God’s Judgments On Sin Are Certain
By Dale Crowley
If you believe history, you must believe that our God is a God of judgment.
In this age of unbelief there are many who do not want to believe that the God of heaven will administer justice in respect to sin. All such skeptics should be reminded that the Bible reveals that God is exactly that kind of a Being.
We must remember that this is God’s universe, and whatever interferes with His design and purpose is an offense to Him. Sin is an abomination to God. He hates it with a holy hatred. And because He is a just God, He must punish sin.
The kind of God we have revealed in the holy Scriptures is a God of both love and judgment. He is not a nebulous nonentity of sentimentalism. He is a God of character. We thank God today that He is a God of love and mercy – and there would not be one of us alive today to breathe His fresh air, if it were not for His amazing love toward us. For we, as sinful creatures do not deserve anything at the hand of God whose laws we have transgressed. If we had received our just desserts, we would have been stamped out of existence long ago.
Yes, God loves us, and as proof of this, Christ died for us. The greatest proof that hell is a reality is the fact that the Son of God went to the cross to die in the sinner’s place. Only divine love could provide such a redemption as that.
The God whose we are is a God of fiery indignation against sin. Most solemnly, He caused the prophet to write down the verdict: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:20). There is therefore no hope for the sinner if it is not to be founded in the sacrifice for sin which Christ has made. Thank God, there is everlasting hope in the crucified and risen Son of God! "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
God Judges Individuals and Nations
In the very cradle of human history, we find God pronouncing a curse upon our first parents on account of their transgression. He even pronounced a curse on the earth itself on account of their sin.
After a while, when sin abounded in the earth, in that antediluvian era, we find God executing judgment on the whole human race in the dreadful flood which destroyed all flesh, except for Noah and his family who "found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen. 6:8).
Upon the wicked nation of Egypt, God sent not one, but ten, of the most severe judgments of which only divine justice could conceive and execute.
Upon the wicked, idolatrous nations of Canaan, God caused the judgment of war to fall, which wiped out twenty-odd kingdoms in one sweeping purge.
Upon the proud Assyrians, God sent destruction because of their sins.
Upon the haughty Babylonian Empire God spoke in thunderous tones of judgment, and by the handwriting on the wall of the palace of King Belshazzar, the first neon sign blazed the fearful doom of that idolatrous kingdom in these words: "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" (Dan. 5:27).
And in like manner, God sent His judgment of destruction upon the Medo-Persian empire; and later, the Greco-Macedonian kingdom; and later still, upon the kingdom of iron, the mighty Roman Empire. Because of their sins, they were destroyed.
Nor did God spare His own chosen people, the Israelites. Because of their unbelief and idolatry, and witchcraft, and rebellion, and haughtiness of spirit, God sent upon them the judgment of the captivities.
Nor has any nation ever been spared to live which has stubbornly transgressed God’s holy laws. "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Rom. 12:19). "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). Yes, if you believe history, you must believe that God is a God of judgment.
There is nothing more clearly or more solemnly taught in the Word of God than that teaching of a final judgment of a grim and fiery retribution on all the wicked, a day of judgment in which this earth will catch on fire, and melt with fervent heat, and be utterly destroyed.
Scripture’s Clear Proclamation Concerning Judgment
It is well that we note with a new emphasis, some of the many Scriptures which speak of that final day of God’s righteous judgment of this earth and its wicked inhabitants.
In Acts 17:31 we read, "He hath appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained."
The Prophet Joel saw this dreadful day through the telescope of divine revelation. He cried out, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains...a fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them...before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness" (Joel 2:1-6).
Likewise, the Prophet Isaiah was given to see these things. He exclaimed: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner..." (Isa. 51:6).
David the Psalmist was given to see this world judgment. We read in Psalm 50:1-6: "The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof...our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God is judge Himself."
Likewise, the Prophet Daniel had a vision of this terrible day of judgment. He said: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened" (Dan. 7:9-10).
Writing under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the Apostle Peter said, concerning that day: "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Pet. 3:10).
The occasion for these solemn words by Peter was the complaint that some scoffers were making concerning the promised return of Christ to the earth. Peter told them that the reason for the delay in Christ’s return to earth was the longsuffering of God in seeking men through the Gospel to repent and to be saved, and to escape the damnation of the forthcoming judgment. He said, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).
Literally hundreds of prophetic Scriptures declare plainly and unequivocally that the day of righteous judgment shall fall upon this sinful world. There shall be no way of escape except for those who are in Christ.
Love and Justice Perfectly Blend in God’s Character
Our God is a God of holiness, and He hates sin. He is a God of justice and must punish sin. But He is a God of love, and loves the sinner, and is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).
It is not necessary for any man to perish in that dreadful final judgment, because God, in infinite mercy, has provided a remedy. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17).
"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
– From Capital Voice.