Judgment Day

What exactly is Judgement Day? Many read about it about in books. Many Hollywood films have offered their interpretation of it only for box office receipts because it is no doubt an intriguing topic to draw moviegoers. But, is it a real future event that is coming upon the world or it is fantasy?

Do we really have to deal with an actual judgment of God once He removes all the believers from the earth and the wicked are left behind? That’s what the best-selling novels by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye discuss right?

The judgment of God is indeed real, but to get a correct view of what will happen, we must go to the scriptures.

There are numerous passages in the Old and New Testaments that deal with not only the Judgment of God or what Revelation 6 called the Wrath of the Lamb, but Judgment Day itself – when Jesus returns to earth to destroy His enemies and set up His eternal kingdom on earth.

a.       Malachi – For behold the day of the Lord is coming, burning like an oven. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Malachi 4:1,5).

b.      Zechariah – Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. The city hall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished (Zechariah 14:1-2a).

c.       Zephaniah – The great day of the Lord I near; it is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter. There the mighty men will cry out. The day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness (Zephaniah 1:14-15).

d.      Matthew - Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:29-30).

e.      ll Thessalonians – And the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing with the brightness of His coming (ll Thessalonians 2:8).

f.        II Peter – But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a great roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and the dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed (II Peter 3:10).

g.       Jude – It was about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam prophesied saying, “Behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him (Jude 14-15).

h.      Revelation - And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.  He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.  From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid heaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.                                

And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.  And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:11-21).

These passages given by eight different witnesses describe the day of the Lord or Judgment day. It will be the most horrific day in human history, and rest assured it is coming!

Why must this day take place? Because God must for His holiness sake judge the sins of the world. The world must go through a global cleansing in order for God to rid the earth of evil and usher in eternal peace.

Many doubt the return of the Lord. Why? Because the writers predicted Judgment Day centuries ago and it has not occurred yet.

  

Many mock at the return of Jesus Christ which is foolish. Listen to what Peter declares. Knowing this first of all, that scoffers (we would call them haters in today’s vernacular) will come in the last days (now) with their scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (II Peter 3:3-4).

Peter rebukes the ignorance of the naysayers stating that the world that existed at the beginning of creation is different from the world that exists now. The old world was destroyed by water – i.e. the Flood. This current world is reserved for destruction by fire (II Peter 3:5-7).

In Noah’s day God saw all the evil man was committing continually and declared that His Spirit would not always strive with man, and that he (man) had 120 years (Genesis 6:3).[1] God will not forever strive with man now either. God has even been more gracious now in that He has given man nearly two thousand years, since the time of Christ’s first coming to repent, and all of the world still commits evil continually.

Jesus’ return I believe cannot be that far away. Judgment Day is coming. Will you return with Him in glory (Revelation 19:11), or judged by Him in damnation (Revelation 20:15)?                          

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[1] The 120 years in Genesis 6:3 has been interpreted in at least two ways. (1) the 120 years

supposedly became the life span God reduces man to due to his persistent sinfulness after the flood. Prior to the flood, men were living past 900 years old. This is unlikely because Abraham lived to be 175 years and his son Isaac lived 180 years. Jacob his grandson lived to be 147 years old. (2) the 120 years are the years Noah preached until the coming of the flood.

The author does not know of any other possible interpretations

Why did Jesus say to the rich young ruler there is no one good but God? Was He denying that He was God?

In Matthew 19:16-17a we read, “Good Teacher what good thing shall I do to have eternal life?” So he said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is God.”

From the language one could infer that Jesus was not God because he said to the young ruler, “Why do you call me good?”

When Jesus asked the young man why do you me call me good, he was not denying his deity. Rather he was affirming to the young man that he is God by virtue of the fact that he made the statement, 

“There is only one that is good, and that is God.” 

It was if Jesus was also saying to the young ruler, “Since you are calling me good, are you implying that I am God?”

Whether the man knew if Jesus was God, he knew he was talking to someone with supreme wisdom and authority.

Jesus also was not rebuking the young ruler for calling him good, rather he wanted him to consider the gravity of his statement to Jesus by calling him good.

Notice though when Jesus answers the young man’s questions and lets him know what he must do to inherit eternal life how the young ruler’s attitude changes; The Bible says he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions or wealth (Mark 10:22).

This is the attitude of most of the world when they encounter the Good Master; they want to come to God on their own terms. How many people are like that rich young ruler; they feel confident about their position in life. They are unaware they are lost, and are in need of salvation. They believe their works are good enough to merit eternal life, but when matched against the requirements the Word of God demands, their evil pride is broken, and they turn and walk away sorrowful because the requirements of God do not match their own.

Remember the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “What good thing must I do to have eternal life? When Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21).

Had he loved the Lord, he would have obeyed Jesus and followed him. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” He also said, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he loves me” (John 14:15, 21).

This is important to understand, when Jesus answered the young man by telling him to obey the law, and the man said which ones, Jesus said, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your Mother and Father, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself, he (Jesus) was not advocating that the rich man could be saved by obeying the law, rather he was testing him to see if he believed by keeping the law he could be saved.

The young man replied to him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack” (Matthew 19:20)?

By the young ruler’s reply, he believed he did all that was required to gain eternal life. That is why he replied to Jesus, “What do I still lack?”

