Here Comes the Judge

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

HERE COMES THE JUDGE

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

We have seen the Father like Son aspect of this answer of Jesus and we have looked at not only the Father raising people from the dead, but that Jesus has his own authority to raise people from the dead, and in fact, he will come for us and raise us from the dead. Actually, we have already been raised from the dead by Jesus as we were once dead in our sin, but through the blood of Jesus that sin has been removed as he took it with him on the cross and he has raised us up from that deadness in sin and given us eternal life, at least to those who believe and accept his divine gift of grace. Now we see the Father has given all authority to the Son, Jesus, as far as judgment is concerned. Is this referring to the last Judgment or some intermediate series of judgments? That leads us to the question of whether there are any intermediate judgments or is there only the last and final judgment of all mankind. What seems to be the difference is that we as humans must make certain intermediate judgments in our daily living. We need to judge between this and that, good or evil thoughts and behaviors each and every day, but the final judgment of our heart belongs solely to Jesus when he raises us from the dead. This, again, shows Jesus equal with the Father and of course, this irritates the Jews even more. Jesus being the one who judges our hearts also shows his omniscience, his all-knowing ability to know the heart of man. This is why Matthew records those words about those who tell Jesus what great deeds they have done and he tells them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Jesus examines the heart of man, not his actions. Look at how God declared David to be a man after his own heart, even after David committed adultery, murder, and the great cover-up. Once he was made aware plainly of his sin, he deeply repented. His heart was broken that he had allowed himself to be caught up in such a sin against God. This is the condition of our heart which Jesus judges. Even in our everyday lives, he examines our hearts. Can we say we have not sinned in some way each day? Our thoughts are not His thoughts, our ways are not his way, we are tempted and unlike Jesus, we fall to some temptation and we find ourselves committing some sin against God. But how do we deal with it? Do we feel remorseful and repetitive? Do we just say, well we are human and flail, we will always have some sin within us? No, we cannot justify any sin, no matter how small it may be. Even the thought or hint of envy is sin, or the smallest amount of jealousy, or bitterness, or for that matter, pride is a sin. Thinking more highly of ourselves than we should is sin. Holding any kind of grudge, or refusing to forgive is a sin. It is not about any lists of deeds either we do not do or think we should do, it is about the condition of our heart which Jesus judges. So let us live with our heart bent towards God, for here comes the Judge.