Bible study on the judgment of God

What Do We Make of God’s Judgment in the Old Testament?

 

The whole of the Bible is one grand story line. Often, however, we find ourselves separating the Old from the New Testament, as if they were two entirely different stories. The separating of the two has subsequently caused two views of God to arise in our minds: “the God of judgment” (Old Testament) and “the God of love” (New Testament).

The Bible is indeed a unified grand story and, therefore, it knows no divisions. Alec Motyer explains this well in his book: The Christian’s Pocket Guide to Loving the Old Testament: Prophecies made in the Old Testament books point to prophecies fulfilled in the New Testament books; references to the Trinity in the Old are explained in the New; and certain biblical terms used before Christ were fulfilled in their meaning when the Son of God walked the earth.

         Similarly, the character and person of God as revealed in the Old Testament cannot be separated from the God of the New. This means that his judgment towards the nations in the Old Testament has something significant to say to us about the grand story line of the Bible, meaning that it cannot be divorced from the rest of the Word

of God.

                So what do we make of God’s judgment in the Old Testament?

 

God’s judgment can be difficult for us to understand, and that is okay.

 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)

 

The first important thing to note is that God’s own understanding is higher than ours, as are his ways and works. So, while we can study the Bible and search its depths in an effort to know its grand storyline, we will not always be privy to the minute details of God’s actions, nor his reasons behind those actions.

 

Despite our limited understanding, however, we can make some general observations about the judgment of God as seen in many Old Testament books:

 

God’s judgment is always inseparable from his love, mercy, and grace.

 

And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the Lord, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god. Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished. (Jeremiah 48:35-36)

 

God’s love and judgment go together. In other words, our God is not either full of wrath or full of love, but he is both simultaneously. We struggle to grasp this because of the limits of our human understanding, but that does not mean that he is not so. As D.A. Carson writes:

There is nothing intrinsically impossible about the wrath and love being directed towards the same people at the same time. God in his perfections must be wrathful against his rebel image-bearers, for they have offended him; God in his perfections must be loving toward his rebel image-bearers, for he is that kind of God. (The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, 69)

 

We see God’s love and judgment wrapped up together perfectly at the cross. Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God, absorbs the just wrath of God. The cross is proof that what seems like dead-end judgment actually is the loving purpose of God being magnified forever. Similarly, in the Old Testament, God’s judgment on the nations points to the eventual salvation of his chosen people, the climax of which is Jesus Christ.

 

God’s judgment instructs us about God’s character and person.

 

For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, “Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.” (Exodus 19:11-12)

 

This passage from Exodus reveals that God is holy. It is not the mountain that will put the people to death but the sight of God’s holiness. God’s judgment teaches us about his perfection; he is so holy that no sinner can stand in his presence. It also teaches us about his generosity and mercy. For only a merciful God would provide a way to forgive in order to redeem his chosen people.

 

God’s judgment instructs us about our own character and person.

 

You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. (Isaiah 47:10-11)

 

God is speaking to his enemies, the Babylonians, in the above passage. God is holy, wise, and perfect, but his enemies are wicked, rebellious, and proud. All of us were at one point enemies of God, and some reading this might still be (Romans 5:10). We said earlier that no sinner can stand before a holy God because his righteousness and perfection reveals our own iniquities and evil. So God’s judgment informs us about our own sinful nature apart from Christ.

 

God’s judgment illuminates our need for a Great High Priest.

 

Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests…So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord…Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly. (Exodus 28:1,29-30)

 

Before Christ, priests in the tabernacle would bear the judgment of God’s people. But in Christ, by faith, a once-rebellious sinner is covered by the Lamb’s shed blood and robed in his righteousness. Christ is our Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14). The Old Testament stories of judgment point to our desperate need for God to provide a substitute for sinners, someone to bear their judgment and atone for their sins, which he graciously did in the person and work of his very own Son, Jesus.

 

God’s judgment foreshadows that which will come on the Last Day.

 

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. (Psalm 37:10-13)

 

Many Old Testament accounts of God’s judgment involve historical events: the Babylonian exile, for instance. But they also point to a greater, future reality when God will judge every person through the Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ. Matthew 24:30 says:

 

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

 

Jesus will come again to judge mankind, when every knee will bow and tongue confess that he, indeed, is Lord. So Scripture instructs us to be ready for that day (1 Peter 4:7), sober-minded, and watchful, placing our faith and hope in Jesus Christ, who took on God’s judgment so we would never have to.

 

Source:  Unlocking the Bible, unlockingthebible.org/what-do-we-make-of-gods-judgment-in-the-old-testament/

 

Comment:

 

Matthew 24:30, quoted in the study above, may refer to the final judgment when Jesus returns, but, in the context, it may be an apocalyptic or figurative way of referring to Jesus’ judgment on Jerusalem, or even on the Roman Empire that destroyed Jerusalem and persecuted Christians, in which judgments Jesus’ reign as Son of Man, Daniel 7:13-14; Mark 9:1, is convincingly proven, despite his death on the cross some 40 years earlier. Mark 9:31.          