When Jesus told him to sell his goods and follow him, he was not advocating that salvation comes through philanthropy.

Jesus was demanding the rich man be willing to abandon all he has to gain all Christ had for him. He refused proving he was unfit for the kingdom of God.

In the end, the rich man did not want to do the good thing he asked Jesus about. Why? Because of what it would cost him, and more importantly, he did not love God like he may have thought in the beginning.

Love of God demands obedience to him. Jesus tested the young man’s faith and love for him and he failed tragically.

The Adams Families

It may be news to some, but the Bible talks about two Adams; the first Adam and the last Adam.
What I would like to do is compare the two men.

In 1 Corinthians 15:45 we read, “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

The last Adam, of course, is Jesus Christ.

The first way we can compare the two men is in their temptations. With the first Adam, he failed miserably. Adam plunged the entire human race into sin, suffering and death. As a result of his act of disobedience, he became a sinner. Along with his act of sin along with our mother Eve, we were born sinners, unrighteous and rebellious in our own right. The sin nature the first Adam acquired has been transferred to us. All of the human race is guilty by association and guilty by our own sinful acts of rebellion toward God.

Adam was created perfectly by God, but with peccability – the ability to sin. We know this because he did in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:6).

Contrast the life of Christ we find that he endured every temptation perfectly with no sin. Jesus has what is called impeccability – the inability to sin. Although we are comparing two men, one was of an earthly origin, the other from everlasting with a heavenly-earthly origin in his flesh (I Corinthians 15:47).

The marked difference between the two men was Adam hearkened unto his wife who was deceived by Satan’s lies and ate the forbidden fruit. The first Adam’s mistake was that he did not use the word of God to rebuke the devil, and send him out of the garden.  The last Adam on the other hand, when confronted with temptation, recited God’s word and sent the devil away (Matthew 4:10-11).
Both men had ultimate authority. The first Adam forfeited his authority and was defeated by the enemy. The second Adam used his authority to gain victory over the enemy.
The last Adam regained with the first Adam lost – the authority in the earth. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”

The second way we can compare the two Adams is in their offspring. All those born in the first Adam will die because of sin. Since the first Adam was made the federal head of this world, all those born in him take on his DNA which is a certificate of death; we are born into sin.

The Bible says it like this, “Wherefore, as by one man (i.e. Adam), sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death upon all men for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
In Romans 5:17a we read, “For by one man’s offense death reigned by one…”
In Romans 5:19a we read, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners…”
All of the first Adams’ children which are the entire human race are sinners. We were born with no hope and without God (Ephesians 2:12).

The chasm between sinful man and a Holy God is an unbridgeable gap. We can never cross that gap on our own. Why? Because in our natural sinful flesh we are unable to because we are unwilling. Our sinfulness is so systemic that it would take a miracle from God for us to be able to get to Him.
Unregenerate man is indeed a child of the devil (John 8:44). Anyone who does not acknowledge this truth is spiritually blind and dead.

So, how does one go from being in the first Adam’s family to the Last Adam’s family? The sinner HAS to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and the justification of his soul by faith in order to cross over the bridge to get to God. The last Adam is that bridge we must go on to cross over and become a part of the family of the righteous. The first Adam ruined our relationship with the Father, the Last Adam restored it forever (Romans 5:19b).

Truly all die in the first Adam, and truly all live in the Last Adam (Romans 5:18).
The third and final comparison I want to make between the two men is rulership

In Genesis 1:26 we read God giving Adam authority over all the earth. Scholars have referred to the first Adam having Federal Headship over the earth. Why? Because God gave him complete dominion. Adam was the king of the earth prior to his epic fall from grace. The earth has always belonged to the Lord, but he centuries ago gave authority to man to take care of it. We see how this has turned out to this very hour – it’s a disaster! Fortunately not a disaster that God is not aware of and in control over. He knew this would happen for he allowed it for his own divine purposes.

Because of sin man’s authority is totally corrupt, and out of control. Man no longer rules with righteousness and submission to God’s will. Rather man is an evil egotistical, despot who abuses his power that leaves countless souls ruined in his collateral damage.

The word of God in Proverbs says this, “When the wicked rise, men hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase” (Proverbs 28:28).

Because of the failure of the first Adam’s rule as Federal Head, we are now seeing the fruits of his descendants’ rulership.

Contrast this with the last Adam’s rule; we read that Jesus will rule the nations with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15).

His rule will be an everlasting rule which will never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44).

The last Adam’s rule will usher in everlasting peace. We read in Isaiah 11:9 these words, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”
Being full of the knowledge of the Lord is an amazing reality! We have no capacity to realize that now in the world that is wholesale ignorant of God’s true knowledge. The reason why I know we are deficient of God’s knowledge is because of all the false religions, and false teaching that exists regarding the true God; as a result, man manufactures his own gods with his own code of “ethics”, and worships his false deities.

This is idolatry.

Man is ignorant of the knowledge of the Lord willfully because he is sinful, and he is ignorant because he is spiritually dead to God (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13).

These two men represent two natures. The Adamic  nature represents the fall – the man of sin. The last Adam is God in the flesh; He represents all those forgiven of sin, born of his Spirit, adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters.

Two men, two families. To which one do you belong?