Thoughts On The Judgment Of God

A large part of Christianity does not understand the holiness of God and because they fail to understand His majesty, they have a very difficult time with God's judgment against sinners. What aggravates the problem even more is when people only talk about the love of God as if His wrath is outdated and wrong. I present that we will never truly understand nor appreciate just how much God does indeed love His people unless we understand how "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY" HE is which includes vindicating His name in pouring out His judgment on sinners. The beautiful thing about the Gospel is this: "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"(Heb 9:27–28). How's that for love and grace!

The cross is not only a demonstration of God's love but also His judgment in wrath. God has not ceased to be holy because of the cross, no, rather the cross is also a demonstration of His holiness. I have no favorite verse but if I did 2 Corinthians 5:21 might be close to being it: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

The modern understanding of Calvary seems to be that it was simply a sentimental gesture of God. But without understanding God's judgment in wrath, the cross is meaningless. Were there sentiments involved at the cross? Of course. I don't think the Father was a Stoic without any type of emotion. However, we must not confuse our emotions with God's. We tend to be controlled by ours where God is not controlled by anything. He is perfectly and completely in control of all things. At Calvary God was both pouring out His wrath on Christ and at the same time, in love, He was saving His people. There is not one iota of wrath left for God's children. It was fully expended on Christ. We are no longer under the curse but rather blessed, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith"(Ga 3:13–14).

As I have been reading through Ezekiel what has caught my attention is that thus far every chapter (I could be mistaken) and I'm up to 22, has mentioned God's judgment on nations. Take this pronouncment on the Ammonites for example: "And I will pour out my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men, skillful to destroy. You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be no more remembered, for I the LORD have spoken”(Eze 21:31–32). What is it that the author of Hebrews said- "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"(Heb 10:31).

The judgment of God is still on the heads of the Christ rejecters. The New Testament verifies this in John 3:36- "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." This is why when we proclaim the Gospel we must never avoid mentioning God's wrath. It is a present reality for the unrepentant.


Finnally, in order to have salvation you must have condemnation but to preach condemnation without the offer of salvation is just cruel. This is why we love Christ because He alone is our salvation and there is no escaping God's judgment apart from Him. He not only freed us from the curse of the law but He freed us from our bondage to sin. Soli Deo Gloria!


For His Glory,
Fernando