Over the last few weeks, we have looked at a lot of important descriptions of Jesus. But you can’t tell the full story of Jesus without including this one: He is the Judge of the Living and the Dead. I suspect this is probably one of the least popular ways of picturing Jesus — at least for Christians today. But it’s right there in the Scriptures.

You find this phrase in Acts 10 as Simon Peter is talking to a man named Cornelius. Cornelius is called a “God-fearer” — which means that he is a non-Jewish person who has come to believe in the God of Israel. This is a huge moment in the history of salvation. Look at what Simon Peter says:

Acts 10:34-43

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened … how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day …. And he 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. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Cornelius is a God-fearer, but he’s still lacking something. When Simon Peter walks in the door, Cornelius falls at his feet and begins worshipping him. Peter says, “No, stop. I’m a man just like you.” And he tells Cornelius what we just read: he tells him the good news about Jesus — how he was anointed by the Spirit, how we healed people who were oppressed by the devil. And he closes with this line: “Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead. Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

And while he was still saying these things, God was doing something to confirm His favor on all who heard the word: the Holy Spirit fell on them and they started speaking in tongues. And Peter said, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And they were baptized in the name of Jesus.

There are a lot of fascinating things about this story. But for our purposes today, I’ll just focus on one: in his proclamation of the Good News, Simon Peter says that Jesus is the Judge of the Living and the Dead. How is that Good News? I mean, the idea of any sort of judgment is usually offensive to modern people. So how do we reconcile this image of Jesus? How is this part of the Good News?

Well, I think it’s important to note what it says in the first part of this passage: God shows no partiality. Jesus may be the judge of the living and the dead, but we can take heart that He’s an impartial judge. It’s usually not judgment that we fear; it’s judgment that’s partial, that’s unfair. And it needs to be said that this isn’t the judgment of Jesus. He doesn’t favor one group or person over another. He’s the impartial judge.

And the impartial judge judges each person according to the same standard. Now, that doesn’t mean everyone receives the same outcome as a result of His judgment. He’s not showing partiality if He judges one person to be innocent and another person to be guilty. The impartial judge renders judgment according to a universal standard. When it comes to final judgment, that standard is faith in Jesus. As Simon Peter says, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. Those who do not believe in him do not receive forgiveness of sins. This is the standard by which the impartial judge will render his judgments.

• We have a few judges who are a part of this congregation. Judge Patrick Tuten and Judge Donna Pate serve as circuit court judges here in Madison County. So they can speak to this far better than I can.
• Judge Pate and Judge Tuten administer their rulings according to a universal standard: the law. Their rulings are impartial, but those rulings are going to differ from case to case based upon a defendant’s adherence to the standard or their failure to comply with the standard. Everyone receives equal treatment under the law — this is the standard by which they are to be judged — and yet, case by case, rulings will differ based upon behaviors that either comply with or violate the law.

I bring this up because our modern understandings of justice and equality have shifted from the traditional understandings of the terms. For many people today, the idea of equality is based upon equality of outcomes. They want equal outcomes for everyone — apart from the myriad personal choices people make over the course of their lives that impact those outcomes. These people believe that until we arrive at the place of equal outcomes for every individual, we’ve not achieved true equality and true justice. And this view of equality is championed so much that many people assume it to be the truth.

But that’s not the traditional understanding of the term and it’s certainly not the biblical picture. Equality is not determined by equal outcome but by equal opportunity and equal standards. That’s where biblical judgment comes in.

• Biblical judgment implies that everyone will be treated equally in the sense that they are judged by the same standard.
• But on the Great Day of Judgment, there will NOT be equal outcomes. And yet, this does not negate Jesus’s role as the impartial judge.

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One of the last songs Johnny Cash ever wrote was called “The Man Comes Around.” He spent a long time working on it, using a lot of imagery taken directly from the book of Revelation. He pictures Jesus as this apocalyptic figure who comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead:

There’s a man goin’ ’round takin’ names

And he decides who to free and who to blame

Everybody won’t be treated all the same

There’ll be a golden ladder reachin’ down

When the man comes around

When it’s all said and done, we will see that the two most important moments in history center on Jesus. The first was His coming in the flesh to die for our sins. And the second is when He returns in glory at the end of time. His first coming brought fulfillment to the Old Testament prophecies; the Second Coming will bring fulfillment to the New Testament prophecies.

At His first coming, Jesus said, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save it” (John 12:47). He brought salvation through His atoning death and the promise of eternal life through His resurrection. But at His second coming, things will be different.

Acts 17:30-31

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Are you ready for the Man to come around?

A moment ago we asked: How is it Good News that Jesus is the judge?

