In His Own Words--Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Jesus and Judgment

“Jesus is cool. He’s my good buddie. He’s really into love and happiness. He wants me happy. He wants you to be happy. He wants everybody to be happy. So, go do your own thing and as long as you don’t hurt nobody, He’ll be good with that.”

Really? The Bible says that God created man in his own image, and some wit has remarked that man has often returned the compliment. Refashioning Jesus into our own image has become almost a cottage industry these days.

Let’s go back to the Sermon on the Mount. You know the one—it’s Jesus’ message about being nice to everybody and condemning nobody; “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” and all that. Near the end of the sermon, Jesus said,

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Notice first that Jesus claims to be the one who will either let people into the kingdom of heaven or expel them from the kingdom. He will not listen to the pious professions of religious shysters. He will examine their deeds and convict them of breaking the law of God.

Second, notice three things this saying implies: Jesus has the authority to judge; and He has the knowledge of each man’s deeds so that His judgment is just; and He has the power to enforce His judgments. There is no appeal and no escape from His judgment.

The classic New Testament parable on judgment is found in Matthew 25.

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left (Matthew 25:31-33).

To those whose lives indicate true conversion,

Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (v. 34).

The rest will hear these scorching words from the lips of “gentle Jesus, meek and mild,”

Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (v. 41).

The imagery of separating sheep and goats comes from the Old Testament.

As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.” ... Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another (Ezek. 34:17, 20-22).

As the Lord Yahweh judged His flock Israel in the Old Testament, so Jesus will judge the sheep and the goats of all the nations when He comes in His glory.

Jesus Forgave Sins

On at least two occasions Jesus, the judge, asserted His right to render a verdict of acquittal as He forgave sins in His own name and on His own authority. To a paralyzed man Jesus said,

“Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—"I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home” (Luke 5:20-24).

While dining at the house of a certain Pharisee, Jesus forgave a notoriously immoral woman.

Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:48-50).

The Pharisees were quite properly shocked when Jesus forgave sinners. They knew from the Old Testament, that no prophet had ever dared to forgive someone on his own authority. The closest example we can find is the case of Naaman the Syrian. After he announced his intention to worship Yahweh alone, he expressed concern to Elisha about a potential problem.

“In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” He [Elisha] said to him, "Go in peace" (2 Kings 5:18-19).

The difference between Elisha and Jesus is striking. Naaman asked pardon from the Lord, and Elisha reassured him that it was granted. Jesus simply announced that He had authority to forgive sins.

Old Testament saints appealed to the Lord, not to prophets for the forgiveness of sins.

For Your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity for it is great (Psalm 25:11).

I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgression for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins (Isaiah 43:25).

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession. He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love (Micah 7:18).

There is no god like Yahweh who pardons sin and who alone wipes out transgressions.

Jesus Will Judge All Men

Similarly, God reserves to Himself the right of judging sinners.

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity (Psalm 96:10).

 A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.... Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken up by Him (Nahum 1:2-3, 6).

Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, in due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them (Deuteronomy 32:35).

We have seen in Matthew and Luke that Jesus claims for Himself the right to forgive and to condemn. He is the Judge of all men. In John 5, He asserts this right in the most forcible terms.

For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment (John 5:22-29).

Jesus is fit to judge all men because He is the Son of God and the Son of Man. As the Son of God, He speaks with divine authority. As the Son of Man, He judges with human insight and compassion.

One other feature of this passage deserves close attention. God the Father wants all people to honor His Son just as they honor Him. This is striking because the Lord cannot, He will not share His honor with any created being.

 I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8).

 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another (Isaiah 48:11).

For God to share His honor and glory with any created being would be for Him to lie about His own intrinsic worth. Do you see the astounding thing that Jesus was claiming? Do you see why the Jews wanted to kill Him?

Jesus said that He will be the final judge of all people. There will be no court of appeals above Him. What, therefore, will be His verdict in your case? Will you be acquitted, not because you are good enough in yourself, but because you have cast yourself on the mercy of the court and been forgiven? Will you try to bluff your way into heaven by claiming that your good deeds outweigh the bad? Jesus will look right through you and see the hollowness of your boast. Will Jesus, the judge of all flesh, be your Savior or your executioner?

In His Own Words--Chapter 2

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Chapter 2 – Jesus and Our Families

The congregation of my first church in rural Wisconsin was so small that I could easily have visited every family once a week. Instead, I went door to door seeking new people. One evening, I ended up in the living room of a family that was watching a Billy Graham crusade on television. When the program was over, I said, “If you had been there, would you have gone forward to receive Christ?”

They answered, “Probably.”

I said, “Would you like to receive Him now?”

They said they would, and they did—all of them. Not long afterwards I baptized them, and they became regular attenders at the church. Unfortunately, conversion did not immediately transform an unhappy family into a joyous one. On more than one occasion, the lady of the house came to me with an unusual request.

She would begin by pointing out passages such as the following.

If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26).

And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life” (Luke 18:29-30).

Then she would beg me to send her as a missionary to another country. Perhaps some of the Lord’s precepts seemed rather burdensome, but not this one. She thought it would be a relief to leave her family for Jesus’ sake. I kid you not. This actually happened.

