Who Is the Judge? - GraceLife Church of Pineville

Introduction: The Greatest Judgment

What I’m about to tell you is a true story, told to me by the person it happened to. It happened decades ago—at a different time and a different place. I won’t use any names and probably shouldn’t tell you all the details, but I’ll pick up the story at this point:

A friend found himself on the wrong side of the law. He had committed a misdemeanor, and time and the law caught up to him. His offense was unintentional, but Uncle Sam had something to say about this particular tax offense. A court date was set. My friend was confident that this would be taken care of—so confident that he planned his family vacation to begin immediately after his court hearing was over. His family sat packed in the van in the parking lot of the courthouse, ready to head to Disney World, while Dad walked inside to face the judge.

But the judge was having a bad day. He was in pain of some sort. And my friend describes a scene in which, for most of the hearing, you couldn’t even see the judge behind the bench. He had either sunk down in his chair or was perhaps even off to the side, lying on the floor, in an attempt to relieve whatever pain he was experiencing.

But when it came time for sentencing, a red-faced judge pulled himself up to render a verdict. Not only was the verdict guilty, but the sentencing was maximum. There would be no trip to Disney World. And my friend found himself spending the next year as the only person with a misdemeanor locked up in federal prison.

As to the letter of the law, my friend was guilty. But on a different day with a different judge, things most likely would have turned out much different. And I suspect that if any of us found ourselves on the wrong side of the law—accused or convicted of something, whether it be a minor traffic offense or a serious crime—at some point, the question becomes Who is the judge presiding over the case? What is the judge’s reputation? Strict? Lenient? Experienced? New? Fair? Corrupt? That factor can weigh more heavily than the facts of the case. Judges can wield their power to influence the outcome.

At some point, the question becomes Who is the judge presiding over the case? … That factor can weigh more heavily than the facts of the case.

And there is no greater judgement than one that Scripture qualifies as an eternal judgment. That is the judgment we’re studying now in our larger Oracles of God series. And we’d do well to learn something about the Judge of this eternal judgment.

We’d do well to learn something about the Judge of this eternal judgment.

The judge in this instance is, of course, God, and we can learn about His character from numerous Scriptures. However, I want to draw your attention to a set of verses that packs within it revelation about the nature of God’s judgment and, thus, tells us much about the nature of the Judge.

The Nature of the Judge & Eternal Judgment

I’m not sure there’s another passage that speaks as densely of eternal judgment as this one (Jesus is the one speaking these words):

For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good¹ to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil to a resurrection of judgment.

I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 5:22–30)

This passage that teaches us about the judgment of God establishes something about the nature of the Judge. As the opening verse tells us, judgment as presented in Scripture reveals for us something about the nature and relationship of the Father and the Son.

What I hope to do based on this teaching from Jesus about judgment is to establish eight truths about God—namely, about God the Father and God the Son. The following eight points are established in the above passage about eternal judgment.

#1 The Cooperation of the Father and Son

(v. 22, end of v. 30) / red text

“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.” (John 5:22)

“… I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 5:30)

I admit that cooperation is about the weakest word we could use. It points out something true, but it’s just the first step toward establishing a much stronger argument.

It’s not merely a matter of Jesus working alongside the Father. It is not merely a matter of the Father sending Jesus to do some tasks. The Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son. He has given Jesus the position as Judge. Christ is claiming His rights as judge and acknowledging the source of such rights.

But this cooperative judgment isn’t a cold, political arrangement. We see in our own country of the United States (especially recently) the constant courtroom drama that unfolds with the comings and goings of new administrations. You begin to realize how impossible it must be to appoint judges you actually know anything about and in whom you can expect perfect cooperation.

Not so with the cooperation of the Father and the Son. The heavenly arrangement is a cooperation based on love. Earlier in the passage, John wrote, “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel” (5:20). There’s a cooperation of Father and Son, and when Jesus judges, it will be according to the plan of the Father.

What we see next is the full force of what this judgment establishes.

#2 The Equality of the Father and Son

(v. 23a) / yellow text

Not only does this passage establish the cooperation of the Father and Son, but it establishes the equality of the Father and the Son. The Scripture says, “… that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father” (John 5:23a). This description disperses any doubts about a weak cooperation between Father and Son. If we in a modern audience need this explicit description about their equality—that the Son will receive honor just as the Father does—the ancient audience of Jesus’s day did not. They understood what was being said by Jesus in His claim to be the Son:

For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. (John 5:18)

When we combine these first two facts—considering both the cooperation and equality of the Father and the Son—we must conclude that those who disparage the judgment, or the judgeship, of the Son also disparage the Father who gave all judgment to Him. And this is made explicit in the next sentence: “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23b).

