Final judgment
Anytime I give a sermon like the one I gave on Easter Sunday, I know there will be some people wondering about judgment.
“If what you’re saying is that God will ultimately redeem all people, what place does judgment have? Will anyone be judged? If so, what will that look like?”
These are good and important questions.
First, I believe in judgment if for no other reason than because the church professes it. “We believe he will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
But I also believe in judgment because it will be necessary for God to accomplish what I understand to be God’s ultimate, good ends. Sin and evil can have no place in God’s eschatological kingdom, which means that any sin or evil still residing in me or in the world must be dealt with.
And as I read it, the New Testament declares that it will be (or already has been).
John the Revelator paints a vivid (though metaphorical) picture of God doing battle against the forces of evil, ultimately sentencing the unholy trinity of Satan, “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” to the lake of fire and burning sulfur.[1] Again, this is not strict, literal imagery and the reader should not take it to include sinful people. People are not being condemned here. Evil is.
But as far as sinful people are concerned, there are a number of ways to think about this. First, if you grew up in a Christian tradition that was fond of thinking about Jesus’ death as a vicarious punishment for human sin (e.g. Jesus took your place on the cross and suffered God’s judgment on your behalf), while I don’t subscribe to that position myself, if you couple that conviction with the belief that all of humanity was “in Christ”—that is, just as everyone is implicated in the sin of the “first Adam” so too is everyone included in the righteous life of the “second Adam”[2]—then all people have already been judged and ultimately exonerated. No person was left out of what Jesus did.
That does not mean that when any individual person stands before God he or she may not still have sin that needs to be acknowledged and dispensed with. That will certainly be true. There are many people who do not care at all to honor Jesus in this life and whose lives are full of sin. But there are also Christian people who desire to honor Jesus but who, like the Apostle Paul, still find themselves routinely doing that which they don’t want to do.[3]
That is to say, while all people have already been judged and exonerated in Christ, that does not mean the sin in their lives has just been magically removed. Christianity is not magic and we do a great disservice to people when we talk about Christ’s atoning work as accomplishing something that approximates to magic (as when we tell people that the moment they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior God wipes away all their sin, past, present, and future as if none of it ever happened).
God forgives us in Christ, for sure, but the only way sin is “taken away” is when we stop doing it. And that is the effect God’s forgiveness is supposed to have on us. When we see our sin for what it is and experience God’s incredible mercy, it is supposed to set us on a path of new life whereby sin has less appeal to us and less hold on us (over time).
Many of us have already had that experience when we encountered God in the face of Jesus Christ, but I believe it will be complete for all people upon judgment, because in that moment all of us will still have some things in our lives that don’t belong in God’s kingdom. I think the prophet Ezekiel paints a great picture of this dynamic. Here’s the full section.
First, Ezekiel imagines a day when God’s people will obey God, a day when they will stop worshiping their idols. They will not only bring God proper sacrifices, but they will have become the proper sacrifice themselves. During my Easter Sunday message I was channeling this conviction when I declared, “You are a part of what God is doing. You will be part of what God is doing. So, be part of what God is doing.” Ezekiel was talking about Israel, of course, but he imagines the day when all Israelites will completely and voluntarily submit themselves to God. I simply expand that conviction to include all people.
But second, Ezekiel does not imagine Israel’s redemption as magically bypassing or overlooking their sin. God will honor his name by treating them mercifully, but it is in the very light of God’s mercy, perhaps because of it, that they will look back on all the ways they defiled themselves and they will experience something like self-hatred for the evil they perpetrated.
Now, I want to be careful here. This is Ezekiel so we’re talking pre-Christ. Just because he imagines something does not mean it is fully consistent with God’s revelation in Jesus. I know there to be strains of Christianity that leverage self-hatred to keep people on the strait and narrow, but I know those approaches to faith to be toxic and ineffective at really helping people cope with the stuff of life.
A Christianity driven by self-hatred does not lead to spiritual health or maturity.
So, I don’t want to take Ezekiel’s prediction at face value and imagine us all at God’s merciful feet self-flagellating because we finally see ourselves for the utterly horrible creatures we’ve always been. The picture we have in the New Testament of creatures in the presence of God is not them self-loathing but worshipping.
Nor do I think our face-to-face with God will be like the scene from the movie The Goonies when Chunk recounts to the Fratelli’s every terrible thing he’d every done since he was born. God once promised to separate us from our sin as far as the east is from the west, [5] and there is some sin in your life where that has already happened. There are sinful things you used to do that you no longer do, that you can no longer imagine doing. There are sinful thoughts and desires you used to have that you no longer have, that you can’t imagine having.
These sins used to be part of your life, but as you have followed Christ you have been separated from them as far as the east is from west.
I don’t think God will need you to revisit them.
But assuming some sin remains in your heart, soul, and life when your day of judgment comes, I imagine experiencing the mercy of God in that face-to-face context might cause a little heartache (maybe a lot of heartache). I suspect you might feel remorse over the things you continued to cling to.
But I also imagine that remorse being a good and necessary part of your redemption process, something you will need to feel before you are ready to finally let your sin go and give yourself completely and voluntarily to God, just as Ezekiel imagines.
Hoping in the restoration of all things and all people does not preclude judgment. If anything, it demands it.
[1] Revelation 20:10
[2] Romans 5:12-21
[3] Romans 7:15-20
[4] Ezekiel 29:39-44
[5] Psalm 103:12
“If what you’re saying is that God will ultimately redeem all people, what place does judgment have? Will anyone be judged? If so, what will that look like?”
These are good and important questions.
First, I believe in judgment if for no other reason than because the church professes it. “We believe he will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
But I also believe in judgment because it will be necessary for God to accomplish what I understand to be God’s ultimate, good ends. Sin and evil can have no place in God’s eschatological kingdom, which means that any sin or evil still residing in me or in the world must be dealt with.
