The Day of Judgment

GOD HAS SPOKEN OF JUDGMENT

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Romans 1:18).

ERV: God’s anger is shown from heaven. God is angry with all the evil and wrong things that people do against God. They have the truth, but by their evil lives they hide the truth.

You may remember that Romans 1:19-20 told us that God reveals Himself through nature. We see in verse 18 that something else is also "being revealed"—the wrath or anger of God. This anger is against all of man’s sinful ways. Some, of course, doubt that God is really angry. They do not see or feel all His anger right now. Paul goes on in the second chapter of Romans to explain that there will come "the day of God’s wrath" when God’s anger and judgment will be fully revealed. Until then, it is being stored up (Romans 2:5).

"THE DAY OF JUDGMENT"

Many of God’s prophets gave this same warning. Jesus spoke often of "the day of judgment" (Matthew 11:22,24; 12:36; etc.). He spoke often of the unending pain and fire of "hell" (Matthew 5:22,29; 25:41,46; Mark 9:43-49; etc.).

In fact, every time this "hell" is mentioned in the New Testament (except for James 3:6), it is from the lips of Jesus Himself.

He knew that terrible punishment was waiting for sinful people. That is why He gave such strong warning—even to His own followers.

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (Luke 12:4-5)

Jesus Himself will have a part in judging us (John 5:22,27; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31).

ERV: God has decided a day when He will judge all the people in the world. He will be fair. He will use a man to do this. God chose this man long ago. And God has proved this to every person; God proved it by raising the man from death!

How can we be sure that the day of judgment is coming? This verse says that the proof is Christ’s resurrection!

There were many eyewitnesses who saw Jesus alive after His death. His victory over death is well known, proving to all people that death is not the end. All will one day be resurrected from death (John 5:29). And if all will be raised, they all will meet God. Then they will answer to God for the choices they made on earth! 

WHY GOD IS ANGRY

Looking closely again at Romans chapter one, we find these reasons for God’s anger:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him… (1:21).

[They] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things (1:23).

… they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator… (1:25).

ERV for Romans 1:23, 25: They gave up the glory of God who lives forever. People traded that glory for the worship of idols made to look like earthly people. People traded God’s glory for things that look like birds, animals, and snakes… Those people traded the truth of God for a lie. Those people worshiped and served things that were made. But people did not worship and serve the God who made those things…

We humans treat the very things made by God as if those things can take God’s place! So the things that were meant to help us know and honor God (1:20), are used against God. They become weapons to destroy knowledge about God. Instead of honoring God, people try to cover up and hide ("suppress") the truth about God (1:18). They turn from God’s truth and accept the lie (1:25). 

MAKING A MORE PLEASING GOD

This lie, of course, comes from Satan. Remember that the spiritual struggle is about who should be worshiped (Matthew 4 and John 4). People, following Satan’s lie, take their love away from God. They give their worship to His enemy, the devil. Consider what happened at Sinai. God Himself spoke His Ten Commandments to the whole nation. The second commandment was this:

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God… (Exodus 20:4).

However, the people grew tired of waiting at Mount Sinai. A God who could not be seen, and who took as much time as He wanted, did not please them. So they made a statue in the shape of a calf. They called it the ‘god’ who brought them out of Egypt. Aaron made an altar for offering gifts to it. He then announced, "Tomorrow will be a festival to the LORD (YHWH)" (Exodus 32:5).

They thought this worship would be for the true God, YHWH. But they wanted Him in a form that they could see and feel. (Such a god would also let them worship and live as they pleased.) They would worship the LORD through this image. 

THE WORSHIP OF DEMONS

Look at the result. They showed disrespect for God by breaking His commandments. They had seen the awesome power of God on Sinai. Yet they made the almighty Spirit seem like a brute beast.

They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox [cow] that eats grass (Psalm 106:20).

Far from worshiping God, they dishonored Him and insulted Him! In His anger, He had 3000 of the rebels killed and to the rest He made this promise:

In the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them (Exodus 32:34).

If their worship failed to honor the Lord, then who actually was honored by it? God gave the answer in Moses’ song (Deuteronomy 32).

They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods… They have made me jealous with what is no god (Deuteronomy 32:16-17,21).

Here God showed what really happened in the worship of idols. The idol itself was "no god" at all. It was a lie. Standing behind that lie was Satan and his helpers, the evil spirits called "demons." Therefore, sacrifices given to the false gods actually went to demons.

The New Testament also spoke of this fact in 1 Corinthians 10:19-20.

What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.

It is wrong to think that God accepts all kinds of worship. Without knowing it, many give their worship to demons. They become partners ("participants") with demons.

1 Timothy 4:1 reveals that those who leave the true teachings of Christ are following false teachings from demons. Peter foretold that "many" would be fooled by false leaders who had once been Christians (2 Peter 2:1-2). Sadly, much of this has already come true. It explains why there are so many divided groups, and differing teachings, among those using the Lord’s name. Jesus warned that "many" use His name but disobey what He commanded. "On that Day" (the Judgment Day), Jesus will say to them,

”I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:15-23).  