#3 The Necessity of the Father and Son

(v. 23b) / lighter green text

Thirdly, eternal judgment establishes the necessity of both the Father and the Son. There is no possibility of avoiding the Jesus question. This was and is the great stumbling block to Jesus’s own Jewish people.² Their great failure was in assuming that they could claim God as their Father while failing to properly acknowledge the Son. There is no devotion to God without celebration of Jesus. One cannot reject the Son and expect acceptance of the Father.

There is no devotion to God without celebration of Jesus. One cannot reject the Son and expect acceptance of the Father.

By this point, the serious nature of judgment must be grasped. Cooperation was a nice term. Equality grabs the attention of Jew and Gentile alike. But the world must wrestle with this idea of necessity. You see, Jesus isn’t merely a convenient access point to God. He cooperates with God on equal footing, and He is thus the necessary means by which one has access to God.

Jesus isn’t merely a convenient access point to God … [but] the necessary means by which one has access to God.

To preach the necessity of the Father and Son is not some unnecessary rhetoric of the overzealous preacher. It is not the unsympathetic position of the conservative theologian.

It is the word of God, and it is that Word that is the next established fact.

#4 Judgment Establishes the Word of the Father and Son

(vv. 24–25, 28–30) / aqua text

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.³ Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. (John 5:24–25)

For all the fear associated with that word “necessity,” or its even more frowned-upon counterpart, “exclusivity,” the deliverance from judgment that Jesus offers—the outright avoiding of it all together—is of a nature so unexpected, that it comes across as untrue, if not ridiculous. Want to avoid judgment? Trust the Judge to give you life. It’s the only “life sentence” you ever want to hear.

Can you imagine standing before a judge, and when asked to give an account of yourself, you say, “I believe you, judge.” And the judge says, “Case dismissed.”

Hear the word of the Lord: eternal life, the gift of God, is so powerful that possessing it wards off any threat of future death.

I have life. I cannot be held therefore by death. I will not be subject to judgment. That’s hard to believe, but I have heard His voice in this life and believed. And because I have heard His voice and believe, I shall also hear His voice from the grave. It will not be the dread call of judgment, but the call unto glorious life.

Because I have heard His voice and believe, I shall also hear His voice from the grave. It will not be the dread call of judgment, but the call unto glorious life.

We all have a chance to respond to that voice in our lives on earth. Scripture teaches that the day is coming when the voice will be heard by all, and it will not be an invitation for choosing; it will be a revelation of what has already been chosen.

John 5 goes on to say:

Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil to a resurrection of judgment. (vv. 28–29)

Do not be confused here by bad translations. “Deeds” appears after the words “the good” and “the evil” in John 5:29, but it’s not there in the original language. “The good” of which the text speaks refers to believing in Christ; “the evil” refers to not believing in Him. Our deeds will not commend us to death or life: only whether or not we trusted the established Word of the Father and Son.

Our deeds will not commend us to death or life: only whether or not we trusted the established Word of the Father and Son.

Having trusted this Word is what will make us like God. And this is further expressed in this passage where we see that Jesus hears the Father and obeys. It is the basis of His judgment, this established Word of God. He says, “As I hear, I judge.” (John 5:30). That is, “I hear the Word, and I judge according to the Word.” He is our example.

Judgment establishes the Word of God—the Word that will give us eternal life. We are able to believe Jesus for eternal life because He is eternal (which brings us to point #5).

#5 Judgment Establishes the Eternality of the Father and Son

(v. 26) / magenta text

Just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself. (John 5:26)

I won’t unravel the topic of eternity in this sermon, but pay attention to what Jesus says about life in this verse. He says that the Father possesses “life in Himself.” This is an expression of His eternality.

God has eternal life not in the sense that we possess it. We come in contact with eternal life and therefore never die. But God is eternal life. He has never been subject to death; He has never been nonexistent. He can’t not exist.

God is eternal life. … He can’t not exist.

In both his Gospel and his first epistle, the apostle John establishes how you should understand eternality when it comes to God—the Source of eternal life. Notice the similarities in his openings to both books (and keep in mind the concept of eternity as you read):

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1–3)

In the beginning⁴ was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:1–3)

He is the always-existing one through whom all things came to be. From this truth, it isn’t hard to reason to the next truth: all authority belongs to Him. And that is what is stated in the next verse in our John 5 passage.

#6 Judgment Establishes the Authority of the Father and Son

(v. 27) / teal text

He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. (John 5:27)

Judgment establishes the authority of the Father and Son, and this authority as judge is linked to the fact that the Son of God is also the Son of Man. Why is that important?

