January 28th, 2024
We live east of Eden. Creation groans under the curse of the Fall, humanity is corrupted by sin, the nations and the peoples rage and plot and set themselves up against the Lord and his Anointed (Psalm 2:1-2). We shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation (Philippians 2:15).
We’re sometimes tempted to despair and think that sin and evil will prevail. Asaph confesses this temptation in Psalm 73. He observed the wicked and he admits:
For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind . . . They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth . . . And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches . . . But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.
Trying to reckon with sin and evil and the apparent success of the wicked will wear you out. Asaph needed to view the current state of the world from the sanctuary, in the light of the end. We reckon with the sin and evil in the world knowing that Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”
The apostles proclaimed this end-time perspective when they preached the Gospel. Peter testified to Cornelius and his household: “[Christ] commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42). This Gospel testimony comes from Jesus himself, who testifies that the Father “has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man” (John 5:27; cf. Daniel 7:9-14).
It's Good News that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. Consider the following question and answer in the Heidelberg Catechism:
Q. How does Christ’s return “to judge the living and the dead” comfort you?
A. In all distress and persecution, with uplifted head, I confidently await the very judge who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me. Christ will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but will take me and all his chosen ones to himself into the joy and glory of heaven.
In the trials and tribulations of this life, when we grieve and groan because of the sin and evil in this world, we remember that our Saviour will come again to judge the living and the dead. On that day, we will be vindicated in him. On that day, he will vanquish and destroy once and for all those who rage and plot against him and the church. And on that day, he will take us to himself and we will hear a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)