Father, we ask that you would chose us to be precious in your sight. Help us and keep us safe.
We looked at judgement in the Old Testament a few months ago. So is it any different in the New?
The answer is simply, no. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
I suppose the second question is; why judge at all?
Can't God just let things go on as they are? Or what about - just reward the good, let the evil alone? It would be very simple for God to accept good people into Heaven, to grant them permission to go straight there when they die, leaving the evil to their own devices but such teaching is not mentioned in the Bible - it was copied from Norse mythology and other tales. Even Jesus, the son of God, had to wait until God had raised him and he might not have gone to heaven until approx. 40 days after that (when he told Mary that he was yet to ascend to God - John 20:17)
In some ways we've already seen the answer in previous study notes this term. God made the world and everything in it. He made it to show his glory and power. He gave man the position of steward, to tend it and keep it. And like at the end of the parable of the talents, some day he'll want it back. Not only in perfect condition, but populated by people who love Him. How this isn't going to happen overnight. In fact it's going to take a thousand years, but that's the subject of our study for next week so we'll leave that for now.
Which brings us right back to the problem; we have both good and bad existing in the same area. If you are interested in gardening you may appreciate the problem. In a garden we have plants we desire and possibly those we don't. Any plant we don't want there is a weed. To some people at stinging nettle might be a weed but to those who like butterflies it can be very beneficial. Now, while we can decide which plants we want in our garden, it's not up to us to judge who God would choose for his, but chose he will.
God wants the world to be like Eden again, but this time it's not just plants he's interested in, he wants people who will also please him, not just anything. And that means a lot of weeding!
When we started our vegetable plot last year the area was rough grassland - a mixture of various grasses, dock, buttercup and not much else. The problem is that if we just planted seeds in amongst them, they they would not have survived. The more 'aggressive' plants would have smothered them. So to give them a chance we had to plough it up and start again, this time with seeds we chose. And our garden still takes a lot of work. We have to water it and remove the weeds that still manage to spring up. God does the same for us. He looks after us, and he gives us everything we need to survive.
So what sort of seeds would be useful? In our case we picked plants that would be good for food, those that would give a good crop given our poor soil and those which would be good for (certain) wildlife, such as bees and other nectar-loving insects. We've spent a lot of energy on our garden, not to mention money and resources, so are we entitled to make our choice about what we want there?
God has the same right to choose what he wants, and this time it's not only for a small garden but the whole planet.
We hear a lot about the 'permissive' society we live in, yet when it comes to gardening we don't give weeds a second chance. They get rooted up, thrown onto the compost heap, or piled up and burned. We get the same attitude from God and the Lord Jesus (read Matthew 25: 31-46). If we look at Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians we read;
"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
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;"
It's up to us to make sure we're bearing the fruit that he wants so he won't think we're weeds and throw us away.