Judged

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

JUDGED

John 5:19-23

19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

NIV

If we were to hear someone say those words to us for the first time in our lives, not having all of the New Testament knowledge of Jesus that we do, we might think he was crazy. Certainly the Pharisees had never heard anyone speak of themselves in the way, speaking about being the Son of God and having all authority given to him by the Father. Yet we know that Jesus is making it clear that he is the one and true Son of God and he has all authority, but to give life and to judge all. The rest of this dissertation of Jesus gets even more intense but this beginning gives us enough to know he will be the one who passes final judgment of each person who have ever lived, and that he has the power to give life, which we know, means eternal life. Now some might use that phrase “to whom he is pleased to give it” as proof to declare Jesus decides who gets life and who doesn’t. But we also know that God desires all men to be saved and we have never heard Jesus declare that he came to die on the cross for only those he selected, but for the whole world, all men. We also must see that we should give Jesus as much praise, glory and honor as we do the Father, for we know they are three but also they are one, which is in some sense a mystery we may not fully grasp until we are with them. For now we should see Jesus is declaring his Sonship, his divinity and that if you see Jesus you see the Father. Although Jesus judges all, we also know we do not have to live under the fear of being judged for each and every offense we commit. Once we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we have been judged as justified, saved, secure in Christ. Yes we must repent of a life of unbelief; a life of disobedience to God, a life spent searching to satisfy self. Yes we should true from our wicked ways and make every effort to live a life that pleases our Lord. It is also true we will fail, we will fall short of the mark from time to time, but we will not be judged for every time we fail, as we have already been justified, not that we should go on doing whatever we want, God forbid, but we do not need to fear judgment either. The judgment will be based on who has accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and who has not. We will see later the result of the choice each person makes. Actually we already know the result but Jesus will declare it again in the rest of his words to follow. All people will have to face to Judge. What verdict will be for whom when the Judge comes?