The Righteous Judgement of God

(2 Thessalonians 1:5-8)

We who walk in Christ are being prepared according to the righteous judgement of God. We are being prepared through a process of transformation to live with Christ.

This work of transformation is a slow process that begins when we first come to Christ seeking a better life. And as we grow in Christ, he is changing us into His image

It is the righteous judgement of God that we be changed so that we can live with Him. But it is also the righteous judgement of God that will mean those who do not know God or reject Him will be judged unworthy.

The righteous judgement of God to the Righteous

The first part of this scripture briefly describes the way the righteous judgement of God is working on those who believe.

5 This is evidence of the righteous judgement of God, that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering– 6 since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant rest with us to you who are afflicted, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 1:5-8)

Notice in verse 5 that God is making His people worthy of His kingdom. Only those who are found to be worthy will enter into the kingdom of God with Jesus Christ and God the Father.

You may be wondering how can anyone be worthy of God?

Well, the bottom line is that of ourselves and in our own power and strength, we will never be worthy of God. That is why in the righteous judgement of God He makes us worthy.

It has nothing to do with anything we do. It is all about what God has done for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we are made worthy.

Briefly what the process of the righteous judgement of God covers

The process of becoming worthy to enter the kingdom of God is not difficult to understand or do. If it were difficult, very few people would be saved.

The process is actually outlined in the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His disciples as He left the earth. This is what He said.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

This was how Jesus defined the process to the disciples, and we see there are three parts to the Great Commission.

The disciples were told to make disciples, then baptise them, and finally teach them all that Jesus had taught.

If we look at this from the perspective of the new believer, it would read: Come to Christ, get baptised, and learn everything you can about Him.

How does the righteous judgement of God work?

As we look deeper into this process defined in the Great Commission, we learn what each of these three steps involve.

First, to come to Christ, a person must have a minimum of faith. They should believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He came to save you from your sins. The new believer should also show a desire to repent and change their life. The process of repentance is to change the way you think to be able to choose what is right rather than the evil of this world.

That’s what the first step in the Great Commission involves. The second step is to be baptised.

Many people in the church do not fully understand the meaning or significance of baptism. They treat it as an initiation into a church, or a call for repentance, and there are many strange and diverse teachings about baptism.

The reason why Christ told the disciples to baptise the new disciples is because it is really the beginning of our walk.

The symbolism of baptism is that it represents our death and resurrection with Christ. When we are baptised, we are baptised into His death and His resurrection, and we should think of them as our REAL death and resurrection with Him.

You may wonder why we should consider ourselves dead?

Death is the payment for all of the sins we have committed in our lifetimes. We all rack up a debt of sin in this life, and that debt is only paid through death.

But when we die with Christ in baptism, and we believe that His death has become our death, then in the righteous judgement of God, He considers us to have died too, and so the debt is paid.

Freedom in the righteous judgement of God

So, in baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ we have freedom from sin.

But wait, there is still much more that happens at baptism.

1 Do you not know, brethren–for I am speaking to those who know the law–that the law is binding on a person only during his life? (Romans 7:1)

Remember now that in the righteous judgement of God, we have died with Christ, and He sees us as having died in this world too.

Now, as this scripture shows us, the law is binding on a person only while they are alive. So if we have died, we are no longer bound by the law. And if we are no longer bound under the law, then the law can no longer condemn us as sinners.

So through the death we go through at baptism, the righteous judgement of God has set us free from all future sin by removing the law. And we must remember that sin is lawlessness or the breaking of the law as we are told in 1 John 3:4.

Our past sins are taken away, and all future sin is not counted because the law is now gone since we have died with Christ. If we have no sin, past, present or future, then we are declared righteous by faith. It is because we believe in faith what God has done through the death and resurrection of His Son to give us freedom that He declares us righteous. He gives us the free gift of righteousness by faith because we believe what God has done.

And since we are resurrected with Christ in this same baptism, we are born again as new creations, no longer as citizens of this world, but as citizens of the kingdom of God. It is by faith in baptism that we enter into the kingdom of God…NOW!

The righteous judgement of God to overcome the flesh

But wait, there is still more. We have not yet considered the third part of the Great Commission, which is to learn everything we can of what the Lord taught.

We are still creatures of the flesh, even though we have received these freedoms and righteousness through faith. Our flesh is still filled with all of the passions, lusts and desires of all humanity that fight against out desires to do what is right in God’s sight.

That is why in the righteous judgement of God, He gives us the Holy Spirit.

It is the work of the Spirit to teach us all the things of Jesus. He teaches us and shows us how to overcome the passions of the flesh and so gain victory over the flesh. It is the Holy Spirit who actively works in and with us to transform us into the image of Christ.

As we learn and as the Spirit leads and teaches us, we gain strength to stand against all forms of evil, whether from outside or from within. We learn how to walk by the Spirit and so put to death the deeds of the body, to be able to walk with God.

What about non-believers?

As for those who choose to reject the words of God, their lot is to be cast out. They will be afflicted and God will wreak His vengeance upon all who chose to reject Him.

It is not the desire of God that anyone should be lost. But in the righteous judgement of God, He has given that choice to every individual. We are the ones who need to make the choice to walk with God, or walk away.

If someone chooses to walk away from God, then how can they share in His blessings promised to those who seek Him out? And why should God bless those who stand against Him?

But hopefully, that is not to be our lot. Our lot is to seek the Lord and find Him. And in finding the truth we will walk with Him and have a place in His glorious kingdom when everything is finished.

So, seek the Lord and see what the righteous judgement of God is really all about.

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