We have come to the portion of the Apostles’ Creed which teaches, “He (Jesus) will come again to judge the living and the dead.” Jesus as judge bringing wrath: this is a topic which needs to be handled with kid gloves. Yes, this tenant of the Creed is like the others. However, this tenant has been more abused, in my opinion, than all of the others.
On one hand the judgment of God has been used to coerce people to bend their wills to the preacher’s delight. If these preachers are feeling grouchy on any given Sunday morning, then sermons of judgment and wrath are therapeutic. On the other hand the judgment of God has been ignored at best and discounted at worst: all in an attempt to paint God with emotional hues conducive to classical liberalism. Out of both groups are birthed people who have been spiritually abused. Thus we will take great Scriptural care in ascertaining a more balanced teaching on divine judgment. While we will certainly touch on divine judgment in general, our target is dealing with this particular Creedal tenant of Jesus returning in final judgment.
We have spent the last two sermons in John 12. As it so happens, we will begin this sermon in the concluding portions of John 12.
John 12:44-50:
And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment–what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the father has told me” (ESV).
If we remember from a previous portion, John 12:27-36, people either misunderstood or disbelieved Jesus; primarily because his emphasis on being the Son of Man who was not bringing catastrophic judgment. We have mentioned the Son of Man before. He hails from Daniel 7 and was regarded as the divinely appointed super-man who would violently usher in redeemed/transformed Israel into the new age of Messianic rule. This dude was to bring THE WRATH of God in what they taught was final judgment. The wicked in Israel and the wicked oppressors among the gentile nations would be defeated, overthrown, and obliterated. True Israel would be raised on high with the remaining gentile nations coming to Israel to worship God as King over all the earth.
Jesus in John 12:27-36 teaches that he is the long-awaited Son of Man. Yet his ministry as the Son of Man is as the Suffering Servant, dying for the world … not making the world die for him. In our passage Jesus teaches that he came not for judgment … but to save Israel and the whole world from that long-awaited judgment. Yet he will return one day … “the last day” … and then he will bring judgment.
This is a concept that we in the conservative movement would do well to faithfully understand. When Jesus first appeared, he came not for judgment but to save us from ultimate judgment. However, if we struggle with this, we’re in good company. Consider John the Baptist’s expectation of Jesus at Jesus’s baptism.
Matthew 3:1-12:
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the
wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were confessing their sins.
But when he saw some of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquentionable fire” (ESV).
As we can see here John clearly believes that “the wrath to come” is on the way, as does large numbers of the Jewish population (including the leadership). This is why they were coming to John, “confessing their sins.” The “wrath to come” was expected to be brought by the one coming with the baptism with the Holy Spirit “and fire.” Needless to say what Jesus actually came bringing … salvation from “the wrath to come” … was a huge emotional let-down for many people. They suffered from the Jonah-effect.
Yet, even after living with Jesus for three years, taking in his life and teachings, and witnessing his death and resurrection, his disciples still hung onto the end-times expectation of the Son of Man. Consider their question to him before his Ascension:
“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6; ESV)
Consider Jesus’s response to them:
“It is not for you to know times and seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7 & 8; ESV).
It was not for them (and is not for us … I would argue) to know the fixed details of the end-times. They were not to be concerned about the “signs of the times” concerning the detailed omens of when Jesus would return to “restore the kingdom.” Restoring the kingdom includes bringing the final and ultimate wrath … what we Creedal people would call returning to “judge the quick and the dead.”
What then were they to be concerned with? Notice his instruction following his gentle rebuke. They were to be filled with the Spirit and go out to the nations as his witness.
Why is it we love to ruminate over foggy details … such as the nature of God or the end-times … but leave clear instructions and teachings untouched? Consider the following verse:
Clouds and thick darkness are all
around him;
righteousness and justice are the
foundation of his throne (Psalm 97:2; ESV).
“Clouds and thick darkness” most often image the deep mystery over the nature of God. The psalmist says this mystery is “all around him.” Yet what is clearly seen and ascertained (or can possibly be seen) by the faithful is the calling to God’s righteousness and justice. Again, what is it that we, the “faithful,” spend so much time on? Is it what is clearly taught and expected: God’s righteousness and justice? Doubtful.
Over the next several sermons, we’ll be dealing with the Judgment of Jesus to come. In this sermon I simply want us to understand that when Jesus first appeared he brought not wrath or condemnation, but salvation from wrath and condemnation. When he returns he will bring wrath and condemnation. In the mean time our clear task at hand is to witness in the world over his offer of salvation from the wrath to come that is available today.
