Breadth of Mind and the Bible - The End Game - Part 2

(Part 1 focused on the information that each Christian is destined to be a judge of men and angels on Judgment Day. Also discussed was the preparation for such a role. By reading Part 1first, you will get a fuller picture of the dynamics of this promised, coming event).

The Door

Two thousand years ago, Jesus declared, "I am The Door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved ... no one comes to the Father, except through Me" (Jn 10:9 and Jn 14:6). This Door has been open since then, and as you are now reading this, still is. But, it will be closed. John told us we are living "in the last hour" (1Jn 2:18). When the Door closes, and the resurrection for both believers and unbelievers has been completed (Jn 5:28,29), the next event will be ...

The Great White Throne Judgment

About three thousand years ago, after listing a whole set of moral violations, God said to the perpetrators, "These things you have done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you. I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes" (Ps 50:21). The fact that one does not believe in Judgment Day will have no bearing on it ... or that unbeliever’s presence in it. I once worked for a man who decided government did not exist. One evening, he phoned and asked that I bring bail money. His second wife, and unpaid child support, landed him in jail. He emerged from the cell block with his nose buried in a book, trying to deny the reality of steel bars, locks and prison guards around him. As we were driving home, he angrily said, "I don’t see what’s so #*!/+ funny." To this day, I don’t remember laughing ....

God has kept a book on each unbeliever (Rev 20:12). It is filled with hostile decrees against him/her (Col 2:14). It contains every deed, every careless word, and even the secrets of each defendant’s heart (Rev 20:13, Mt 12:36, and Ro 2:16). Our Creator states fact and deals in facts. I hope you realize this before that moment. Realization then ... will be of no benefit.

Concerning Jesus, "God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Phil 2:9-11). While "should bow" and "should confess" are in the subjunctive mood - indicating probability - this mood was sometimes interchangeable with the future ... thus, "will bow" and "will confess" (Dana and Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, pg. 170, footnote 2). But, even if this passage is the more common subjunctive (thus, an appeal for what all creatures should do), the next passages aren’t. "‘I have sworn by Myself ... a word that will not be revoked ... as I live,’ saith the Lord, ‘every knee will bow to Me and every tongue will confess’" (Isa 45:23 and Ro 14:11). "All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, even he who cannot - did not - keep his soul alive ..." (Ps 22:29). When the Lion of the Tribe of Judah decides to eternally arise, we will then see "all things ... subjected to Him" (1Cor15:28). No votes will be taken about this matter, no counsel requested ... and none received. "And they did not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds are all around them; they are before My face" (Hos 7:2).

The Early Assignment

While Jesus is The Judge, that does not negate substantive employment of the saints in that work. Even now, He is The Teacher ... yet, He graces saints with the gift of teaching - and so employs them. Similarly, He alone is the Savior ... yet, He gifts and employs saints as evangelists and empowered witnesses. After the physical resurrection on the Last Day, the first assignment for believers will probably be ... this eternal judgment of unbelievers and the fallen angels. This will not be, or ever could be, an earned position. The saint is not innately superior. And this will have nothing to do with self righteousness. The saint will have been made righteous ... and that present reality will be all that matters. When the moment of eternal judgment arrives, the saint will be in full agreement with all His values and views ... with no hesitation.

The Saints: Judging Unbelievers

On Judgment Day, it is possible (maybe even likely) God will use those He delivered from the various sins as the judge of those who persisted in those sins. I will not be the least bit surprised to find Him using ex-abortionists as the judge of the non-repentant ones. Or ex-thieves as the judge of thieves, or ex-homosexuals as the judge of homosexuals ... and on down the line. Those who availed themselves of the power and mercy of God to become victorious over those sin patterns will stand as a testimony, witness - and judge - toward those who refused deliverance ... "whose portion in life is of the world" (Ps 17:14).

The Saints: Judging Angels

When Paul asked/said, "do you not know that we shall judge angels?" (1Co 6:3), this is surely referencing fallen angels. God’s "chosen angels" (1Tim 5:21) have no sin requiring judgment. (And if they are to be rewarded for their service to us [He 1:14] that will probably be a transaction of angel-to-Creator, as is believer-to-Creator.) This Corinthian passage is the sole passage informing of this coming "ministry." Normally, it is dangerous to build doctrine on a solitary verse. But, in this case, the wording is so clear, that I know of no scholarship that wonders what Paul is saying. And, as seen above, Paul presents this destiny as one of absolute common knowledge. He even follows up by disparagingly asking the Corinthians how is it they are incompetent in rightly judging "matters of this life" - in light of these spectacular, eternally resounding, empowered by God, binding sentences to be levied by them upon both man and angel! In the vernacular of a 21st century, pro baseball fan, Paul is saying, "You are destined for the Big Leagues - yet your actions declare ... you aren’t even playing tee ball yet."

Angels: Chosen and Fallen - A Closer Look

As God was developing the salvation plan over the millennia, the angels, who are far superior to man in cumulative knowledge, age, and perspective - were infatuated. God’s orchestration leading to the Christ, constituted "things into which angels long to look" (1Pet 1:12) - or, Koine Greek, "things into which angels lust to stoop down and look into - to penetrate." They are creatures who grow in knowledge. God’s activities superbly challenge, and overwhelm, even the most mentally brilliant of the angelic order, "who are greater in might and power" than any man (2Pet 2:11). In the cross, they witnessed ... and learned.

