JUDGED FOR TRUTH-REJECTING
There is a judge for the man who rejects me and does not accept my words; the word that I spoke will be his judge on the last day. John 12:48, N.E.B.
So often we are prone to think of the final judgment in terms of God's examination of our sinful acts. We think of the books of record in heaven as having noted every wrong deed of our lives, with the intent that none of them will escape God's righteous reckoning on that fateful day.
But some are puzzled by the promise that God has forgiven our sins, casting them into the depths of the sea. That seems to be a contradiction with their view of the final judgment. Why bring them up again if they've already been forgiven? The dilemma is so distressing that some reject the idea of final judgment altogether. Others, feeling that it is only right that God condemn actual wrongs, doubt that God has indeed forgiven sin.
The problem, however, stems from assuming that the judgment (indeed the whole plan of redemption) is focused upon the deed done, the act of sin. In today's passage Jesus is seeking to shift our attention from the deed to its cause. Jesus sees the sinful deed as being caused by people who have rejected Him, and thus His Father. He knows that people have rejected Him because they are enshrouded with darkness--the darkness of Sataan's deceptions about God.
And so Jesus says, "I have come into the world as light, so that no one who has faith in me should remain in darkness" (John 12:45, N.E.B.). Jesus wanted to turn on the lights, because "when a man believes in me, he believes in him who sent me" (verse 44, N.E.B.). Obviously Jesus' interest was not in keeping track of deeds but in healing the cause of those deeds.
Jesus offered forgiveness, not only for sinful deeds but even for the broken relationship that led to the sinful deeds. But when people reject His revelation of truth, truth about His Father, which alone can heal the broken relationship, they are now guilty of a new offense. They are confronted in the judgment with the question of what they have done with truth.
And since Jesus is the light that lights every man (John 1:9), each person shall identify how he has responded to Jesus' gracious, reconciling revelations of His Father. Should the judgment reveal that I have rejected winsome truth, Jesus needs to say nothing more.
There is a judge for the man who rejects me and does not accept my words; the word that I spoke will be his judge on the last day. John 12:48, N.E.B.
So often we are prone to think of the final judgment in terms of God's examination of our sinful acts. We think of the books of record in heaven as having noted every wrong deed of our lives, with the intent that none of them will escape God's righteous reckoning on that fateful day.
But some are puzzled by the promise that God has forgiven our sins, casting them into the depths of the sea. That seems to be a contradiction with their view of the final judgment. Why bring them up again if they've already been forgiven? The dilemma is so distressing that some reject the idea of final judgment altogether. Others, feeling that it is only right that God condemn actual wrongs, doubt that God has indeed forgiven sin.
The problem, however, stems from assuming that the judgment (indeed the whole plan of redemption) is focused upon the deed done, the act of sin. In today's passage Jesus is seeking to shift our attention from the deed to its cause. Jesus sees the sinful deed as being caused by people who have rejected Him, and thus His Father. He knows that people have rejected Him because they are enshrouded with darkness--the darkness of Sataan's deceptions about God.
And so Jesus says, "I have come into the world as light, so that no one who has faith in me should remain in darkness" (John 12:45, N.E.B.). Jesus wanted to turn on the lights, because "when a man believes in me, he believes in him who sent me" (verse 44, N.E.B.). Obviously Jesus' interest was not in keeping track of deeds but in healing the cause of those deeds.
Jesus offered forgiveness, not only for sinful deeds but even for the broken relationship that led to the sinful deeds. But when people reject His revelation of truth, truth about His Father, which alone can heal the broken relationship, they are now guilty of a new offense. They are confronted in the judgment with the question of what they have done with truth.
And since Jesus is the light that lights every man (John 1:9), each person shall identify how he has responded to Jesus' gracious, reconciling revelations of His Father. Should the judgment reveal that I have rejected winsome truth, Jesus needs to say nothing more.
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