This post is written by Matt Rogers as a companion for Unit 36, Session 2 of The Gospel Project for Adults, Volume 12: From This World to the World to Come (Summer 2024).
The stories of wrongful conviction are the worst. The person that spends decades behind bars, only to be exonerated when future evidence is found that he or she did not actually commit the crime. Many times the first verdict seemed clear and the person was condemned for wrongs that convinced many, including a judge and jury. It seemed that justice had been done, only to find out that the crimes were actually committed by someone else. We grieve the miscarriage of justice and lament the fact that someone suffered such an unjust punishment.
We’d be in a similar predicament if our hope for the future was based on human sensibilities alone. Imagine the fear you would have about eternal judgment if we’d merely get to the end of our life and stand before a fallible judge or a jury of our peers and they would determine our fate.
Thankfully the Bible reminds us that God is the One who will judge on the last day and He is a just judge. Consider Isaiah 33:22: “For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our Lawgiver, the LORD is our King. He will save us.” And 2 Timothy 4:8: “There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.” The Lord is a righteous judge.
It seems, however, that His justice is challenged by human sin. After all, if anyone is going to be in heaven, doesn’t that mean that God will have to excuse their sin? The apostle Paul counters this claim when he writes:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.” –Romans 3:21-26
Through Christ, God can be both just and justifier. Just in that He does judge sin. Justifier in that He pours out the wrath of God on Jesus so that those He saves can be forgiven. God doesn’t excuse sin or turn a blind eye to it. He judges it justly in Christ.
Christians, therefore, can look to the future with hope. We will stand before the just and gracious Judge knowing that the penalty for our sins has already been satisfied through Christ’s death. We await the judgment with joy, knowing that it will be our final victory.
Matt Rogers is the pastor of Christ Fellowship Cherrydale in Greenville, South Carolina. He and his wife, Sarah, have five children: Corrie, Avery, Hudson, Willa, and Fuller. Matt is also an assistant professor of church planting at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, the church development coordinator with the Pillar Network, and a freelance author.
