Resurrection, Judgment and Final Destiny

Resurrection, Judgment, and Final Destiny

Jesus said in John 5:25-29:
Truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming - and is now here - when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and the ones who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, thus also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself. And he has granted him authority to carry out judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonished at this, because an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear his voice and they will come out - those who have done good things to a resurrection of life, but those who have practiced evil things to a resurrection of judgment. I am able to do nothing from myself. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. (LEB)

This text is a good summary of Jesus’ teaching on the resurrection, judgment and final destiny. What is striking is that Jesus’ judgment is an expression of his obedience to the Father, his choice to first seek first the Father’s will. It is out of love and obedience to the Father that Jesus judges.

The judgment of the Father and Jesus is an expression of their love. Yet, we have a hard time understanding this key point because we are so used to judge out of our limited understandings, out of rules and not out of love. This is shockingly manifest in sentences like this: how can a righteous God slaughter innocent people? In such a sentence, which is common in our modern culture, we learn more about our pride and judgmental attitude than about God. Such a sentence just highlight how we judge without even being aware of it: how do we know is someone is innocent, how can judge that something is a ‘slaughter’ without knowing more details? Fundamentally, our problem is that we are used to think we are right, and humility is mostly an abstract notion.

We are in a culture were we confuse God and us, where we expect God to be simply ‘tolerant’, and where we therefore judge whoever dares to judge a situation and give a punishment. This is expressed in our law courts as much as in our schools, where some people don’t even want to give grades to children for their work.

At its simplest level, any teaching needs two elements: encouragement for what is right and correction for what is wrong. In any society, if one of these two is lacking the persons will not learn well. The Western culture, in the recent past (around 1900), tended to emphasize correction without encouragement, yet in this 21st century the pendulum has much shifted toward encouragement without correction. This is clearly reflected in theology: in the past we had many theologians emphasizing strongly election, judgment and an all-knowing God. Today we have most theologians emphasizing unconditional love and a limited-knowing God.

To cut short and get out of this apparent dilemma, this mutual exclusion between love and judgment, we can mention a biblical word and its implications. In Hebrew, the word ‘paqad’ (פקד) can be translated: to visit, observe, number, be gracious (Jer 15:15), punish (Jer 49:8). These translations are so different that at first they seem not to fit together. Yet, we have to understand that in the Bible, when God visits a situation he delivers the one oppressed and punishes the oppressor. What one will describe as love or deliverance or salvation, another one will describe as destruction and condemnation, it is simply a matter of different viewpoints.

Jesus will not judge because he wants to. He came not to judge but to save. As the beloved biblical verses John 3:16-21 say: For God so love the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (ESV)

Judgment is a logical consequence of real love. When you love you also want to protect. To avoid God’s judgment is shockingly simple: we have to trust Jesus and his message of love for God and for our neighbor. We are invited to listen to his love, to welcome the Holy Spirit of love in our lives, and to let this love guide us. Not a selfish and blind love, but a love guided by our heavenly Father. God wants to expand our hearts, to guide us into all truth and love.
If we reject Jesus, we reject the light of the world and are walking in darkness, thus risking to be condemned. Some of us would like to say: I don’t need Jesus, I know how to love already. Really? How can we really love without having a clear vision of what love really is? For instance, if we sow encouragements without corrections, then we will reap young monsters. This is already happening, very sadly, in many homes and in many schools even as I am writing.

With much humility, Jesus came into our world to remind us of the Father’s love. His real love has two facets: his desire to save each of us, and the correction that comes from rejecting his love and teaching. There will be a time when Jesus returns, when he will be accompanied by angels to carry out the final judgment.

If we are doing things that don’t come out of a loving relationship with God, we are invited to repent. If we are lacking love for our neighbor, there is still time today to repent and to ask for help.
To repent means to turn away from the things that displease God, that are not expressions of his pure and holy love, and to learn from Him how to love him and our neighbor.
We have to learn to listen to Him, and to do what he tells us. It is not the one who says ‘Lord, Lord’ who will be saved, but the one who does the will of God.
How can we listen to God in order to do His will? Through Scriptures, through His Holy Spirit, through faithful communities of believers in Jesus, and ultimately through all His creation.
How can we learn? In general, it is a good path to find a trusted person who is a disciple of Jesus, and to ask for their help. It can be a precious help, to learn key lessons from Scriptures and to invite the Holy Spirit to purify us and to guide us.

Resurrection

Judgment

Final Destiny

The picture shows the image of a person resurrected,

The gavel represents the judgment
In the picture of final destiny, the fire represents hell and condemnation, while the angel and the gates represent the entry into heaven. 

Jesus will come back, there will be a resurrection and judgment. For some it will lead to eternal life, for others it will be judgment. The defining element will be whether we have learned to believe and know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, whether we have learned to listen to him and follow him as our loving shepherd.
Do you want this eternal life?Do you want to welcome the love of God, to obey to His gracious guidance? The door is open, simply start by repenting and asking Jesus for His forgiveness and guidance, he will not reject you. Jesus is really the way, the truth and the life.