For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell[a] and
committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5
if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6
if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7
and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8
(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10
and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
One of Christianity’s well-known hymns is Rock of Ages. Here is the fourth stanza as written in modern hymnals:
When I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyelids close in death,
When I rise to world’s unknown
And behold thee, on thy throne
Rock of ages cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.
Anyone see a problem? Look closely at the fourth line. That is not what Augustus Toplady wrote in 1776, nor what we have sung for years. The line should read;“When
I draw this fleet breath, when mine eyelids close in death. When I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on Thy judgement throne, Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.” Some hymnals and copies simply leave the fourth verse
out altogether! Why does God’s judgement make modern minds squeamish?
Peter continues in his discussion about those who are false teachers who lead people astray. Peter has nothing good to say about these men. He doesn’t water-down
his words by saying, “Well, these guys have some good things to say…we can learn something from them…But…” In our day we are often embarrassed by strong condemnations, especially those that use the sort of vocabulary and the sort of illustrations that Peter
employs here. But to speak of judgment? That is even less acceptable in our sensitive age…after all, who is to say what is right and wrong and certainly God wouldn’t judge anyone…He is love.
This was not Peter’s view, nor any other prophet or apostle. Peter is unqualified: Some angels stood with the Prince of the Angels, Satan and for their rebellion were
cast into hell, where they suffer awaiting their final judgment at the resurrection. God judged the world in the days of Noah for their utter wickedness. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah…unable to find even 10 in the entire city that were righteous. The Lord
has and will bring judgment in perfect justice, in the perfect time and in the perfect manner.
Before moving on with the Biblical teaching of judgment, a couple of things to note in these verses. First, is the continuing life of the wicked, after they die. Verses
4 and 9 make it clear that judgment for the wicked angels and men is in effect but not yet full. The opposite is true as well. The souls of believers when they pass, are present with the Lord enjoying the perfection, rest and peace of paradise. But there is
more to come. On the day of resurrection, when Jesus returns, body and soul will be united and there will be an enjoying of life in the New Heavens and the New Earth, body and soul, as it was meant to be from the beginning. For the wicked, their souls are
in torment and at the resurrection their bodies will join their souls in their judgment.
Second, Peter uses Lot as an example that while we are in this world the judgements of God affect us as well as the wicked. However, as with Lot, the Lord will deliver
us from His judgments into His Heavenly Kingdom. This is important. Sometimes people mistakenly think that “bad things won’t happen” because we are the Lord’s. That is nowhere promised. What is promised is that the Lord will use bad things for our good and
that He will deliver us into his heavenly kingdom. (I Timothy 4:18). God doesn’t tell us we will avoid the consequences of living in a sinful, rebellious world among folks who will not submit to Him. He does tell us that He is with us IN the trial and will
deliver us from it; perhaps in this life, but certainly in the one to come.
It is quite a feat to try and take judgment out of the Bible and to remove it as a characteristic of the Lord God. Some will say that in the Old Testament, God was
a God of judgment but in the New Testament, God becomes a Christian and is no longer a judge. (Sorry, that was sarcastic, but it is simply an absurd notion that God changes His character or that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the
New Testament!) Jesus spoke of judgment more than anyone in the New Testament and was quite clear that God will, and because He is perfectly just, God must judge the wicked.
Here is the irony: Every Christian, if they understood the Bible’s teaching on judgment, would praise God daily for it, and here is why. If God has to judge sin and
rebellion and all of those who are given to sin and rebellion, then God has to judge every one of us. Are you not sinful? Have you ever done the opposite of what pleases God? Have you ever failed to do what God requires? “All the time” the Christian says!
I am a sinner through and through!
So, what of your judgment? Here is the glory of our Savior’s rescue! Jesus the Messiah, was judged by God the Father, FOR you. He bore YOUR judgment and mine. You/Your
sin has been judged but Jesus has borne the judgment, its curse, its shame, its guilt and its punishment. That is why Paul says in Romans 8, “There is therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” Our sin HAS BEEN condemned and our Savior has stood
in our place! We give thanks for judgment or more specifically, for the One who bore ours. God is just and must therefore judge sin, all sin. And He has. Praise Him for He has provided for Himself, a Lamb! (Genesis 22:8)
The world does not take such a serious view of life. Our culture today finds such seriousness about life and about the coming judgment of God and our seriousness about
ultimate truth and falsehood, only as the wrangling of antiquated religious thought. We’ve moved beyond such things in our enlightened age.
Ironically, we deny God having the right to make judgments, while we’re making them all the time. And so, man has concluded that God simply forgives everything, that
is His job. He would never be so impolite to us, so disrespectful to our cherished opinions and behaviors. But this is nowhere the teaching of the Bible. To put it simply: There is too much tragedy, hatred, and darkness in this world to imagine that somehow
or another that we can fashion a view of life that does not account for all the tragedy, hatred and darkness. It is an illusion that lulls man to sleep to think that one can actually know God and continue to be indifferent to living the life that pleases God,
difficult as that life may be to live. Effort, struggle, sacrifice, frustration, disappointment, and perseverance are everywhere in Scripture the description of believing life. That is why the false prophets had to undermine the authority of the Bible to get
people to believe them and follow them. It could not be found in the Bible! It was the Lord Jesus who said that unless a person is willing to take up his cross and follow him, he cannot be his disciple. There was no cross in the teaching of these men. That’s
how Peter knew, not only was it wrong, but terribly wrong. He knew there was a cross, both for Jesus and for us, but he also knew there was a resurrection as well, first His, then ours at the end of the age!
Prayer: Father, for your perfect justice I praise You. For the love and sacrifice of Your Son, my Savior Jesus Christ, I worship and adore You. Help me to live
free from condemnation, free from guilt and shame! Help me to walk in the victory of Jesus as Your child and to live with thanksgiving, joy and peace through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Rock of Ages
Or
