BIBLICAL BIEFS 127
The unbiblical turn-or-burn theology has done a great deal of damage to Christianity and the good news of Jesus Christ’s salvation over the centuries, especially because there are absolute short-sightedness and carnal understanding of what God meant by the concept ‘judgement’. Jesus’ direct words in John. 12:47 is absolutely unambiguously clear: “For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” Unlike the other, popular view, there is no general judgment for all people. This view comes from all kinds of pagan convictions, as well as from other religions, but not from the Bible. According to the Word of God, there is no future happening for all people to appear before the throne of God. The wrong perception is that Jesus will return to earth physically and that He will sit on a big white throne and then make every sinner appear before his throne, one by one. This is not true. The anguished sinners will then be confronted one by one with every single sin, offense, or whatever, and taken into an infinite darkness of horrendous punishment. According to this view, the saints will join this cosmic opportunity to witness the terrifying destiny of the unbelievers beyond a great gulf from the glorious streets of gold in heaven. This distorted idea has grown from a literal interpretation of a few passages of Scripture which demands a symbolic interpretation. These are not literal references, but symbolic. Interestingly, Scripture does not only speaks of one final judgment. The fact is that in the old covenant there were several judgments, of which the judgment that took place in the Garden of Eden is he prime example. Not only did the federal head of humanity, Adam, stood on the bank of accusation, but in HIM also all of humanity. The verdict in this case was damnatory – guilty due to disobedience. The punishment of this transgression, which you and I also received, was death (Rom. 6:23). Man’s disobedience caused him/them to “certainly die” (Gen. 2:17). The first great judgment day was when God determined that “in Adam all die” (1Cor. 15:22). Humanity is still serving this sentence; remember – we are all growing a skeleton. Today we see this punishment in every coffin and cortège, every disease and epidemy, every pain and illness, from the law of entropy we know everything tends from a state of order to a state of disorder and death. All people born are surrendering to the judgment of this spiritual law, which Paul in Rom. 8:2 calls “the law of sin and death”. This judgment affects all people. In addition to this verdict, there has been a number of other judgments since this fatal incident. The best known may be the destructive judgment of all humanity during the great flood (only 8 people survived – 2Pet. 2: 5); Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18: 20-21; 19:14). Jude (1: 7) states that they (ALREADY) “suffered the punishment of eternal fire”. And then a final example of judgment was the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, that “great and dreadful day of the LORD” which Joel (2:31) prophesied and described in detail in the prophetic word of Matt. 24 (the whole chapter). Those words of judgement from Jesus were fulfilled in the ears of the listeners, because Jesus certainly warned them: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (verse 34). One generation (= 40 years) after it was pronounced (30 AD), the temple and all of Jerusalem were destroyed in 70 AD. Matt. 24 thus has NOTHING to do with a final judgment. Rom. 5:18 clearly shows the opposite: “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” JESUS TOOK OUR PUNISHMENT ON HIMSELF. In verse 15, it is stated: “For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many”. 2Cor. 5:18-19 confirms that God in Christ will reconcile EVERYTHING with Him. And therefore – “there is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2). This is truly the good news of the gospel!
Dr Tom Gouws
