God will bring everything into judgment and render perfect justice.

Caroline Skinner and Samantha Springer write:

“The telephone rang just past 3 o’clock on an April morning, piercing the silence of the darkened Long Island home where James McGlone and his wife slept. When he picked up the phone, McGlone was drowsy and disoriented, but the voice on the line made his stomach drop, jolting him awake.

“The late-night caller said McGlone’s nephew was in legal trouble and needed immediate financial assistance. He’d been in a car accident that had caused the other driver—a pregnant woman—to lose her baby. Thinking his nephew’s future was on the line, McGlone didn’t hesitate to send the cash.”¹

McGlone, retired and in his 80s, sent $22,000, nearly all of his life savings. But the call was a scam, and his money was now gone for good.

The Federal Trade Commission reported that in 2019 scams cost people age 60 and over almost $149 million.

What kind of person is willing to steal the life savings of the elderly?

What kind of world do we live in where thieves can get away with it so easily?

The gospel of final judgment

The world we live in is an evil place where it appears that evil people usually get away with evil deeds. That is a depressing scenario. The message of the gospel, however, is that scenario is false.

The apostle Paul says there is coming a “day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Rom 2:16, ESV).

According to the gospel—the good news—no one will get away with anything. On the contrary, what we learn from the gospel is that God himself will make all things right. That is what Judgment Day will be: the day when God—the Final Judge—makes all things right, when he brings all evil deeds into the light, when every evil deed receives its recompense.

Hitler and every other despot will get what he deserves. Scammers will get what they deserve. Sex traffickers will get what they deserve. Pickpockets, liars, rapists, and murders will get what they deserve.

The gospel affirms that God is the Final Judge of every human soul. He will settle the score and make all things right. Judgment Day is payback time.

The perfect judge

But you and I also will get what we deserve.

That is where things get uncomfortable. For we all have done evil things, and God does not ignore them any more than the deeds of scammers.

That again is where the gospel comes in. At the center of the gospel is the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross was judgment day. Not Final Judgment, but momentous, all-important judgment, the day when all things were made right for God’s people.

The good news is that for God’s people “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). Jesus took the judgment we deserved. The good news is God is the perfect judge, and he will get the final judgment perfectly, exactly right, to the utter amazement and wonder of his people. At the judgment, every mouth will be stopped. Every insolent tongue will become mute. No one will be able to accuse the great Judge of misjudging anyone.

Who is the judge on the throne at the final judgment?

And here is the surprising thing. Just as Jesus was at the nexus of momentous, all-important judgment as he hung on the Cross, so he will be at the nexus of the momentous, all-important judgment that occurs on that Final Judgment Day. For on that day he himself will be the Judge rather than the judged.

Jesus said, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). He also said, “The Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done” (Matthew 16:27). (See also Acts 10:42; 17:31)

At the center of it all, Jesus will sit on the throne of Judgment and reveal every secret, every sin, every good and righteous deed. He will be the one who pronounces rewards for his followers or condemns unbelieving, wicked souls to perdition.

A loving judge

This is the good news for believers in Jesus. The Judge we face on that final day will be the one who loves us and died for our sins. He knows us by name. The Judge will be our Savior, our High Priest, our advocate. The Judge will be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of his people. On that Final Judgment Day, when you stand at the center of it all, if you trust in Christ, you will look into the loving eyes of Jesus.

Our way and God’s way

Our way: People of darkness act as though there were no such thing as Final Judgment Day. They ignore it.

God’s way: There is a God in heaven who judges righteously. In the end, God settles the books. He brings to account every person’s every intention, word, and deed. The good news of the gospel is, he also wants to save us.

Life principle: Live every day in light of Judgment Day.

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1. Caroline Skinner and Samantha Springer, “Imposter scams use new tech and techniques to steal retirees’ life savings,” NBCNews.com. (12-15-19)

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

God’s justice and holiness are aspects of his goodness.

After exploring for several weeks (beginning here) the goodness of God’s holiness, we now turn to the aspect of God’s holiness that may have been the first thing that came to your mind when you think of the holiness of God: his judgments. Because God is holy, he judges evildoers.