And as I read it, the New Testament declares that it will be (or already has been).
John the Revelator paints a vivid (though metaphorical) picture of God doing battle against the forces of evil, ultimately sentencing the unholy trinity of Satan, “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” to the lake of fire and burning sulfur.[1] Again, this is not strict, literal imagery and the reader should not take it to include sinful people. People are not being condemned here. Evil is.
But as far as sinful people are concerned, there are a number of ways to think about this. First, if you grew up in a Christian tradition that was fond of thinking about Jesus’ death as a vicarious punishment for human sin (e.g. Jesus took your place on the cross and suffered God’s judgment on your behalf), while I don’t subscribe to that position myself, if you couple that conviction with the belief that all of humanity was “in Christ”—that is, just as everyone is implicated in the sin of the “first Adam” so too is everyone included in the righteous life of the “second Adam”[2]—then all people have already been judged and ultimately exonerated. No person was left out of what Jesus did.
That does not mean that when any individual person stands before God he or she may not still have sin that needs to be acknowledged and dispensed with. That will certainly be true. There are many people who do not care at all to honor Jesus in this life and whose lives are full of sin. But there are also Christian people who desire to honor Jesus but who, like the Apostle Paul, still find themselves routinely doing that which they don’t want to do.[3]
That is to say, while all people have already been judged and exonerated in Christ, that does not mean the sin in their lives has just been magically removed. Christianity is not magic and we do a great disservice to people when we talk about Christ’s atoning work as accomplishing something that approximates to magic (as when we tell people that the moment they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior God wipes away all their sin, past, present, and future as if none of it ever happened).
God forgives us in Christ, for sure, but the only way sin is “taken away” is when we stop doing it. And that is the effect God’s forgiveness is supposed to have on us. When we see our sin for what it is and experience God’s incredible mercy, it is supposed to set us on a path of new life whereby sin has less appeal to us and less hold on us (over time).
Many of us have already had that experience when we encountered God in the face of Jesus Christ, but I believe it will be complete for all people upon judgment, because in that moment all of us will still have some things in our lives that don’t belong in God’s kingdom. I think the prophet Ezekiel paints a great picture of this dynamic. Here’s the full section.
39 “As for you, O people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Go right ahead and worship your idols, but sooner or later you will obey me and will stop bringing shame on my holy name by worshiping idols. 40 For on my holy mountain, the great mountain of Israel, says the Sovereign Lord, the people of Israel will someday worship me, and I will accept them. There I will require that you bring me all your offerings and choice gifts and sacrifices. 41 When I bring you home from exile, you will be like a pleasing sacrifice to me. And I will display my holiness through you as all the nations watch. 42 Then when I have brought you home to the land I promised with a solemn oath to give to your ancestors, you will know that I am the Lord. 43 You will look back on all the ways you defiled yourselves and will hate yourselves because of the evil you have done. 44 You will know that I am the Lord, O people of Israel, when I have honored my name by treating you mercifully in spite of your wickedness. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”[4]
First, Ezekiel imagines a day when God’s people will obey God, a day when they will stop worshiping their idols. They will not only bring God proper sacrifices, but they will have become the proper sacrifice themselves. During my Easter Sunday message I was channeling this conviction when I declared, “You are a part of what God is doing. You will be part of what God is doing. So, be part of what God is doing.” Ezekiel was talking about Israel, of course, but he imagines the day when all Israelites will completely and voluntarily submit themselves to God. I simply expand that conviction to include all people.
But second, Ezekiel does not imagine Israel’s redemption as magically bypassing or overlooking their sin. God will honor his name by treating them mercifully, but it is in the very light of God’s mercy, perhaps because of it, that they will look back on all the ways they defiled themselves and they will experience something like self-hatred for the evil they perpetrated.
Now, I want to be careful here. This is Ezekiel so we’re talking pre-Christ. Just because he imagines something does not mean it is fully consistent with God’s revelation in Jesus. I know there to be strains of Christianity that leverage self-hatred to keep people on the strait and narrow, but I know those approaches to faith to be toxic and ineffective at really helping people cope with the stuff of life.
A Christianity driven by self-hatred does not lead to spiritual health or maturity.
So, I don’t want to take Ezekiel’s prediction at face value and imagine us all at God’s merciful feet self-flagellating because we finally see ourselves for the utterly horrible creatures we’ve always been. The picture we have in the New Testament of creatures in the presence of God is not them self-loathing but worshipping.
Nor do I think our face-to-face with God will be like the scene from the movie The Goonies when Chunk recounts to the Fratelli’s every terrible thing he’d every done since he was born. God once promised to separate us from our sin as far as the east is from the west, [5] and there is some sin in your life where that has already happened. There are sinful things you used to do that you no longer do, that you can no longer imagine doing. There are sinful thoughts and desires you used to have that you no longer have, that you can’t imagine having.
These sins used to be part of your life, but as you have followed Christ you have been separated from them as far as the east is from west.
I don’t think God will need you to revisit them.
But assuming some sin remains in your heart, soul, and life when your day of judgment comes, I imagine experiencing the mercy of God in that face-to-face context might cause a little heartache (maybe a lot of heartache). I suspect you might feel remorse over the things you continued to cling to.
But I also imagine that remorse being a good and necessary part of your redemption process, something you will need to feel before you are ready to finally let your sin go and give yourself completely and voluntarily to God, just as Ezekiel imagines.
Hoping in the restoration of all things and all people does not preclude judgment. If anything, it demands it.
[1] Revelation 20:10
[2] Romans 5:12-21
[3] Romans 7:15-20
[4] Ezekiel 29:39-44
[5] Psalm 103:12
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