Justice versus Judgment

Everyone wants justice, and God announces that He will judge justly. How we can escape judgment and obtain justice.

If we compare the two terms “just” and “judge,” we recognize that replacing just a few letters at the end can make a huge difference. We all want to be just, as well as to experience justice. To be just is even the principle behind governmental and social conduct, according to which every person should be granted equal rights. In interpersonal relationships, we expect to receive respect, appreciation, fairness, objectivity, integrity, impartiality, peacefulness, etc.

But since the fall of man, human history has proven that we never achieved it, and still haven’t today. That’s why God says in the Bible that we are sinners, and therefore must die. We’ve been proving this fact for thousands of years, despite the resistance of famous atheist thinkers, philosophers, and scientists. Some of their teachings, like the theory of evolution, have done more harm with each subsequent generation. I don’t want to be disrespectful by claiming that some achievements or topics of research are wrong or worthless, but humanity’s ego and arrogance haven’t done him any 
favors. After the Enlightenment in the 18th century, man’s ego was pushed so much that people today consider everything achievable and permissible. Unfortunately, much of it is sad, vulgar, and hopeless. Just consider peace and disarmament efforts. Corruption and lies can be found just as easily here as in every other part of our global community. Inhibitions that were once valued are torn down to make room for bottomless self-indulgence. Every day you can see and hear how this is developing in print and digital media. Everything that we ultimately recognize as crime and name as such, cries for justice. This call can be heard loud and clear worldwide. Cheated and battered persons from all peoples and nations demand justice. They hope for a clear-cut investigation of the situation and, if necessary, expect fair administration of justice from a competent court.

But how are we humans, as sinners, able to speak of justice? How should we fairly judge people who are a “fallen creation”? Who can oppose the Bible, God’s Word, when it tells us in the letter to the Romans, “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10)? Of course, we can poke fun at this statement and scoff at it. But we can also continue reading (vv. 11-20) and find that these are exactly the conditions that exist in the world.

In this short passage it says, among other things, “so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (v. 19). This is speaking of the judgment that every person must face after death. Nobody can avoid it! The Judge on the Great White Throne is Jesus Christ. It is written: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne…And the dead were judged…” (Rev 20:12). At the divine judgment of the world, every obligation finds its true justice (Rev 20:10-15). The judgment will be absolutely correct and final.

It would be loveless to not show the way out of this eternal forsakenness. There is only one way for us as humans to avoid the final judgment. Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). For this truth, Jesus was crucified for us sinners, to make forgiveness of guilt and sin possible. He took this path out of love for us, and we humans killed Him for it. This brutal murder on Calvary became our salvation, because Jesus Christ arose and lives. This applies to those who claim this truth in faith, and recognize and confess their sinfulness before Him. The way to be saved requires your own admission of guilt. The Prodigal Son recognized this and said: “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants’” (Luke 15:18-19). It comes down to this: knowledge of sins, confession of sins, real repentance, and reversal. The one who decides to do so has the promise: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Midnight Call - 05/2021