He Will Judge The Nations

 

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment – Hebrews 9:27

Exodus is one of my favorite books in the Old Testament. Its stories are epic in scale with the author sharing real events that paint the dramatic picture of God’s deliverance for His chosen people. Within its account of Israel's freedom from slavery in Egypt, it is rich with beautiful and vivid symbols that point us to Christ, foreshadowing the work of our Savior. One of the stories that I enjoy most is the passover.

Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses.

It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. – Exodus 12:3,5-7,11-13

If you have been in church for sometime, this is likely a story you are familiar with. God is setting His people free from their captivity through bringing judgement on the land of Egypt. By this point in the narrative, God has sent nine other judgements upon Egypt as the pharaoh continues to deny the release of God's people. Finally God warns of a final plague, He will go through the land and kill all the firstborn of every man and beast. (Exodus 11:4-5)

But there is something here that I don’t believe we always think about, and I don’t want us to miss it.

Israel was not spared God’s judgement. We tend to simply let that thought pass because they were the ones set free from captivity, however the picture is bigger than that. God’s judgment swept across the entire land of Egypt, and this included Israel. God’s people were not spared the judgement, instead, they were given a way to escape under the judgement. And what was the means of their escape? Trusting in the blood of the lamb.

What would have happened if they would have trusted in something else? What if rather than believing God’s word, they trusted in themselves to determine what would protect them from God's impending wrath? What if they convinced themselves that God is not a God who judges, and would never do anything like that to them? Or if they decided mud would work on the door, rather than blood? Or if they decided that blood from a different animal would work, or even accepting a few blemishes on the lamb they sacrificed? What would have happened, is that they too would have suffered under the judgement. God's wrath came out upon them, however they believed and obeyed, and it passed over them. They escaped it, but they were not spared it.

But why were they passed over?

Because something died in place of their first born. The blood of the lamb showed that the necessary death God's judgment required had been satisfied.

Now this event that took place in the ancient world will happen again. However it will not be localized to the land of Egypt, instead it will cover the entire earth. There is a judgement coming that every person will face, and it is a judgement of life or death. Not one person will be spared it.

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment – Hebrews 9:27

The mortality rate of every person is 100%. We are appointed by God for death, and then the judgment. No one is spared it, yet just as Israel had hope in the death of the lamb, so do all men today have hope in the blood of Christ! He is the lamb that was slain to provide freedom from sin's penalty! (John 1:29)

We all have earned death from our sin (Romans 6:23), but this death is maybe not what you think. We have all sinned against a holy God, yet you are alive reading this. Your heart beats, and your lungs work, so what is this death? It is the death that comes after the judgement. It is the casting away that God will do to those who have not had their sins paid for by the death of Christ.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. – Revelation 2:11

So have you conquered? Has the penalty and power sin has over your heart been conquered by Christ? Do you love, submit, pursue, desire, and trust Him? There are many today, who refuse to believe and obey what God has said on this subject. They are busy trying to find something else to put on the doorposts of their heart, rather than submitting to Christ. Perhaps they have convinced themselves that His words are not true, and He will not judge anyone. However, the judgement will still come and Christ is our only hope to escape it, and that escape gives us everything!

The escape is not the end, but a means to the end. It is the means to be with God forever. To enjoy His glory forever, and to see and experience Him as our source of all joy, peace, and satisfaction.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. – Psalm 16:11

If you do not know Him, I beg you to see Him as beautiful in His death on the cross. He is the lamb that died in your place. See what he offers you, a right relationship with God, then abandon your sin and run to Him!

You can purchase a print of this poster on the shop at Society6.

God Killed Me

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20

Follow your heart. Follow your dreams. Be true to yourself. Trust your heart. Do what is right for you. Do what makes you feel good.

We have all heard these sentiments chanted in our culture. From our family, our entertainment, and even from within ourselves, we are no strangers to them. These cords of thinking are so deeply woven into our being that at times they emerge from us as guidance without even a thought behind their meaning. We give no heed to the one thing these statements revolve around.

You.

Follow and trust yourself. Give into your passions and desires. You are the one who leads your life. For many this likely doesn’t seem to be a problem, and these thoughts come very naturally. However, this way of thinking comes with a dangerous presupposition; you are capable of defining what is true and what is right for yourself. That you are a good and trustworthy person.

However, the truth is, we are not good people. None of us are. (Romans 3:10-12) We in fact all desire evil, and are each consumed with a passion for it. We drink of it, yet our thirst is never quenched. We eat of it, yet our stomachs cramp with the pangs of hunger. We seek our rest in it, yet we lay sleepless with no contentment.

So, what is this evil?

It is that we are consumed with a passion and desire for our own glory. (Romans 1:25) We fight and claw to have our purpose and our way above God’s. That, my friends, is the essence of evil, and it is what we pursue. However, no matter how much of it we get, it's never enough. No matter how much we assert our own will over God's, it never satisfies. It leaves us empty, straining, and plotting for more. The reason it has never satisfied, is because we were not designed to be satisfied by ourselves. (Jeremiah 2:12-13) This is our great evil that leaves us empty.

That is also why from Christ we hear a much different plea. From the mouth of our creator we hear a call to follow Him, not ourselves. And do not mistake it, it is a call to die. (Mark 8:34) To die to yourself. To lay down everything you are, your thoughts, desires, and actions, under His rule.

But who wants to die to themselves? Who volunteers for that? It is the one who has seen something worth dying for. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6) It is the one who has seen more value and beauty in Christ than they see in themselves. They are willing to die. For those that have truly seen Christ, the fear of dying to yourself grows dim in the radiant beauty of what that death will award you. They are then willing to lay hold of Christ at the cost of themselves. They will give up following their own heart, to follow God's. (Acts 13:22)

But what does that look like? How does someone see God as more beautiful than themselves? It takes seeing who you really are in the light of who God really is. When we see that God is holy, just, and righteous, and He will not tolerate the sin in our rejection of Him, we start to see ourselves in the light of His glory. He is God, we are not, and all we are owed from Him is destruction. (Isaiah 6:1-7, James 4:4)

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Seeing ourselves under God's wrath is the only way we can start to see Christ as more desirable than ourselves.

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Yet hope comes in that sate. Seeing yourself as cursed, ruined, and hopeless under God’s wrath is the beginning of dying to yourself. (James 4:6) Because it is there, that you can see the glory of Christ. It is there you can see that He paid the penalty you deserve. (2 Corinthians 5:21) It is there that you see His wrath as loving, due to its ability to give you what you need most, the ability to see God as gloriously beautiful in His sacrifice of His Son for your sin.

Seeing ourselves under God's wrath is the only way we can start to see Christ as more desirable than ourselves. Then we can desire to be crucified with Him, buried with Him, to be raised to new life with Him. (Romans 6:1-7) We then see the reward of dying to ourselves is Him!

This is what God did in my life. This is what this poster is about. God opened my eyes to His glory, and I died under its weight. God's glory killed me, then raised me to a new life with Him!

So I ask, do you see God as more desirable than yourself? Is His way more beautiful than yours? If not, I have to wonder, are you really alive?

You can purchase a print from the shop on Society 6.