A Time for Judgment

Recently, on a regular Tuesday night, I felt everything tremble a little bit. Not like an earthquake, but like an explosion. Rockets were flying overhead and being intercepted in air, and it didn’t matter which side they were coming from because we all knew one thing: something is not right in this world.  

I think you know that feeling too, even looking at the evening news: mass shootings, financial corruption, clergy caught in sin, and the list goes on. Our passage in Ecclesiastes laments with us that in this world, wickedness is found where we should find justice and righteousness. Humanity has been stuck in the cycle of death since the day our fellowship in Eden was broken. 

Yet although we live in this broken world, we are reminded by this piece of wisdom literature that there will be a time when the cycle will be broken. There will be a time for judgment before God, and no deed will be overlooked—righteous or wicked. The author of Ecclesiastes knows that all will be judged, just as all will return to dust (3:20). This is our memento mori moment, the moment when we all remember our death.  

Many people try so hard to evade or escape death. Doesn’t it feel unnatural somehow? Dear Christians, we can embrace the remembrance of our death because it is not the end! We can humbly embrace our humanity with hope because Jesus overcame death and sits on the judgment seat. Our hope is secure in Jesus, the One who “will return to judge the living and the dead,” as the Apostles’ Creed states. We trust that Jesus is the righteous judge, just as He is our good, eternal King.  

In Psalm 46:9, we are reminded that God is the one who “makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth.” We know that our God is making all things new, and although we live in the “not yet”, we trust that when the day of judgment comes, the new heavens and earth will finally be revealed.  

• Read and meditate on 2 Corinthians 5. Take time to notice the context around the judgment seat of Christ (v.10): We should be of good courage (v. 6) because He has made us new (v. 17). Spend time thanking the Father for making our Judge also our Redeemer. Confess your sins where needed and surrender to His love. Pray for others who also need reconciliation. 

Nativity Building: Place animal figures in the stable. Rulers are usually born in grand palaces, but Jesus’ Kingdom—His justice—is different! He chose to be born in a humble stable, among the animals.