“If there is a God, surely, He’ll just forgive everyone. The idea of judgment is just religion trying to scare people.” Ever heard that? Ever thought it, yourself? It seems reasonable, right? We want to assume that God is gentle and kind. If we put ourselves in His shoes, we wouldn’t send people to hell. Or would we?
The world’s injustice demands judgment
The idea of judgment sounds barbaric when we’re thinking about our own sins. We, of course, want forgiveness and mercy. When we think about the world around us, though, some concept of judgment seems unavoidable. Imagine arriving in heaven and meeting your rapist. Surely heaven won’t be a place of eternal trauma. Imagine strolling through the streets of gold and seeing Hitler sipping a cool ale. The injustice would make vigilantes of all of us. A belief in God’s judgment is what keeps people from living in bitterness or resorting to vengeance. As Romans 12:19 says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”
Heaven won’t be heavenly if we bring our sin with us
It’s not just judgment that’s required. Sin needs to be removed. Our attempts at justice in this world have shown us that we’re notorious repeat offenders. And that’s not just with the sins that reach the criminal level. Can you imagine an eternity of theft, bullying, gossip, and addiction? Heaven would be unbearable. Maybe you think, God could just take away all of those tendencies and desires. But would people really find it fair for God to force people to obey Him if they didn’t want to? How would a white supremacist feel if God made him love people of all ethnicities? It would mean undoing his wrong beliefs and values and replacing them with healthy ones. Is the solution really for God to do that against people’s will?
The Good News is better than the alternatives we imagine
The Bible says that God will judge all sin (not just really bad people’s crimes). It says that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). And Jesus said, for example, that “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36). But God offers a pardon for those who admit the evil of what He calls sin and purpose to turn from it. As it says in Acts 3:19, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” God not only grants forgiveness, but He promises transformation to those who turn to Him. He does what He must do if heaven is to be heavenly – He must change our wrong values and desires – but only does so with those who ask Him to.
God won’t just forgive everyone. But He will forgive you if you turn from your sin and trust Jesus. And better than just forgiving you, He’ll transform you into the person you were created to be. You’ll spend eternity with all who gladly welcome His rule in their lives.
If this is new to you and you think it’s something you’d like to explore, I’ve written a free, 12-week course called The Unstuck Life that walks you through the essentials of Jesus’ teachings in daily, bite-sized messages that you can read or watch by video. To learn more, go to gracebc.ca/getunstuck.
In awe of Him,
Paul