In forging salvation, diametrically opposing forces were brought together. On the cross "lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Ps 85:10). Truth has not been abandoned in God’s extension of mercy toward sinners, and justice has not been compromised in establishing grounds for peace for those same sinners. But, the cross has also created diametrically opposing dynamics in these two groups of angels. I am absolutely positive His "chosen angels" are awestruck by this entire affair - and have found God’s activity stunning from that point forward. They are witnessing (and are employed in - He 1:14) an astounding plundering of Satan’s house (Col 2:15, 1Jn 3:8 and Mt 12:28,29) ... plucking fools like me out of it ... with God remaining unsullied in the process. But for the fallen angels, the story is quite ... different.

At some point, each fallen angel learned, "I am doomed ... eternally doomed." I know they know they are damned, because ... I know it. And they are greater in might and power (and knowledge) than me.

As fallen angels have come to understand they have lost, and an eternal lake of fire, created by their Creator, awaits them (Mt 25:41 and Rev 20:10), shock waves have surely resonated through the ranks. Just because Satan himself is "full of fury, knowing that he has but a short time" (Rev 12:12) - that does not mean all the other doomed angels react in this same manner. While all are ultimately vicious, they are all still individuals. Before their fall, each were surely gifted in very personal and unique ways. They may have even possessed varying temperaments - in a righteous sort of manner. While the infection of sin perverts and warps all facets of the character - each fallen angel is still uniquely individual. Even in the human population, sin has impacted individuals differently. Some become aggressive, some confused, some sly, some lazy. Some set goals and remain disciplined toward them, while others are overcome by circumstances or substances. Sin has adversely impacted each fallen angel in individual ways. A study of demon manifestations in the New Testament shows different kinds of evil and temperament. I am not altogether convinced the fallen angels infesting the Gerasene demoniac (Mk 5:1-20) would also be employed in the divination girl (Ac 16:16-34), or the silver-tongued, disguised "servants of righteousness" espousing "doctrines of demons" (2Co 11:15 and 1Ti 4:1).

And here is another consideration. When a warring army knows defeat is certain, it is hard to maintain order in the ranks. Is it possible Satan’s ranks have descended into varying levels of confusion, disorientation, panic and rebellion ... even to him? I do not know if he can inflict harm on other fallen angels, and thus coerce continued obedience, or if such activity is even needed. Maybe not ... but if so, I will not be too surprised.

But, Can You Imagine the Angst ...

... when they learned redeemed sinners have been slated - to become their damning judges? If I was a fallen angel, this knowledge would alternately sicken and enrage me. "I have thousands and thousands of years of life experience in realms these peons have no knowledge of - and these pathetic, naive, shallow, babied, little newcomers are going to be empowered to eternally judge me? And each conversion produces another judge?" This has been common knowledge in their ranks for at least two thousand years now. It is no wonder ... they long to kill us all.

Empowered Judgment

Righteousness, in this current age, has no home. Little pockets arise as God grants various domains for a season to those He calls "from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God" (Ac 26:18). But, when the saint exits (either by unfaithfulness or leaving this age), if there is no genuine replacement, things turn back to "normal," which means, "alienated and hostile in mind" toward God and "engaged in evil deeds" before God (Co 1:16). "Only in the Lord (is) righteousness" (Isa 45:24). Righteousness, justice, and integrity - as defined by God - are elusive virtues for the natural man in the natural world. "There is none righteous, not even one" (Ro 3:10). This circumstance is at the heart of all the man-made trauma from Adam forward. And, as you are reading this article, this age is still intact ... with its continued travesties.

This does not mean that man has no concept of what righteousness is. Many unbelievers have an innate understanding of its broadest strokes. Murder, stealing, rape, kidnaping, lying, fraud - there are many activities deemed "unrighteous" by almost all cultures. But, one of the great historical frustrations has been the miserable inability to thwart evil and enforce righteousness. Stated another way, righteousness, and ensuing justice, in this age ... are victims. Quite honestly, this has caused many to become angry at God.

God sums up our current life and world, where righteousness languishes, in three little words. We reside in the "present evil age" (Ga 1:4). Fortunately, this sordid circumstance is to end. On Judgment Day, all platforms upon which unrighteousness has been able to stand will be destroyed ... never to rise again. At the Judgment, power will be granted to all agents of righteousness to fully, and forever, employ righteousness - "to execute on them the judgments written" (Ps 149:9). This unearned honor will fall to each Christian. Jesus’ statement will never be more clearly seen: "He who is not with Me is against Me" (Lk 11:23).

So, I Must Ask Myself ...

"Am I ready to stand, in full conviction, with the eternal Creator and judge man and angels exactly as He does?" My personal behavior attests otherwise. I still sin. I still sin a lot. In fact, the more I learn of God and His ways, the more I see how much I sin. And I see ... but a part. I don’t know that I have ever been able to echo Paul: "For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the One who examines me is the Lord" (1Co 4:4). If I ever said this to my wife ... she would just laugh, and so would my daughters, and so would my co-workers, and so would - well, you get the point. So, here I am again. I must become a wholly, holy righteous judge to man and angel. I must rededicate everything - right now.

Conclusion

The truly narrow-minded are those who have never honestly and vigorously sought God. But, I know I, too, am still so afflicted ... and have not yet attained the breadth of mind necessary to fulfill the saint’s role at the Judgment. But, I have determined anew that I am not going to allow anyone, or anything, to subvert this quest ... including myself. My opinions about God - what He thinks, values and chooses to engage in - will have no place there, nor should they. My goal is to become a Biblical Theist without flaw. I must apply myself to His Book, and ask Him to bow down to my level and teach me accurately. Then, I must not compromise or rationalize anything for my agendas. If I have any hope of gaining the breadth of mind necessary to be favorably employed and deployed by the King of all kings and Lord of all lords on Judgment Day, I must press on "toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:14). That is my objective and I hope to see you there ... beside us/Us.

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