So we’ve been looking at that wonderful verse in, chapter 14 of, Romans verse 9. For to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be lord of both the dead and the living. That means that Jesus reigns over the living and the dead. Well, now if he reigns over the dead, he must be reigning over something which is people who are alive in his presence. The dead are living in his presence.
All of them. Everyone who has died. Whether they are living boy be in his presence under judgment or salvation, That’s another issue. But they are not dismissed by god. They are brought into his presence, and Jesus will reign over them.
And it is significant that Christ reigns over them because Christ is the saviour of the world. Christ sacrificed himself for the sins of all humanity living and dead. And that means that when Christ reigns over the dead, he is redeeming the dead whether through judgments or having received them by faith, they having have faith in him, no judgments. That’s a wonderful and amazing thing. For to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again that he might be lord, that is that he might reign, that he might be lord of both the dead and the living, reign over the dead and the living.
What an expansive view of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Christ is the propitiation for our sins, but not for ours only, but for the whole world, says, John in first John chapter 5. This is awesome truth. Now what do you think the next verse says? Well, it sort of comes as a bit of a surprise.
He says, but why do you judge your brother? Well, why introduce that issue? Well, because Paul is not only talking about the destiny of the living and the dead, but he’s talking about how we should relate to humanity in light of the fact that Jesus is lord of both the living and the dead, and that everybody lives to the lord. For none of us lives to himself and no one dies to himself, as it says in verse 7. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.
Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the lords. Well, this, you see, puts a totally new light on human beings. How easily we dismiss people we don’t like. How easily we avoid people who rub us the wrong way or are of a different class or a different view of things. How often we say that well, maybe we Christians don’t say it in our in our lips on our lips, but wait a minute.
People live unto the lord, everyone living or dying, to the lord Jesus who has redeemed them and is in the process of judging and redeeming them. So we can’t dismiss humanity. This gives humanity a wholly new platform on which to rest. Not because humanity is righteous, not because it is good, but because Jesus and our father has mercy on them. Well, let’s look at the following bit.
But why do you judge your brother, or why do you show contempt for your brother? Now here’s a shocker. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Oh, now this makes us a little bit nervous, doesn’t it? Well, let’s look at the quotation.
It’s a it’s Paul is use is quoting from Isaiah chapter 45. And this is the passage he’s quoting. Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by myself, and word has gone the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. That to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.
He shall say, surely in the lord, I have righteousness and strength. To him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against him. Well, this is as an astonishing verse. It is mind blowing. It is extensive, far reaching.
First of all, who is g whom is, this verse talking to? Well, it’s not talking to Israel, nor is it talking to a remnant. God says, look to me and be saved all you ends of the earth. God is talking to every human being on the planet. And he says, I am God and there is no other.
I have sworn by myself. Oh, now wait a minute. God has sworn? Yes. He’s taken an oath.
Now if god takes an oath, you can be sure it will be fulfilled. We take an oath, we human beings, and we break our oaths and our promises as if they were nothing, but not god. I have sworn by myself. He can’t swear by anyone higher than himself because he is the highest. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth, so this oath, this promise, this oath he has made, has been declared, it has gone out of his mouth, and it is gone out of his mouth in righteousness, that is in integrity and honesty and truth.
It is not dishonest at all, and it shall not return. That is what he says next. I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. In other words, this oath shall never be revoked.
It will accomplish its commitment, and it will not be revoked. God will not change his mind. And what is it then? What is the oath? That to me every knee shall bow.
Every tongue shall take an oath. So wait a minute. There’s another oath then. What’s the second oath? Well, this is not God’s oath.
This is every tongue and every knee that bows shall take an oath. Every human being, in other words, shall take an oath, which is to make a promise. And what is that promise? What is that oath that every human being will make? He shall say, that is every human being, surely in the lord, I have righteousness and strength.
Oh, now that is something new for the human race because the human race is always boasting about its own righteousness, its own strength, its own capabilities, its own resources. They don’t need God. Thank you very much. They have the strength and power to do it on their own. But this oath that they are going to make in the judgment is when all the chips are down, is when everything has fallen apart apart and all the resources of humanity are spent and at an end, and that that humanity has nothing left.
