True Judgment

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.”

Many believe that the Old Testament is a harsh indictment of human sin and warning of coming divine judgment, they say, whereas the New Testament stresses God’s grace and love. They are dead wrong. One commentary states that the fact is, however, that the Old Testament contains numerous testimonies of the love and merciful lovingkindness of God. Similarly, the most striking and fearsome warnings and prophecies of judgment to come are found in the New Testament. The above text is an example, with its revelation of the coming eternal separation from God of all who reject Christ and His saving gospel. 

It’s understandable that people don’t want to hear bad news in general, but that doesn’t mean that you omit the God-rejecting world system, the sin nature of our fallen flesh or the continuing evil work of the devil and demonic activity around us today that affects each and every one of us on earth. To pretend that everything is good and nice is not reality and everyone knows it. Yet many do just that. It’s a fact that we live in a fallen world and not everyone is going to Heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself uttered more warnings of future hell than anyone else recorded in either testament. He said, for example, that those “on the left hand” will be commanded to “depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Jude spoke of ungodly men “to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 1:13).

And, of course, the very last book of the New Testament, written by the Apostle John, the disciple who stressed God’s love more than any other writer, focuses especially and in detail on the coming period of God’s judgment on a lawless and rebellious world. The climax of these warnings is Revelation 20:15: “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” You cannot leave the truth out of the gospel. People must know what they are saved “from”, before they can know what they are saved “to” because you cannot be found until you know that you are lost. The gospel of Jesus is not about Jesus coming to save good people; all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Judgment day is coming, but Jesus came to save sinners in this lost and dying world. The good news is that God’s grace and full forgiveness are free to all who repent and receive Christ, but certain judgment will come to all who refuse. 

Live in reality, start really living in Christ and tell everyone the full gospel and save souls.