God’s justice and holiness are aspects of his goodness

God’s justice is actually a necessary part of his perfect goodness. A good person cannot be indifferent or passive regarding evil. A good person cannot be unjust. And God is 100 percent good, so he must be 100 percent just.

For example, if someone is walking down Madison street and sees someone being robbed at gunpoint on the other side of the street, but does nothing about it—not calling the police but rather turning and running away to protect himself—that is bad. That is neglecting one’s responsibility to another person in need.

Similarly, if a person is a registered voter, and there is an election with moral issues at stake, but that person doesn’t bother to vote, that is moral negligence. He or she is contributing to evil in society by failing to act to prevent it. A truly good person is not passive or indifferent about any moral situation.

This is particularly so with someone who has the role of a judge in society. A good judge must uphold justice by condemning evildoers. A judge who ignores the laws and its punishments, who thinks he is being compassionate by regularly releasing murderers, thieves, rapists, corrupt politicians, lawless corporate executives and financiers, and drug dealers without punishment is not being compassionate to the past victims of their crimes, or to future victims of their crimes, or to society as a whole as law and order break down, and law-abiding citizens live in fear.

God’s justice and holiness require punishment of evil deeds

But justice is about more than protecting law-abiding people from predatory people. Justice requires punishment for its own sake. Justice requires that evildoers reap what they sow. God has created a moral universe where there are rewards and consequences for how a person acts, morally or immorally.

So, justice demands that an evildoer not only be kept from harming others in the future but also that the evildoer suffer punishment for doing evil. For that reason, putting an evildoer in a prison that kept him or her from society but provided a paradise of luxury living with gourmet food, daily live entertainment, and so on, would not be just. That would be rewarding evildoing. Justice requires negative consequences for evildoing.

I’m laboring this point because this is one idea Western culture has trouble embracing. Our culture does not like to punish evil-doing except in the most extreme cases, and this reluctance is a fault. It is unjust. It is this uneasiness with punishment that leads some people to dislike that God punishes evildoers.

Why many people disagree with God’s justice and holiness

This uneasiness with punishment can stem from noble impulses. We don’t want to be hypocrites, and we know we all fail in one way or another, and so we can feel hypocritical about punishing others when that means we also deserve punishment in some area of our lives. What’s more, we want to be compassionate, and it does not feel compassionate to inflict punishment on others, even evildoers. Moreover, we want to do to others what we want done to us, and we all want mercy for ourselves, not judgment.

The effect of all this is, the more aware we are of our own faults, the less willing we will be to punish others for similar faults, or for any faults. So, as our culture becomes increasingly immoral, we have become increasingly unable to dispense justice and punishment. People in our culture are confused about justice and uncomfortable with punishment.

And therefore, people are confused about God, who is the judge of all because he is the creator of all. People have trouble embracing the One who is perfect justice and righteousness. Therefore, we can be uncomfortable with God’s holiness. This is particularly the case when we realize that we or someone we care about deserves to receive punishment. Then we have skin in the game, and we lose impartiality.

How Scripture links God’s justice and holiness

Having laid this introduction, we come finally to the Scriptures. Because there is so much injustice and evil in the world, the Bible often and rightly talks about God’s holy judgments, for example:

From the Old Testament: “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Sidon, and I will manifest my glory in your midst. And they shall know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her and manifest my holiness in her; for I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets; and the slain shall fall in her midst, by the sword that is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD’” (Ezekiel 28:22–26).

From the New Testament: “And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, ‘Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments’” (Revelation 16:5).

This is God being good—doing what a good judge must do. Holy means good, and good means just.

God is never cruel; he is always perfectly just, and perfect justice is often severe, toward severe evil, and sometimes violent, for the wages of sin is death; this is not because God loves violence but because he is perfectly good, perfectly just, perfectly holy.

Our ways versus God’s ways

Our ways: We are for justice as long as nobody gets hurt, especially not we and people we care about, and especially not people who seem nice even though they break God’s moral laws.

God’s ways: God is completely, impartially just. He never compromises justice—never ever—because he is perfectly good. He always does what is right. But in holiness he has made a way to be both just and merciful: through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Through the Cross of Jesus, justice is completely satisfied, and at the Cross, mercy is offered to all who will believe and follow Jesus.