Day of Judgment
I have a long term project of memorizing the Gospel of Matthew. I started many years ago and, over time, memorized the first 12 chapters but it’s been a few years since I have faithfully reviewed them and, memory being what it is at my age, I need to bring them back to memory before proceeding on to subsequent chapters. The past month or two, I’ve been working on chapters 11 and 12 (I’m going backwards) and circumstances today gave me a two-hour block of time to spend reciting the chapters repeatedly to get them soaked in my head. It was while doing this that a few things hit me.
Degrees of punishment
I’ve always thought that the consequences were the same for everyone who didn’t go to heaven—the fires of hell (what an icky thought)—but it seems (this might not be news to you) that not everyone receives the same punishment. In chapter 11, Jesus is condemning the towns in which He performed the bulk of His miracles because they did not repent and what does he do? He compares these three cities to cities from the Old Testament that received severe judgment, saying that it will be worse on the Day of Judgment for the cities of His day than for Tyre, Sidon and Sodom.
Obviously, not everyone will be receiving the same consequences for not turning to God before they die. I never realized this before. That helps me know what to say next time someone asks me, “My aunt/grandma/father was a good man but didn’t become a Christian. What will happen to him?” I’ve always known that God is a just God but now I can reassure others that no, their aunt/grandma/father will not suffer the same fate as Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler.
Capernaum worse than Sodom?
Many people treat homosexuality as the worst possible sin and cite Sodom as an example of how severely God views homosexuality but in Matthew 11 and 12, Jesus gives us two answers to that. First, in chapter 11, He says it will be better for those from Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for the Bible-believing, synagogue and temple-going religious folk of Capernaum who refused to repent when Jesus performed His miracles there. Say what? Can this be true? I wonder how He’d compare the self-righteous Christians of today to well-meaning but living-in-sin homosexuals who call themselves Christians? Who would He have his harshest words for?
In chapter 12, Jesus makes it very clear that all sins and blasphemy can be forgiven except one. That one unforgivable sin is not homosexuality or, indeed, any sexual sin but rather the sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit. How many people who call themselves Christian do that? Far too many. I grew up in a church that taught that speaking in tongues was of the devil. Interestingly, Jesus’ teaching about this unforgivable sin comes on the heels of the Pharisees accusing Jesus of using the power of Satan to drive out demons. This is what Jesus condemned most and said could not be forgiven. This is for what Jesus reserved His harshest words.
How do we evaluate sin? Do we use social norms to decide what’s worse than something else or do we use the Word of God?
We won’t stand alone on the Day of Judgment
Jesus condemned the cities in which most of His miracles took place because they did not repent and then, when (in chapter 12) some of the Pharisees asked for a miraculous sign, He threw up His hands in frustration and warned them that not only would they be standing before God on the Day of Judgment, but standing beside them to accuse them, would be the people of Nineveh who repented when Jonah preached to them and the Queen of Sheba who travelled from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.
I didn’t know anyone but Satan would be accusing us. It’s a fearsome thought. Who do you know who would have a just case against you in the court of heaven on that day? How many might join together with him or her?
But if it’s true that other people can stand with us on the Day of Judgment to condemn us, might not the reverse be true? Might it be that those who have reason to defend and commend us might also stand with us on the Day of Judgment and speak on our behalf? Who might those people be in your life? And which group would be bigger, those condemning or those commending?
Degrees of punishment
I’ve always thought that the consequences were the same for everyone who didn’t go to heaven—the fires of hell (what an icky thought)—but it seems (this might not be news to you) that not everyone receives the same punishment. In chapter 11, Jesus is condemning the towns in which He performed the bulk of His miracles because they did not repent and what does he do? He compares these three cities to cities from the Old Testament that received severe judgment, saying that it will be worse on the Day of Judgment for the cities of His day than for Tyre, Sidon and Sodom.
Obviously, not everyone will be receiving the same consequences for not turning to God before they die. I never realized this before. That helps me know what to say next time someone asks me, “My aunt/grandma/father was a good man but didn’t become a Christian. What will happen to him?” I’ve always known that God is a just God but now I can reassure others that no, their aunt/grandma/father will not suffer the same fate as Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler.
Capernaum worse than Sodom?
Many people treat homosexuality as the worst possible sin and cite Sodom as an example of how severely God views homosexuality but in Matthew 11 and 12, Jesus gives us two answers to that. First, in chapter 11, He says it will be better for those from Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for the Bible-believing, synagogue and temple-going religious folk of Capernaum who refused to repent when Jesus performed His miracles there. Say what? Can this be true? I wonder how He’d compare the self-righteous Christians of today to well-meaning but living-in-sin homosexuals who call themselves Christians? Who would He have his harshest words for?
In chapter 12, Jesus makes it very clear that all sins and blasphemy can be forgiven except one. That one unforgivable sin is not homosexuality or, indeed, any sexual sin but rather the sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit. How many people who call themselves Christian do that? Far too many. I grew up in a church that taught that speaking in tongues was of the devil. Interestingly, Jesus’ teaching about this unforgivable sin comes on the heels of the Pharisees accusing Jesus of using the power of Satan to drive out demons. This is what Jesus condemned most and said could not be forgiven. This is for what Jesus reserved His harshest words.
How do we evaluate sin? Do we use social norms to decide what’s worse than something else or do we use the Word of God?
We won’t stand alone on the Day of Judgment
Jesus condemned the cities in which most of His miracles took place because they did not repent and then, when (in chapter 12) some of the Pharisees asked for a miraculous sign, He threw up His hands in frustration and warned them that not only would they be standing before God on the Day of Judgment, but standing beside them to accuse them, would be the people of Nineveh who repented when Jonah preached to them and the Queen of Sheba who travelled from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.
I didn’t know anyone but Satan would be accusing us. It’s a fearsome thought. Who do you know who would have a just case against you in the court of heaven on that day? How many might join together with him or her?
But if it’s true that other people can stand with us on the Day of Judgment to condemn us, might not the reverse be true? Might it be that those who have reason to defend and commend us might also stand with us on the Day of Judgment and speak on our behalf? Who might those people be in your life? And which group would be bigger, those condemning or those commending?
posted by Magdaleine at 9:57 PM
2 Comments:
Malachi 3:13-18
"You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD.
"Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?'
"You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.'"
Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.
"They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
What are you trying to say, Karl?
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