16in
[the] day when God will judge the secrets of the men according to the Gospel of
me through Christ Jesus.
I feel like, as I study this book of Romans, I am scraping
on the bedrock of reality. This is THE TRUTH. The whole world lives chasing
here and there, wanting this and that, striving to accomplish so many things,
and yet, the overarching reality of our very existence is that there is a God
and we will answer to Him for all we do. As Paul will say later in this book, “So
then each of us must give an account of himself to God” (14:12). The book of
Ecclesiastes put it as, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, including
every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (12:14). And as Peter says, “But
the Day of the Lord will come” (II Peter 3:10).
The Day of the Lord will come.
That is reality – plain, simple reality.
John says in Revelation, “Then I saw a Great White Throne
and Him who was seated on it…And I saw the dead, great and small, standing
before the Throne, and the books were opened…The dead were judged according to
what they had done…” (20:11,12).
The Day of the Lord will come.
That is the overarching reality of our very existence.
Just for some exegetical housekeeping, there is a great deal
of discussion of how this verse, verse 16, connects with the rest of the
context. In Greek, and as I translated it above, it is a continuation of the
thinking ahead of it, but, as all seem to agree, the thought itself seems
abrupt. The most logically appealing position, based on the grammar, is
probably to connect it to verse 12 and consider verses 13-15 as a parenthesis
in Paul’s argument. Personally, I would suggest it may simply be, in Paul’s
mind, connected to the entire context. This is what he’s been talking about at
least since 1:18.
Then there is discussion around the statement, “God will
judge the secrets of the men according to the Gospel of me through Christ Jesus.”
The question is posed whether God will judge “according to the Gospel” or “through
Jesus Christ.” Judging “according to the Gospel” seems logically awkward, since
it will be the Gospel which will save people from God’s judgment. I think
rather he means us to understand that Jesus Himself will be the Judge, which of
course is supported widely through the New Testament in many, many passages.
On the other hand, and for whatever it’s worth, for us believers,
the fact that God will judge the world is to us good news. The “Gospel”
is God’s good news. First of all, I don’t have to fear it because Jesus already
paid for my sins, I am forgiven, and “there is now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus.” Our judgment is now a judgment for reward, not
condemnation (I Cor. 3:12-15). What my accountability means to me is that my
life matters. As Paul says later in that same book, “Always
give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor
in the Lord is not in vain” (15:58). It is no fun to be given a work
assignment, to work very hard at it, to accomplish the goals, only to have no
one ever even check up on it. From a purely human perspective one is tempted to
ask, “What’s the difference? No one seems to care anyway.” Knowing the Lord and
that the Day of the Lord will come, I can say, “I did it for Him and He cares!”
If I am accountable to Him then everything matters!
What I particularly want to comment on, however, from this
verse in Romans, is that fact that Jesus Himself will be the Judge. That simple
fact becomes what I would suggest is the colossal two-edged sword of reality.
Think about it. What difference does it make for us
believers that Jesus is the Judge? Who is He? He’s our Savior! The same Jesus who will be seated on the Throne, who will
be looking at you on that Day, was also looking at you as He hung on that Cross
and died. He knew you then and He knows you now. He knew all about your sins then
and He still knows about them now, yet “in His great love wherewith He loved us”
He Himself chose to remove our transgressions from us, “as far as the east is
from the west.” Our Jesus who “judges” us, is the very One who already loved us
and saved us “to the uttermost.” What enormous comfort we ought to take knowing
that He is who is my Savior is the Judge!
On the other hand, and this is the awful two-edged sword of reality,
what difference will it make for those who spurned that love and spit in His
face, who said of Jesus, “We will not have this Man to rule over us!” Suddenly,
there they will be standing face to face with this One who went to the Cross
for them, who loved them with that same “everlasting love,” who all their life provided
food to eat and the sun to shine, who gave them every possible opportunity to
be saved, who even “appointed the times of their lives and the place where they
would live, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him” (Acts 17:27).
To add to their horror, they will find out this Judge knows
about every act of cruelty, especially the times they mocked, and ridiculed,
and persecuted His people, His children.
He knows every secret of their naturally lying, murderous hearts, that, in
life, they were like their father the devil and the lusts of their father they
did. What a horror it will be to stand before this One without His precious
blood to cover their sins. Someone once remarked that the Lord probably will
not need to send anyone to hell – they’ll probably run and jump in just to
escape those awful flaming eyes!
The Day of the Lord is reality.
And that reality is a two-edged sword. It will be a day of
reward for His people and a horrible day of exposure and condemnation for those
who never knew Him.
Every human being needs to stop their moving, stop chasing,
stop their lying, murderous thoughts and come face to face with this reality:
the Day of the Lord will come. To embrace Him now is to be saved forever, to be
able to look forward hopefully to that Day of Judgment. To spurn Him now does
not mean they’ll escape from that Day. To stand before Him is an appointment we
all will keep.
Choose well.
No comments:
Post a Comment