 

MAN AS HIS OWN GOD

Are we to think that the only idols Satan uses are carved images? Scripture says that he offers many other kinds of "gods" to us. He will even put us and our desires into the place of God, if we let him! It is quite simple. Just get us to think mainly of what we can see.

Man’s fleshly eye sees that, among all the animals, he is the highest and wisest. That seems to make man the most important. What can compare with man’s great mind? What is to hold man back from fulfilling his own desires? As Paul said of some, "their god is their stomach" (Philippians 3:19). They are "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:4). Who can doubt that the idols of many today include pleasures, sex, money, careers, security, success and fame? They seek these things far more seriously than they seek the true God.

For the wicked [evil person] boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy [hungry] for gain curses and renounces [turn from] the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ”There is no God” (Psalm 10:3-4).

Selfish desires and "pride" take the place God should have in their hearts. As Colossians 3:5 says, "Covetousness [greed]…is idolatry." Selfish people want more and more. They do not care when they hurt others. They think there is no Judge to punish them, so they take advantage of others. They are like the Babylonians of old, "guilty men, whose own strength is their god" (Habakkuk 1:11). To such proud people God says,

… you are but a man, and no god, in the hands of those who slay [kill] you (Ezekiel 28:9).

GOD MADE IN MAN'S IMAGE

Satan finds it hard to trick most of us into thinking that there is no God above us. The evidence for God is just too strong. So Satan works on changing truth about God. Satan wants God to be made in the image or likeness of man (instead of man being "in the image of God"). Some feel that God may be as weak as they are. They think God has little power to help them or make their lives better. Others, having been treated badly, view God as that kind of person. They think that God hates them and seeks their ruin. Others want a God who will never punish anyone. They make God out to be only soft and gentle, without any anger. Then there are those who think that God shares their dishonest ways. They do not keep their promises, and they feel that God may not keep His word. Although He has promised terrible punishment for sins (Revelation 21:8), they think He may let them off. Many on earth escape justice by hiding or by using gifts and bribes. They think they can also bargain with God, or hide from Him. To such people God has made these replies:

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe (Deuteronomy 10:17).

ERV for Deuteronomy 10:17b: To the LORD every person is the same. The LORD does not accept money to change His mind.

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind (Numbers 23:19).

You thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you (Psalm 50:21).

When we make God seem like us, we open the way for false worship. The "God" we claim to worship may become quite different from the true God who has shown Himself. Our "God" turns into a lie. Worship given to this lie goes to "the father of lies." 

 

SERIOUSLY SEEKING GOD

The prophet Isaiah spoke out against lies about God. He could do this because God had shown His glory to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-4).

I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up… And one [angel] called to another and said: ”Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1,3).

God is "holy"—so pure that He is far above all that is wrong or false. God’s eyes are "purer than see at evil" (Habakkuk 1:13). Seeing God’s power and purity, Isaiah realized that he and his people would be destroyed (Isaiah 6:5). Isaiah himself stayed alive there only because God acted quickly to save him, taking his sins away (Isaiah 6:7). Only those whom God makes holy can live with Him.

Strive [work] for… the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

All of us fall short of God’s holiness and glory (Romans 3:10,23). So many tell lies, live lies, and follow lies that the Bible now calls Satan "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4).

The whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19).

All who love worldly things above God make themselves enemies of God (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15). Thus most people—whether they realize it or not—are on Satan’s side and must share the defeat and punishment that God plans for all His enemies.

That is why Jesus warns us:

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Matthew 7:13-14).

How foolish to think that we cannot be among the "many" on the wide road to ruin! How foolish to think that we will enter that small gate by chance or by accident! There must be "every effort," that is, serious seeking for God’s way:

Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able (Luke 13:24).

Strive for… the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

This explains why the Bereans eagerly searched the Scriptures every day to learn God’s truth (Acts 17:11). We too should seek God’s way to holiness just as seriously. For God has spoken, showing that each of us must answer to Him, the Judge over all creation.

Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

LET'S SUM UP

The book of Hebrews sums up this subject best:

Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29; quoting Deuteronomy 4:24).

ERV: Because our God is like a fire that can destroy.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:30-31).

God cannot stand lies, for He is completely honest, pure and holy. God’s majesty rejects all false worship. False worship and service ends up going to demons. God’s firm justice cannot let rebellion go on unpunished. He has spoken clearly of His anger. He has given warning that there will be final and full judgment against all His enemies. That is not an empty threat. It is time for us to take the coming judgment very seriously.

Almighty God and Judge of all, You have every right to be angry when we choose to follow your enemies. Teach us to have healthy fear of your just anger. Help us to respect You, to believe your warnings, and to find your "narrow door" that leads to life…