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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, or decide by what He hears with His ears; but with righteousness He will judge the needy, with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth; with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Isaiah 11:3b-4
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
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Jesus saves.
It’s really at the heart of the gospel, the good news of the salvation promise sealed by the precious blood shed by the Lamb of God who John proclaimed had come to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Sent by the Father out of His deep love for us as a living sacrifice to atone for our transgressions, Jesus brings eternal life to whosoever believes in Him (John 3:16) and no one can come to God unless they first go to the Son, Jesus, first (John 14:6).
It’s this promise that can bring every man and woman hope in a hopeless world. It’s this promise that can raise every defeated man and woman to everlasting victory. And it’s through this promise that we know with complete assurance that the best is yet to come in life, no matter what this temporary worldly existence might bring.
Jesus, the Messiah prophesied in Isaiah, came to save and has saved ever since. In Him and Him alone, we find victory over death into eternal life. That’s great news for all believers but there is bad news in Jesus as well, bad news for anyone who chooses to reject and rebut His salvation promise.
For a day is coming when Jesus will return and when He does, He will not be coming as a loving, caring Savior as much as He will be coming to judge all of mankind. Our scripture verses from Chapter 11 of Isaiah predict the coming judgment on that day through these verses:
He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, or decide by what He hears with His ears; but with righteousness He will judge the needy, with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth; with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked (vv. 3b-4).
Yes, Jesus is a Savior but He is also going to be a Judge, coming with the authority that God the Father placed upon Him when He ascended to sit at His Father’s right hand. Matthew gives us the following account about what we can expect on the day Christ comes back:
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.”
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’”
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’”
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’”
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’”
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’”
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46
Note here that there is judgment with only two verdicts: pardon for the righteous resulting in eternal life or conviction for the wicked, the cursed who will receive eternal punishment into an everlasting fire, the same fire prepared for the devil and his angels. There is no middle road here. You’re either going to live forever with Jesus and God the Father, or you’re going to burn with the devil.
Salvation or judgment. We find both in Jesus.
Which have you chosen?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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