At Living Stones, our passion is worship. Our focus is service. We are non-denominational, Bible-based, and Christ centered. We are a family at Living Stones. We share our faith and our lives together and believe that church is the most meaningful expression of God in the earth.
Meeting this summer in home groups. Call 614.860.9631 for locations.
Thursday, February 18, 2010, 11:59 AM
by Rosina Fischer
If you had committed a crime, your date to appear in court was set, and you had an opportunity to meet the judge ahead of time, would you take it? If you had the chance to look eye to eye and tell him you were so sorry and ask him to please be merciful to you, would you do it? I definitely would!
Jesus is seen as many things these days—a prophet, a teacher, a self-help guru, but one of his roles is rarely mentioned. He is our judge. Jesus will actually judge every single person who is reading this. He will judge everyone on the planet. And what will he judge them in regards to? He will judge them in regard to whether or not they believed he was who he said he was and if they obeyed his commands.
Jesus says in John, chapter 5 says, “”Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” This is a lot different than how most people think about the end of their lives. Most people think there will be a gentle, old-man, type of God who will welcome them into the pearly gates--a father figure who will look past all the wrongs we have done, and simply let bygones be bygones. But Jesus clearly contradicts this notion and says that on judgment day, Father God will judge no one. On that final day, Father God will be an observer of the judgment, but he will not do the judging. It is Jesus--the one who is mocked by so much of our media, who is the butt of jokes, whose name is used as a swear word—it is He we will stand before. He will be our judge.
Just imagine that for a minute. Imagine standing eyeball to eyeball with Jesus. The Bible says in the book of Genesis that God said “Let US make man in OUR image.” Jesus created us as well as this entire world. He was with God from the beginning. He is not just one of many religious leaders. He is God in the flesh and therefore he will be our judge. He will, with sadness, condemn anyone who did not believe his message: “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” This is an amazing statement. I know a lot of people who say they love God, but they don’t care for Jesus. Jesus says that is impossible. If you don’t honor him, you do not honor God. Jesus is God in the flesh and is a test of the truth of our hearts.
I had a friend who told me once that whenever she heard or read the name of Jesus she felt sad and would start crying. She had already made the choice to not follow Jesus, but instead to follow a more generic God---one that would let her live the way she wanted to. None of us likes to be told what to do. None of us likes obeying. In truth, we all want to be our own god. Jesus cuts through the clutter of our hearts and says in essence, “Let me be God. Learn to obey. To follow me and believe me is the path to true living.”
In fact everyone on this planet will hear Jesus’ voice at least once. Jesus said, speaking of himself, “…a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:28-29) And then again he says, “I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God…” (John 5:25) Imagine, hearing Jesus’ actual voice!
As our judge, Jesus has the power of life and death. John 5:26-27 says, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” So Jesus holds the power of life and death in his hands because he is God made like us. The reason he has the right to judge us is because he made us, became like us, lived like us, and then was killed by the very ones he made so that he could take away the one thing that keeps a wall between us—sin.
Sin is an ugly word these days. No one wants to talk about it. But sin is the one thing that separates us from God. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. That veil in the temple was to keep sinners out. Only God and the high priest once a year were to inhabit the domain beyond the veil. When Jesus died he tore down the veil of sin that stood between us and God. His blood cleansed us ceremonially and spiritually so we can now enter humbly into God’s very presence. If we ignore such a great act of sacrifice such as this, surely we will be condemned. When else has someone died for you? When else has someone reached through time and space and been transfigured into your likeness so they could share your pain, teach you the way to go, be your friend and advocate. Jesus has done so much for us that we simply cannot ignore him. We must fall on our faces and say, “Thank you!”
Maybe you’ve not thought of Jesus this way before. If not, I would encourage you to read the book of John in the Bible. In the book of John you will encounter Jesus the way he says he is, not the way others portray him. To invest time in seeking out Jesus and to understand him better is the wisest investment you can possibly make. The decisions you make spiritually last forever. Everything else is temporary.
Jesus is seen as many things these days—a prophet, a teacher, a self-help guru, but one of his roles is rarely mentioned. He is our judge. Jesus will actually judge every single person who is reading this. He will judge everyone on the planet. And what will he judge them in regards to? He will judge them in regard to whether or not they believed he was who he said he was and if they obeyed his commands.
Jesus says in John, chapter 5 says, “”Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” This is a lot different than how most people think about the end of their lives. Most people think there will be a gentle, old-man, type of God who will welcome them into the pearly gates--a father figure who will look past all the wrongs we have done, and simply let bygones be bygones. But Jesus clearly contradicts this notion and says that on judgment day, Father God will judge no one. On that final day, Father God will be an observer of the judgment, but he will not do the judging. It is Jesus--the one who is mocked by so much of our media, who is the butt of jokes, whose name is used as a swear word—it is He we will stand before. He will be our judge.
Just imagine that for a minute. Imagine standing eyeball to eyeball with Jesus. The Bible says in the book of Genesis that God said “Let US make man in OUR image.” Jesus created us as well as this entire world. He was with God from the beginning. He is not just one of many religious leaders. He is God in the flesh and therefore he will be our judge. He will, with sadness, condemn anyone who did not believe his message: “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” This is an amazing statement. I know a lot of people who say they love God, but they don’t care for Jesus. Jesus says that is impossible. If you don’t honor him, you do not honor God. Jesus is God in the flesh and is a test of the truth of our hearts.
I had a friend who told me once that whenever she heard or read the name of Jesus she felt sad and would start crying. She had already made the choice to not follow Jesus, but instead to follow a more generic God---one that would let her live the way she wanted to. None of us likes to be told what to do. None of us likes obeying. In truth, we all want to be our own god. Jesus cuts through the clutter of our hearts and says in essence, “Let me be God. Learn to obey. To follow me and believe me is the path to true living.”
In fact everyone on this planet will hear Jesus’ voice at least once. Jesus said, speaking of himself, “…a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:28-29) And then again he says, “I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God…” (John 5:25) Imagine, hearing Jesus’ actual voice!
As our judge, Jesus has the power of life and death. John 5:26-27 says, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” So Jesus holds the power of life and death in his hands because he is God made like us. The reason he has the right to judge us is because he made us, became like us, lived like us, and then was killed by the very ones he made so that he could take away the one thing that keeps a wall between us—sin.
Sin is an ugly word these days. No one wants to talk about it. But sin is the one thing that separates us from God. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. That veil in the temple was to keep sinners out. Only God and the high priest once a year were to inhabit the domain beyond the veil. When Jesus died he tore down the veil of sin that stood between us and God. His blood cleansed us ceremonially and spiritually so we can now enter humbly into God’s very presence. If we ignore such a great act of sacrifice such as this, surely we will be condemned. When else has someone died for you? When else has someone reached through time and space and been transfigured into your likeness so they could share your pain, teach you the way to go, be your friend and advocate. Jesus has done so much for us that we simply cannot ignore him. We must fall on our faces and say, “Thank you!”
Maybe you’ve not thought of Jesus this way before. If not, I would encourage you to read the book of John in the Bible. In the book of John you will encounter Jesus the way he says he is, not the way others portray him. To invest time in seeking out Jesus and to understand him better is the wisest investment you can possibly make. The decisions you make spiritually last forever. Everything else is temporary.
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Meeting this summer in home groups. Call 614.860.9631 for locations.
Church is not about a building, but about people--people like you. That's why the Bible calls us
"living stones." (1 Peter 2:5)
I would like more info.