 

 

The Historical Aspect of Judgment

 

The Bible is not a collection of abstract ideas about God and truth. It is a record of the great acts of God. The worship of Israel and the confession of her faith consisted essentially in recounting the great acts of God (Deut. 6:20-24; 26:5-9; Judges 5:11; Ps. 66:1-6; 78; 105; 106; 145). God reveals Himself, not by giving abstract propositions about Himself, but by His concrete acts in history. God reveals Himself by His mighty deeds.

 

The great works of the Lord which are constantly celebrated in the Bible are His deeds of judgment.

All His ways are judgment. Deut. 32:4.

... a God of judgment. Isa. 30:18.

 

Whether He destroys the world by a flood, rescues Israel from Egypt, sends His people to Babylon or brings them out, all of God's acts are represented as acts of judgment. Thus God says, "'I will lay My hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out My divisions, My people the Israelites"' (Ex. 7:4, NIV). In Exodus 6:5, 6 God also links covenant and His historical acts: "'I have remembered My covenant.... "I will … redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment""' (NIV).

 

In view of the fact that the relationship between Yahweh and Israel is conceived under the form of a covenant, judgment for Israel means salvation, victory, deliverance, due to the intervention of Yahweh in virtue of His duties as the God of the covenant, together with their corollary, the punishment of those who are outside the covenant, Israel's non-Jewish enemies. This is the meaning of the acts of justice or judgments of Yahweh which the Bible interprets as victories in Judg. 5:11 and Mic. 6:15. They are victories for Israel, defeats for their enemies. On every occasion when God acts on behalf of His people He judges them, that is to say, He helps them, leads them, and saves them. The history of Israel consists of a succession of these judgments: the judgment of the world by the flood (Gen. 6:5), the judgment upon Sodom (Gen. 18:20) and on Egypt (Exod. 7:4). It will be noticed that here judgment signifies punishment because Egypt was not Israel. The judgments of Yahweh on His people are always conceived as acquittals, since judgment is deliverance and victory (Deut. 32:36; Isa. 30:18; Jer. 30:11; Ps. 135:4), with its corollary of the punishments of non-Israelites (Ps. 7:7; 9:4; 110:6).

 

In the Psalms the allusions to God as judge and to His judgments are numerous. He is celebrated as the judge of all the earth, He who judges its ends, that is to say, its limits, He who judges the world with justice (1 Sam. 2:10; Ps. 9:9; 96:13; .82:8; cf. Gen. 18:25). It may be inferred that the celebration of God and His judgments occupied an important place in worship, as also did the expectation of the judgment of Yahweh. It is certain that at the great festivals of the Temple in Jerusalem Yahweh was celebrated as the judge par excellence.9

 

There is a very important link between the words judgment and righteousness. These words are often associated. In fact, they can sometimes be used interchangeably. Judgment is not just an exercise of might. "There is a strong flavour of 'right' about the word."10

 

Abraham asked, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25).

The judgments of the Lord are always "righteous judgments" (Ps. 119:160).

He [the Lord] loveth righteousness and judgment. Ps. 33:5.

Judge me... according to Thy righteousness. Ps. 35:24.

He shall judge the world with righteousness. Ps. 96:13.

Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. Ps. 97:2.

 

When God judges, therefore, He not only decides the right, but He carries out the right. This is not a detached, abstract judgment. As Leon Morris indicates, it is different from our Western concept of the cold neutrality of an impartial judge. It is dynamic action, involvement, passion for the right.

 

The dynamic character of the word must be stressed. It is not an intellectual activity carried out in academic detachment. It is not an exercise in balancing evidence. It is an activity of discrimination and vindication. He who does mishpat [justice, judgment] seeks out the wrongdoer to punish him, and the righteous to vindicate his cause.11

 

This is a very important point because it shows us that God's judgment is not a mere trial but includes action.

 

This leads us to a definition of the biblical word righteousness. Righteousness is God's acting in judgment to carry out His covenantal purposes. When God reveals His righteousness, He reveals His acts of judgment.                 

 

9. Von Alimen, Vocabulary of the Bible, p. 209.

10. Morris, Biblical Doctrine of Judgment, p. 10.

11. Ibid., p. 17.

 

Source: The Doctrine of Judgment in The Old and New Testaments, http://www.presenttruthmag.com                                

 

 

In Christ we can Face the Final Judgment with Confidence

 

Therefore Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

 

24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:15-28

 

God offered His own Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. In fact, Jesus “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself”!

 

God accepted the sacrifice, brought Jesus back to life, and accepted His entry into the heavenly Holy of Holies, where he appeared “in the presence of God on our behalf.”

 

“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

 

Thus, Christians can face the final judgment with supreme confidence, because of Jesus their Saviour and High Priest.

 

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:30-31

 

Dear friend, if you will repent of your sins, and turn in faith and baptism to Christ as Lord and Saviour, you too can face the judgment with confidence. The sooner the better, for we don’t know how near that judgment is.

 

“Build your hopes on things eternal: hold to God’s unchanging hand.” (Hold To God’s Unchanging Hand, Jennie Wilson, 1904)                            

                              [David has a new tract available on judgment]

 

David Hunter