To judge is to bring an issue to a conclusion. It is the final word in a matter. Even innocent people are nervous when standing before a judge because the judge has the power to make a decision concerning their life. The judge has the final word.
As with cases tried in a court of law, there is a judgment day. A day when you must appear before the judge and receive his judgment on the issue. Sometimes you might be able to appeal his decision, other times you can’t. I am thankful I have never had to face a judge here on this earth, but one day we all will stand before, “The Judge,” who has the authority to grant us a home in Heaven or condemn us to Hell. On this day there will be no appeals, no arguing of your case, no changing the Judge’s mind. This judge has all the evidence of our lives and will judge fairly.
In Matthew 24:37-39, we see the earth as we have it now, and as it was in the days of Noah. People are doing the same things that they were doing when Noah boarded the Ark, and when God rained fire down upon Sodom and Gomorrah. They are living as if there is no God as if they are the master of their own fate. It has been many years since the slogan “If it feels good do it” became popular, but it is practiced even more now. The world at large lives for today. In verse 39, Jesus is proclaiming there will be a day when He will return, and it will be when no one expects it.
Matthew 24:37-39 “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
People are focused on living for themselves. Like the man Jesus talked about in Luke 12:16-19, whom God had blessed richly, but he had no desire to use what God had given him for others. His goal was to get richer and richer. Notice in verses 17-19, that everything is about him. The word “I” is used 6 times, and his proclamation ends with what he will do with God’s blessings. He will take ease, eat, drink, and be merry. In our vernacular, he will live a life of worldly pleasure using all that he has for himself.
Luke 12:16 “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”
He failed to realize that one day he would give an account of his life. He had been granted the opportunity to put God first and use what he had for God, but instead, he chose to ignore God and live for himself. Jesus speaks this parable to make the hearers, and us, aware that we all face a certain end to this life. The person who lives their life for themselves is a fool! All the wealth he had accumulated, would not do him one bit of good in eternity. It would not be a bargaining chip when standing before God. He had his chance, and he blew it!
Luke 12:20 “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
There will be a global judgment again. This judgment will be the end of this earth and the end of all opportunities to get right with God. There will be no escape for those who have not trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. God went to the ultimate lengths to make a way for us to escape eternity in Hell, but most will go their own way, and that way leads to destruction. God did not spare the angels that rebelled against him, He did not spare those who rejected Him at the time of the flood, and He will not spare those today who reject the lordship of His Son.
II Peter 2:4-10 “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.”
Judgment is coming, and only God the Father knows when. We can hope, pray, and wish that it does not come, but nothing we can do can change God’s plan to judge the earth. The only hope we have is to trust Christ and accept God’s plan for us to escape His final judgment. Jesus is the only way we can escape the wrath of God. Nothing else you can do, good works, reading the Bible, praying, getting baptized, and even going to church, won’t save you from His wrath. We must do what God says, His way!
Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
