Season 1 Podcast 32, Safety Net Nine, Christ as Judge

A New Voice of Freedom

Season 1 Podcast 32 Safety Net Nine, Christ as Judge

“22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:” (John 5:22)

He will judge in righteousness (Acts 17:31.), truth (Rom. 2:2.), and mercy (Zech. 7:9.)

When Christians speak of The Judgment, they often are thinking of The Final Judgment. Whereas there is only one final judgment, other judgments precede the final judgment.

First, on earth we are subject to temporal laws and spiritual laws. They are governed by the principle of causality, for every cause there is an effect. We reap the blessings of the laws we obey. We reap the consequences of the laws we disobey. The consequences of temporal laws are sometimes swift. The consequences of spiritual laws are equally absolute; however, because of the atonement of Christ, the consequences are sometime postponed while we are in our probationary state, thus allowing us to repent and call upon the mercy of God.

All of us must confront the laws of nature and bow to nature’s wishes. As much as we may want to violate the law of gravity, we can never violate the law of gravity. Like many others, in my youth I suffered a broken bone because of my carelessness.

Many of us overlook the fact that there is another set of laws, not always so scientifically scrutinized as the laws of nature, that are just as absolute, just as subject to the principle of causality, and just as exacting. They are spiritual laws or laws of God. All misery in the world is caused by violation of law, whether they are the temporal laws that rule nature or the spiritual laws that rule the Kingdom of God on earth. All laws of God are subject to the principle of causality. For every cause there is an effect. Every law of God carries a blessing when obeyed and a punishment when disobeyed. We have a spirit and a physical body; therefore, we have a spiritual nature and a carnal nature. For that reason, we have spiritual laws and temporal laws. Spiritual laws deal with immortality. Temporal laws deal with mortality. Those who ignore all spiritual laws and serve only their carnal appetites are without God in the world. In a kind of self-judgment, they deny themselves the blessings of God and get by according to their own genius. In worldly terms, they may appear incredibly successful; however, in the final accounting, their earthly pleasures and accumulated treasures will dissolve into nothingness, and they will be left standing destitute before the bar of God. Earthly wealth has no purchasing power I heaven.

Simply stated, if we want liberty, we must obey the law of liberty. What is the law of liberty? The law of liberty is the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the only law of liberty. Man’s laws are subject to the whims of man, but all laws of God are absolute and unyielding. Man may change his laws but man may not change the laws of God.

Second, at death there will be a kind of judgment. Depending upon our works on earth, some, during the time between death and the resurrection, will go to paradise; some will be in a kind of spirit prison where they will be taught the gospel of Christ. The Apostle Peter tells us:

“18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.

20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

(1 Peter 3:18-20)

Others go to hell.”

“13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.” (Revelation 20:13)