• As we said, it’s good news because He’s good. He’s fair and righteous, so His judgments will be fair and righteous. He’s ethical. He can’t be bought or bribed. He cannot be swayed toward injustice. So that’s good news.
• But His judgment is also good news for those who have suffered greatly. It IS good news that the suffering of the oppressed will one day be brought to the light of day.
  • This week, I had the privilege of sitting with some people who shared the stories of their suffering. These are fellow believers who have suffered a variety of injustices at the hands of others: women who recounted their stories of sexual abuse, for instance. I thought of my own mother who was sexually abused as a young adult. We shed a lot of tears together as we shared these painful stories with one another.
  • Knowing I was going to be preaching this message this week, I kept thinking, “It’s good news that Jesus is the good judge, the righteous judge. His judgment is good news for those who have suffered.”

I thought of the book of Revelation where it says that the souls of the martyrs cry out to God, “How long, O Sovereign Lord, before you judge and avenge our blood?” And the answer comes from heaven: “Hold on just a little longer.“

The idea of God’s judgment is good news for those who have suffered — because when the man comes around, He will make right what has been wrong for so long.

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Harry R. Truman was a colorful character who spent most of his life operating a resort on Spirit Lake in the shadow of Mount St. Helens, which is an active stratovolcano in Washington state. In early 1980, geologists detected some earthquake activity and began warning people that the volcano would likely erupt. In March, the mountain erupted for the first time in over 120 years. Those who lived nearby were told to evacuate the area. But 83-year-old Harry refused. When local reporters interviewed him, he vowed to never leave his home, claiming, “the mountain will never hurt me.”

Truman became something of a mini-celebrity — partly because he shared a name with former President Truman, but also because of his cavalier attitude about the coming eruption. Reporters covering the story could always count on a colorful quote from Truman. He received stacks of letters from school children begging him to leave the mountain. One fifth grader pleaded: “You can replace a house or lodge or something like that, but you can’t replace YOU.” Another student put it more bluntly, asking: “Do you have a family? If you do, why not go back to them? I don’t think you would enjoy being covered with steaming, boiling lava.”

But Truman just dug in his heels more deeply, refusing to leave. On May 11, 1980, scientists issued their most dire warning: it was no longer a question of “if” but “when.” An eruption was seen as inevitable. On May 13, another earthquake started an avalanche of ice on the north side of the mountain. Officials again urged Truman to vacate, even offering to fly him out via helicopter. But he said, “I’ve made up my mind more than ever not to leave.”

On the morning of May 18, 1980, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook Mount St. Helens, resulting in a major eruption of ash and lava that lasted for more than nine hours. 1300 feet of the mountain’s peak collapsed or blew outward in the eruption. Here’s a before and after picture. Millions of tons of rock, ash, and mud rushed down the mountain at 200 MPH. The eruption killed 57 people and destroyed 200 homes, 47 bridges, and 185 miles of highway. Harry Truman was one of those who lost his life that day. The Mount St. Helens eruption remains the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history.

Harry didn’t have to die. He received warning after warning that this day was coming. The scientists said, “It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when.” But Harry didn’t listen. In his pride, he ignored the warnings. There is something in us that says, “Maybe they’re wrong. It won’t be that bad.” Until it’s often times too late.

There is a day coming — a day of judgment. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when. And in His Word, God has given us warning after warning. The Man will come around.

Are you ready for Him to come? Are you ready to stand before His throne?

The Good News begins with this bit of bad news: we are sinners. We fall short of God’s standard — we are rebels and lawbreakers, every last one of us. But the Good News is that Jesus has made a way for us. Fall before Him in faith and confess His lordship. Enter into those waters of baptism and become a new creation. And as Simon Peter says, you shall receive forgiveness of your sins.

There is a day of judgment awaiting us all. The Man comes around. Are you ready?

Invitation:

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Lord who makes all things new, he who has ears let him hear.

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Discussion Questions:

1. Do you get the impression that most people struggle with the picture of Jesus as “Judge of the Living and the Dead?” Do YOU struggle with this image? If so, why?
2. If someone asked you to reconcile the picture of Jesus as a loving person with the picture of Jesus as the Judge of the Living and the Dead, what would you say? How do we hold these seemingly contrasting pictures of Jesus?
3. Read Acts 10:34-43. Simon Peter is proclaiming the Good News to Cornelius, yet he declares that Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead. How is this Good News?
4. In the sermon, Jason noted that many people today choose to define equality as “equal outcomes.” In what ways do you see this in our culture? Jason suggested that the biblical understanding is not based on equal outcomes but on equal opportunities and an equal standard (faith in Jesus). Do you agree or disagree?
5. Look at Hebrews 9:27-28. What does this passage teach us about judgment? About the second coming of Jesus?
6. Read Romans 14:9-12. How should the image of Jesus as the great judge impact the way we relate to one another?
7. Jason noted that the idea of Jesus as the Judge is Good News because He is impartial. What does that word mean to you?
8. Jason also pointed out that the image of Jesus as impartial Judge is Good News to individuals who have been oppressed and people who have suffered greatly. What do you make of this statement?
9. Read Revelation 6:9-10. What stands out to you about this passage?
10. Close with some prayer time together as a group.