Today’s 333 Devotional: “The Judgment of God”

Jesus said the Laodicean church was neither hot nor cold; instead, members were lukewarm, falsely believing they had everything. But Jesus quickly quashed this sort of thinking.

In Revelation 3:17, Jesus said, “You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”

Using strong visual language, Jesus goes on to say that if they didn’t get their act together, if they didn’t repent, and if they continued to stay lukewarm being no good to God or the community, He was going to vomit them out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16).

Today’s church, however, lacks this same healthy fear of God. We have lots of teaching on God’s love, mercy, and grace, which is good and necessary, but precious little is said about God being holy, righteous, and just.

Until we truly understand the meaning of God’s judgment, however, we’ll never fully understand the meaning of His grace.

We also hear a lot about the second coming of Jesus Christ and are looking forward with great expectation to that day. But crouched in this teaching is a truth that has been ignored. When finally understood, it should shake the church out of its lethargic condition. That truth is the coming judgment of God.

God’s judgment may be the one truth that will awaken the church so it can shake the world.

But the truth of God’s judgment lays forgotten and ignored because it reveals the severity of God that most people want to avoid. The teaching about God’s judgment has become distasteful. Just as the love, grace, and mercy of God cannot be overstated, so the holiness, righteousness, and justice of God cannot be understated.

The fact that everyone is judgment-bound is probably the most sobering thought that can be presented in today’s church, and that’s because it’s been appointed for everyone to die and be judged afterward (Hebrews 9:27).