In All Fairness

So you want fairness do you? How many times have we heard someone complain that they were not being treated justly, that they deserved a lesser penalty for something they had done? Almost everyone sees themselves as more innocent than they truly are. Today we look at the most just judge anyone could ever have because He is the one who has already paid the price of all of our ‘crimes’ before God. Jesus is teaching His disciples the truths of the Kingdom of God:

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.¹

Jesus is the ultimate Judge and judges according to the ways of the Father. Because Jesus has become the perfect sacrifice for all our sins, Jesus has the authority to judge. Interestingly, He has determined that those who believe wholly in Him have forever life such that they need not be judged. Their sins have already been judged and the penalty paid by Jesus who is then able to declare them righteous in Him.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.²

It is not that we are faultless for we have all rebelled in some way against the desires of the heart of the LORD but in repentance and faith in His work on our behalf, we no longer have to pay the penalty for we are not judged for what Jesus has paid the penalty for in our place. In Christ Jesus we are free from the judgment and the penalty that would be demanded of us. Yet, those who will not repent and believe in the work of Jesus on their behalf do come into judgment and have no ability to resolve the guilt for they will not agree with the LORD’s terms.

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that He bears about me is true.” ³ 

While the Father does not judge those in the Son, He does dictate the terms of righteousness which the Son fulfilled. Those who refuse to submit to the Son—accept the sacrifice of Jesus on their behalf and live changed in Him—cannot participate in result of His fulfilling the will of God and will then suffer the consequences. Forever. Needlessly but because they insist upon living by their own will and abilities which will be proven futile.

Lord, may we not be those who disregard Jesus in our bodies, souls and spirits. May we enter in with Him.