Notice the relationship between the “Ancient of Days” and “Son of Man” in this passage of the book of Daniel:

I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13–14)

From the times of the writing of the prophet Daniel—who speaks of what is to come, of eternal judgment—we are told that the Son of Man has been given the authority to judge. And so this passage in John 5, from the lips of Jesus, teaches us that judgment establishes the authority of the Father and the Son.

#7 Judgment Establishes the Unity of the Father and Son

(v. 30) / purple text

Jesus says, in John 5:30, “I can do nothing on My own initiative” and “I do not seek My own will.” This concept of unity, one might argue, ranks alongside the concept of eternity in John’s Gospel. As we just read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

That unity makes sense because that which is eternal has no before and no after; therefore, there is not a before or after for the Father and Son. The Father does not come before the Son, and the Son does not come after the Father; they are both ever-present. And if you have two beings that have no before or after—they are both eternally present—then they must be one.

This unity of being that is shared between the Father and the Son is expressed also in their unity of judgment. And because of this unity of judgment, Jesus is able to declare point #8.

#8 Judgment Establishes the Righteousness of the Father and Son

(v. 30) / olive green text

In John 5:30, Jesus declares, “My judgment is just.” Some translations may say “My judgment is righteous.” The One united to the righteous Father renders righteous judgment.

The Psalmist declares that the Lord’s righteousness is an “everlasting righteousness”—an eternal righteousness.⁵ We thus declare His eternal judgment to be eternally righteous. And so it is down the line—the eternal nature of all of these facts:

The Son is eternally cooperative with the Father
He is eternally equal with the Father
He is eternally necessary
His word is eternal
He Himself is eternal
His authority is eternal
His unity with the Father is eternal
His righteousness is eternal

Conclusion

Know this: You will be judged through the Son and by the Son.

And for believers in Christ, our judgment will also be in the Son. As a result, we will have the benefit of participating in what has already been established regarding judgment:

We will discover that where there was once hospitality between us and God, there is now cooperation (just as the Son cooperates with the Father).
The honor that exists in the Father and Son will be an honor that is reflected in our very being. Scripture teaches us that we will share in the divine nature.⁶
We will discover that in accepting the only necessary thing, we will have chosen the good part, which cannot be taken away,⁷ and thus we will have gained everything else.
We will see that, having held on to the Word of God, we have held on to that which is unfading.
We will be swallowed up in life eternal, experiencing not only that which lasts forever, but that which is qualitatively boundless: perfection. (Yes, it will last forever, but it will also be unaffected by time.)
We will experience the authority of God not as those who cower in fear, but as those who exult in triumph—and, even, as those who share in the authority of God as we co-rule with Christ.⁸
We will be united with Christ in God. This is the concluding prayer of Christ on earth:⁹

I do not ask on behalf of these alone,¹⁰ but for those also who believe in Me through their word;¹¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.¹²

O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:20–26)

We will share in the unity of God; the righteous Father will answer Christ’s prayer for unity.

As a result, we will share in the righteousness of God. “God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God.”¹³ (We don’t just become pretty good or better humans if we believe in Jesus—Scripture says we actually become the righteousness of God!)

Dwelling on that eighth point a bit more: If you are a believer, you possess the righteousness of God. That means that an eternal judgment has already been issued regarding you. And there is no eternal judgment that will harm you.

If you are a believer … an eternal judgment has already been issued regarding you.

The only judgment remaining for you is the judgment of how well you appropriated that righteousness in your life—how well you made use of it. What that judgment looks like will be part of the eternal judgment teachings in this sermon series, but, once again, it looks like this list.

Living It Out

So, again, consider how well you’re living out of the righteousness that you possess. How much of your life is in the pursuit of …

… cooperation with the Father in the task that He has set before you?
… bringing honor to God as the world sees your works?
… living as if Jesus is the only necessary thing?
… living according to the Word: hearing it, obeying it, feasting upon it, sharing it?
… walking in the newness of eternal life as a reality that you now possess and now empowers you? (Yes, we have eternal life, but do we live out of it? That’s the question.)
… living as one who recognizes that all authority comes from above?
… walking in unity with God, pursuing unity with fellow believers who are in unity with God?
… dwelling in righteousness, obtaining the testimony of righteousness, anticipating the full righteousness that will one day be revealed?

This type of living is what makes for eternal reward. For all who believe will participate in the gift of life in God. And those who live well will participate in an abundance of life rewarded in God. (I’m speaking not of the gift but of reward, which I’ll discuss in the sermons to come.)

May we live the abundant life on this earth as we anticipate the abundant life to come.

We can do that with confidence because we know the judge. He is on our side.

We know the judge. He is on our side.

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