When I first became a Christian, as a 16 year old with no church background, I pictured God’s judgements purely in terms of personal morality. As if God were the strict. schoolmaster and we were the naughty children skipping class and back chatting to teachers (there was probably a reason I thought of things that way). But this morality paradigm has the potential to blind us to a more basic perspective on judgement found throughout Christian scripture, in the Old and the New testament. 

With righteousness he [the Messiah] will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. (v.4)

Remember that image, won’t you? A weapon out of his mouth. 

“When the Son of Man, [that’s Jesus’ way of referring to himself] comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” (v.31-33)

‘Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ (v.45)

Your merchants were the world’s great men. By your magic spell, all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of the prophets and of the Saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.  (v.23-24)

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron sceptre. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. (v.11-15)

It’s bracing stuff, and notice there’s that weapon coming out of his mouth, which is also mentioned in Isaiah. It’s the weapon of his simple word bringing down the tyrants and lifting up the vulnerable. Viewed this way, the biblical threat of judgement isn’t a theological scare tactic designed to make us more religious. It’s a pledge to oppressed humanity that the Creator hears their cries for justice and will one day bring his justice to bear on every act of oppression. God’s judgement and compassion, then, are two sides of the one coin. It’s because God loved the unnumbered martyrs of the 1st century that he will bring the tyrannous Roman perpetrators to judgement. It’s because he loves the downtrodden millions today in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, that he will bring to justice developing world despots and neglectful materialists.

The longing through the ages that God would do something about the violence, the greed, and the corruption of human history will be satisfied on the Day of Judgement. As victims and perpetrators experience no more, and no less, than is their due. Despite all the speculation about end times the book of Revelation, inspired by the Old Testament and Jesus himself, is perfectly clear that love, mercy, and the justice of God will win.

By John Dickson

Want to hear the rest of the episode?
Check out episode 97: “The Apocalypse”