And it realizes that all its righteousness and strength is a sham. And then the Lord reveals his glory and all his might and all his mercy and all the revelation of our sins. And the world is bowed down and broken. And yet, seeing God’s mercy and longing to see what God has done for them because he is showing it to them on the throne. From Revelation 5 verse 13, the lamb, like one slain upon the throne.
They see the mercy of god, and they reach out for it to receive it. And then they take this oath. Surely in the lord. Not in me anymore. Not in the nations.
Not in military might. Not in wealth. Not in weapons of war. Surely, in the lord alone, I have righteousness and strength. That’s the promise god makes that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall take that oath.
And that includes all the people who are incensed against him, for it says, and to him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against him. You see, people are angry with God. But in the judgment, when all is revealed and God reveals all his ways ways with humanity and how he worked for them, how he supported them even when they starved of hunger, even they when they died in warfare. He will show them that the angels were with them, that God was redeeming their souls in the process of their dying. And then they will be ashamed.
As they see the lamb upon the throne, they will look upon him whom they have pierced. They will look upon me whom they have pierced, says god. And there will be a state of sorrow and mourning throughout all Israel and throughout all the world by extension. That’s Zechariah chapter 12. And so you see, this is something absolutely global, universal.
God is going to bring the world to its knees, not enforce. And not to judge them and and finally to bring them to death. But to judge them to bring them to life, so that they will take this oath and say, oh, Lord God, I give up my impression of myself, my might, and all my idolatry, and all my self worship, and self sufficiency, and I give myself to you. I bow before you. There are so many instances in scripture where people who are brought to shame are actually saved.
They are not brought to shame to be destroyed, but brought to shame to be saved. Look at Ezekiel chapter 16, the last few few verses. Chapter 16 verses 60 to 63. And Israel will once they know how god has atoned for their sins, they will not open their mouth anymore for shame. But for gratitude and thankfulness, they will be, responding to the Lord.
So this is the astonishing verse that Paul quotes. And he applies it, that is the one speaking, the one who is making the oath, the most high God, the Lord in whom there is no other god, before whom there is no other god, he says, for I am God and there is no other, he applies that word to Jesus Christ. Listen. For but why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, and now he quotes this verse in chap in Isaiah 45. As I live, says the lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to god. The word confess there is the word take an oath, promise. Now you see, will you please stop putting the lid on this verse and other verses like it by your limited view of salvation?
Will you stop limiting god? And will you recognize that god has a a plan far more extensive than you and I could ever imagine or conjure up? God is redeeming his world. He is redeeming his universe. All people who live or die no matter how wicked they have been, through judgment, if they do not accept Christ, will ultimately be brought to him.
Because according to the book of Ezekiel, all the judgments reveal that God that is the Lord. That I then they shall know that I am the Lord. How wonderful this is. Think of the destiny of those of your loved ones who have not accepted Christ, and you’re worried about them and you’re afraid for them and you wonder about their destiny. Begin to lift up your heart and say, oh dear God, I thank you so much for your love and mercy that you are drawing my loved ones even though now dead and having rejected you, drawing them to you by the judgments that you will reveal.
And, you know, most judgments, they’re not god inflicting horrible things upon us, but god allowing to come upon us the consequences of our rejection of him. Remember that it says in Romans chapter 1 verse 18 that all mankind is in a state of suppression. That is we are pushing god down in our minds. We are refusing to acknowledge him. And so God says, alright.
I’m sorry. I have to give you what you want instead of me, and it will hurt you. But in that pain, you will come to see that I alone am god, and there is no other, and ultimately, you will bow before me. This is the nature of the judgment that is to come. It is to be a a grand and a glorious and a universal redemption through Jesus Christ.
Thanks for listening today. Colin Cook here and How It Happens. You can hear this broadcast anytime of the night, and you can hear a repeat of it on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Would you also a donation?
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