Greetings for the season

To our loyal readers, a big thanks.  

We are closing down for the holidays (in the Southern hemisphere it is now summer).  

Our wish for you all, ‘And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.’  Philippians 1:9-11  

Blessings! 

Hallelujah, no Judgement!

The one essential aspect of God’s Kingdom is the final division between humans: those who were willing to serve God, and those who were not.   That will take place on the Great Day of the Lord, the final Judgment.  Revelation 20:11-15

God has assigned Jesus to be the Judge. 

‘…the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father.’  John 5:22  

The Great Problem

If Jesus was an ordinary man who was ‘elevated’ during His life to become the Son of God, there can be no Judgment Day.  The reasons are: 

  • The Final Judgement is based on what a person did while on earth (‘each person was judged according to what he had done,’  Revelation 20:13b). 
  • God is clear that no one can ever be considered sinless, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.’  Romans 3:10  If Jesus was an ordinary human being, it means sin was part of his life.  
  • For Jesus to be the Judge, God must have declared Him sinless.  But, that is manifestly unfair!  To be fair God then has to declare all humans sinless, not only one specific one.   
  • The holy God can never do that.  Judgment is serious since on it hinges man’s eternal destiny.  God is a just God.  He will never commit such a serious ‘sin.’ 

Conclusion

God’s rule applies to all people: all sinned and need forgiveness.  Jesus was not a man that became the Son of God, He is the eternal Son of God who became a sinless human Sacrifice on our behalf.  He is qualified to be the Saviour and Judge. 

Why was Jesus so ignorant?

God’s critics love to claim that Jesus is not the eternal Son of God.   And why do they say it?  Among other things, because Jesus supposedly did not know when the Second Coming would take place.  They reckon, if He was God’s eternal Son, He would have known it.  

Terrible of Jesus to be so ignorant!  Jesus told His disciples, ‘No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.’  Matthew 24:36 

However, there is a very good reason that the Father did not reveal the date to  Jesus.  Jesus faithfully reported what He heard from His Father:

  • ‘…I [Jesus] told you the truth I heard from God.’  John 8:40b 
  • ‘…I [Jesus] did not speak of My own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it….  So whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say.’  John 12:49-50b

If the Father revealed the date to the Son, the Son would have revealed it to the disciples.  With that knowledge the disciples through the ages could have lapsed into complacency, and ‘postponed’ holy living.  After all, why trouble yourself when you know the end will come only in 500 or 1,000 years?   Why not eat, drink, be merry and forget the Lord?

God desires that we live holy lives.  ‘Since everything will be destroyed in this way [when the day of the Lord comes], what kind of people ought you to be?  You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the Day of God and speed it’s coming.’  2 Peter 3:11-12  

Conclusion

God wants each generation of the saved to seek Him and live as if Jesus might come at any time.  God wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and live in a relationship with Him.  The accusation that Jesus was ‘ignorant’ does not hold water.  God kept the information about the Second Coming hidden from Jesus for a good practical reason.  For our benefit.