The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
December 28, 2008
In
This Issue:
The
Judgment
by
Steve Klein
Can
We Understand the Bible?
by
Huston Gateley
The Judgment
Although many live as if they will never have to answer for their deeds, the Bible teaches that all of us will face judgment. As sure as you're breathing, you will be judged. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). Judgment is the very real destiny of every one of us.
We should all be concerned about our standing in judgment, as well as the standing of our fellowmen. In order to help us to prepare, the Bible gives answers to many important questions about the judgment.
When will it be?
-
After this life is over! "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).
-
After the second coming of Christ "&ldots;Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all&ldots;" (Jude 14-15).
Who will be judged? ALL MEN! None will escape it!
-
Whether living or dead. "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:1).
-
Whether God's people or sinners. "For we know Him who said, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,' says the Lord. And again, 'THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE'" (Hebrews 10:30). "Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment" (2 Peter 2:9).
-
Whether great or small. "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God . . ." (Revelation 20:12).
By what standard will we be judged?
-
The words of Christ. "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day" (John 12:48).
-
The gospel. "In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel" (Romans 2:16).
Will the judgment be fair and just? The judgment will be righteous because both the Judge and His standard of judgment are righteous. (NOTE: This means that there will be no false convictions, favoritism from the Judge, loopholes in the law, appeals to a higher court, etc.)
-
The judge is righteous. "Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:8).
-
He will judge in righteousness. "He will judge the world in righteousness&ldots;" (Acts 17:31)
What will be determined by the judgment?
-
Your reward. "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works" (Matthew 16:27).
-
Your eternal destiny. "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46, cf. 25:31-45).
Careless soul, why will you linger, wandering from the fold of God?
Hear you not the invitation? Oh, prepare to meet thy God.
Careless soul, oh, heed the warning, For your life will soon be gone;
Oh, how sad to face the judgment, Unprepared to meet thy God. - J.H. Stanley
--Steve Klein
You say, "Yes, we can understand it, but we cannot understand it alike." I beg to differ with you. I maintain that if we can understand it, we can understand it alike. The problem is not our understanding the Bible alike, but our understanding it.
When you say we cannot understand the Bible "alike," you are saying that God has given us a book that will mean most anything one wants it to and that causes confusion. In 1 Cor. 14:33, we read, "For God is not the author of confusion&ldots;" If God gave us a book to go by that we cannot understand "alike," then God would be the author of confusion.
Again, in John 17:20-21, Jesus prayed, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word: That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." If we cannot understand the Bible "alike", then Christ sinned when he prayed this prayer because he prayed for something that he knew was impossible. Yet, 1 Peter 2:22 says he did no sin.
In 1 Cor. 1:10, we read, "Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." If we cannot understand the Bible alike, then it would be impossible to speak the same thing, and to be of the same mind and judgment.
There are many passages that bear out this point, but I believe these few will suffice for you to see that the problem is our understanding the Bible and not our understanding it alike. If we understand it, we will be alike.
Now to the question: CAN WE UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE? The Bible will be a part of that by which we are judged. (See John 12:48; Rev. 22:12). I hardly think God gave us a Book to go by here that we cannot understand and then condemn us into hell because we didn't do what it says.
The Bible itself declares that it can be understood. "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple." Psalms 119:130. Also in Eph. 1:4, Paul says, "Whereby when ye read, ye may understand."
You say, well there are some things in the Bible that I don't understand. The fact that you don't understand them does not mean that you cannot understand them. We must continue studying the Bible. Some passages are "hard to be understood," but not impossible (2 Pet. 3:16).
One might also say, well there are some things in Revelation that I don't understand. That's right and you are not by yourself. Some things have not been revealed. In Deut. 29:29, Moses said, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and our children forever, that we may do the words of this law."
We can understand how to be saved, how to worship and how to live and all that God intends for us to understand. We can understand the Bible and those "who hunger and thirst after righteousness" will (Matthew 5:6).
-- Huston Gateley
Via The Instructor, Vol. 22, No. 9, September 1985