“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” Matthew 5:21
When Jesus Christ was born, became a man, and walked among us, He was the fulfillment of all prophesy concerning the coming Messiah. He came clothed in humility as a servant of man, although He was the Son of God. He came, not only declaring that He was the sole Savior of men, but the coming Judge of all men. Just as He tasted death for all men on the Cross, He will come in the perfection of His glory, power, and holiness to declare, and demonstrate His perfect justice. A perfect righteousness He has given to all who will believe. A perfect standard of judgment will accompany His return when all men will first be judged by whether they are His or not. There will be a very clear distinction of whether each individual is either a sheep of the Great Shepherd, Christ, or a goat, a rebellious, lost child of the enemy, Satan. Then, there will be judgment of every individual according to what they have said and done, either as a child of God, or of Satan. For the child of God, it will be an issue of receiving the reward of the Father. For the lost sinner it will be a condemnation, point by point, of all that demonstrates his defiant, and unyielding attitude towards Christ as Lord and Savior. All men, one way or the other, will be judged according to the Lord Jesus, for He is the perfect standard of righteousness.
There is a problem with judgment, but it does not reside in God. The Lord spoke of this problem very clearly when He instructed His disciples: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Matt. 7:1) Please note that He is not saying that the believer is not to discern what is right and wrong, in the measure of that which is possible and clear. However, He is saying that man is very limited in his perception of what the true issues are of the heart, in particular with regard to “judging” someone else. The Lord speaks of two sets of standards, the first of which is man-made and man-applied. This judgment is filled with flaws, primarily because of the very real bias, or bent, of sin. Christ alone knows the heart. This is why David would pray, “…Search me O God, and know my heart,: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. 139:23,24) David defers to God to reveal to him what is not right, as he realizes his very real limitation, even impossibility to do so. Thus, all judgment belongs to God. He has communicated to man His standard of judgment, the objective truth of His word. But He has also given to the believer the Spirit of God who takes the living word, and applies it to the conscience and heart.
Perhaps one of the clearest examples of the limited, and biased judgment of men compared with the righteous judgment of God is in the story of the woman caught in adultery, recounted in John’s gospel. Here we have a woman who is guilty of adultery. She is under the condemnation of the religious men of her day, who were seeking a way to catch Jesus in his words, and thus accuse Him. The Lord Jesus, relying wholly upon the Spirit of God for all discernment, turns to her accusers to accuse them by saying: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” What was the difference between the “judgment” of the Pharisees and that of Jesus? Though both were dealing with the law, the Lord was looking also at the woman’s repentant heart. His judgment was just and merciful.
Dear Father, Give us Thy discernment. In Jesus’ name, Amen.