be judged? Is He not also a God of mercy and compassion? Yes, He is all that. But He is also a God who hates sin and does not show compassion to the unrepentant sinner. He is a God who is quick to act, swift to judge, and His judgment is always right. Why?
God Makes the Rules
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).
Let’s suppose we’re living in Springfield, Massachusetts. It’s in the fall and we’re hanging out at the YMCA looking for something to do. We’re standing around the gym and in comes James Naismith. Mr. Naismith directs our attention to two peach baskets nailed to the walls, one basket on each side of the gym. He has in hand a ball, and he tells us we are going to play a game he made up. The game is called basketball, and he tells us the rules. He makes sure we understand the rules before we start to play. We all agree we understand, and he hands to ball to one of us.
We start to play, but as we play, we decide that some of the rules seem silly or that a particular rule is cramping our style. So we decide to ignore the rules. Each one of us decides to play the way he thinks it should be played.
What will happen? Mr. Naismith will stop the game and inform us that we are not following the rules, that we are cheating. And the reason he will know we are cheating is because he wrote the rules.
It’s the same thing with God. God has written the rules on how to be declared righteous in His eyes, and He has written the rules that define sin, forgiveness, and everything in between. Should we stand before God on the Day of Judgment, we can try to tell Him we didn’t like His rules, or that we thought we’d try something a little more creative or more in fitting with the way I wanted to live my life. We can try to tell Him that, but in the end, God knows the rules better than we do. He wrote the rules and He knows the difference between right and wrong, fair and unfair. We will not be able to substitute our rules for His rules, because as the final Judge, He will look to His rules and His ways.
God Knows Us
“O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely” (Psalm 139:1-4).
These verses begin a wonderful hymn of praise on the intimacy of our relationship with God. It stresses His protection, His understanding, His love for us. The psalmist ends the psalm with, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).
The assurance that God is intimately involved in our lives, knowing us better than we know ourselves, is both a comfort and a warning. We cannot hide from God. He knows us so well that any façade we may try to put up to fool Him is useless. He knows not only what we do but why we do it. And it is this knowledge that comforts us in the assurance of His loving presence, but it is also the warning that His judgment is always correct.
When a person is charged with a crime, that person is brought before a judge. In the United States, the defendant has the right to waive his jury trial or she can have a jury render judgment. In either case, the burden of the government in prosecuting the case is to provide the evidence in a manner that leads to the incontrovertible truth that the defendant is guilty. The defendant can offer evidence in the trial to exonerate him—witnesses that he or she was in another place at the time of the crime, for instance—or can offer an alternate, plausible theory of the crime. The purpose of the trial, though, is to get to the truth of the matter: Did the defendant commit the crime?
The problem with this is that a judge, a jury, a prosecutor, a defense attorney are all unaware of all the matters at hand. No one in the courtroom can know the thoughts of the defendant beyond a doubt. No one can know for certain that the defendant acted in a criminal way. They can only look at partial evidence and testimony and come to a reasonable conclusion.
Not so with God. When we stand before Him in judgment, we will not have the benefit of saying, “You don’t know me.” He does know us—our thoughts before we think them, or words before we say them, our actions before we do them. There is nothing that we can hide from Him. If we stand before God the judge, then we stand without any hope of sneaking one by Him.
One of the verses that has always sent shivers down my spine is what Jesus tells His listeners: “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). The reason I don’t like this verse is that it speaks to the fact that we will have to answer for our careless words. The way I understand careless is the unguarded word.
We all know about guarded words. Growing up, I knew there were certain words I could not (or should not) say in front of my parents if I knew what was good for me. I knew when I was at church that there were certain words that could not be said. As I grew older, I learned that there are certain things you can say before some people but can’t say in front of other people. In other words, I learned to guard my words.
But there are times when my guard is down. Maybe I’m tired, or I’m sick, or I’m trying to be witty, or any other number of reasons when I let my guard down and out slips something I shouldn’t have said. It doesn’t have to be a profanity, either. Maybe it’s a derogatory statement about someone or something, or a hurtful word directed at someone that is particularly susceptible to that hurt. It’s these words that I will have to give account of before God.
I always picture that day as being ushered into God’s presence. I stand there, filled with awe and wonder and dread. I see His face and hear His voice, and He says, “We’re here to consider your careless words. Let’s go to the tape, shall we?” And I will have to relive those moments, standing in the presence of the Holy God. How can I even think that I would be able to justify myself in that situation?
I’ve Lived a Good Life
It’s not unusual for a person, when asked about their relationship with God, to state that they don’t think they’ll be condemned by God. They maintain that they have lived a good life—they don’t kick puppies, their faithful to their spouse, they love their children, they haven’t committed any major crimes (just the odd speeding ticket, maybe).
And for the most part, that’s true. Most people are decent people. We could say most people are good people. After all, it’s very rare when a Hitler, Stalin, or Nero comes along. They seem to be the exception to the rule, and we can all take comfort when we compare ourselves to them.
But God’s judgment isn’t based upon a comparison of the worst of humanity versus me. God’s standard of judgment is how well we stand up against His expectations. It is also based, in part, upon the way we tend to judge the world and others around us: “Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it be measured with you” (Matthew 7:1-2). It is the rare person that does not, at one time or another, look at someone and make a judgment about that person. When we make that judgment, it is our way of looking down upon someone and, in some way, showing ourselves to be superior. “Look at that person making an idiot of themselves,” can also be stated, “I’m glad I’m not making an idiot of myself doing that like that other person is doing.” We will be judged in the same light, using the same measure of perfection as we use. The higher the standard we use against others, the same amount of intolerance we use will be used to judge us.
(c) 2018 Glynn Beaty