Though this lady was misguided, her notions were close to actual the experience of many missionaries. Today’s tearful goodbyes at the airport are little in comparison with nineteenth-century servants of Christ considered routine.

John Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides buried his first wife and infant son on an island filled with cannibals. (He slept for some time on their graves to prevent the natives from exhuming and devouring them.) Not long afterwards, he barely escaped with his own life. A few years later, he returned to a neighboring island with his second wife. Though the majority of the indigenous population on this island were eventually converted, the Patons were frequently in danger of losing their lives. They also had to endure year-long separations from their school-age children. For them, as for many missionaries, the calling of Christ meant putting Him above their families.

Family Loyalty in the Old Testament

To put in perspective Jesus’ insistence that we love Him more than we love our families, we need to go back to the Old Testament. I begin with the respect children are supposed to have for their parents.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you (Exodus 20:12).

He who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death (Exodus 21:17).

Jesus quoted both of these passages in Matthew 15:4 to highlight the respect and care children should have for their parents. Lack of such respect was so serious that it is scathingly denounced in the Old Testament. For example, “The eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it” (Proverbs 30:17).

On the other hand, parents properly love and care for their offspring: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children “(Proverbs 13:22). A mother’s love is so natural and good that we are shocked when a mother murders her child. God’s love is like a mother’s love, only better.  “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15).

What is important enough to warrant breaking the bonds of familial duty and affection? Loyalty to God supersedes loyalty to family.

 If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods”  (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Deuteronomy 13:6-10).

I hasten to add that we are no longer under this provision of the Mosaic Law. That harsh sentence was part of God’s zealous determination to preserve true faith in Israel until Christ came. However, it is clear that loyalty to God trumps loyalty to family.

Loving Family More Than God

I heard recently about a man who gave a Bible to his unbelieving sister. The next day she died in a car accident. This man became bitter and has backed away from church or any discussion of spiritual things. His love for his sister was apparently greater than his love for God. Probably most of us have loved ones who will spend eternity in hell. Oh, how that thought pains us! It torments us. But the question we must face is who holds first place in our hearts?

It is an old, old temptation, for Adam loved his wife more than he loved God, so he followed her into sin and death. Men are supposed to love their wives with a self-sacrificing love as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25), but sin enters when a man loves his wife more than he loves God.

I have often seen children pull their families out of church after the parents have pushed those children into sports. Team sports on Sunday capture the child’s heart. The father’s heart has already been captured by Sunday afternoon football, so he has no moral authority to keep his child from playing on Sunday. The parents love the child’s present happiness more than they love the child’s eternal wellbeing, and more than they love God. The result? Church attendance becomes an occasional event, and ten years later the parents bewail their child’s lack of faith.

Even without that kind of parental short-sightedness, families are divided. Apart from the gracious work of the Holy Spirit opening our eyes, we are blind to Christ and hostile to God. As the prophet Micah put it,

For son treats father contemptuously,
Daughter rises up against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man's enemies are the men of his own
     household (Micah 7:6).

Wait, doesn’t that sound like something Jesus said? Yes, indeed.

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;  and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:34-37).

It is not just an accident or poor family dynamics that creates a spiritual division between two people who would naturally love each other. Jesus divides people. He slices down through those natural ties and demands whole-hearted love for Himself.

Jesus was not asking any more or any less than for Himself than the Lord God required of Old Testament believers. God told Jeremiah not to marry and raise sons and daughters (Jeremiah 16:2). In order to be God’s prophet, he had to set aside his natural human desire for a family. One morning God told Ezekiel that his wife would die, and the prophecy came to pass that very evening. She was “the desire of [his] eyes,” but the Lord would not permit him to weep or mourn for her. God used her death and the hiding of Ezekiel’s grief as a prophetic parable for the people. Wow! That was harsh. It was “A Severe Mercy.”[1]

Does the demand of Jesus—that you put Him first in your life above your family—does this demand shock you? It should. Would it have shocked a first-century Jew? Absolutely. He would have understood that no one but the Lord God has the right to demand such allegiance. 

Hear, O Israel! The Lord [Yahweh] is our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

If Jesus was not God, He was setting Himself up as a deliberate rival to God. So, He was either God or a demon from hell. You choose.

Before we leave this topic, are there family ties that threaten to pull you away from Christ and His church? If the devil discovers that a family picnic or a birthday party for Aunt Matilda’s dog is enough to keep you out of church, you won’t be worshiping with other believers three Sundays out of four. Do you resent God because a loved one has died in unbelief and is now suffering the wrath of God? Has God called you to a ministry that would move you away from your family, and are you hesitating to go because you love them so much? Does your faith in Christ create so much friction with your relatives that you are beginning to think following Jesus is just not worth it?

Jesus is worth it. Jesus is more important than your father, your mother, your sister or brother. Jesus is more important than your wife or husband or children. Jesus all by Himself will be enough for you because He is God, but since He loves you, He will give you even more.

 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).

The church will be your family when your family turns its back on you. “If my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up” (Psalm 27:10, marginal reading).

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[1]  This title of a great book by Sheldon Vanauken is a quotation from Book viii of Augustine’s Confessions.