"After This The
Judgment"
Hebrews 9:27
God will by no means
clear the guilty. And he will not punish the righteous. How, then, can we, who
are the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, stand before the holy, just and true
God in judgment? Is there no hope? As long as we are guilty, as long as there
is one remaining spot of sin upon us, unless we are made perfectly righteous,
there is no hope.
The only hope any
sinner has of eternal salvation and acceptance with the holy God is that he
might be saved by the infinite merits of an able, acceptable, all-sufficient
Substitute. And that Substitute is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
The Lord Jesus Christ,
by his own precious blood, has completely washed away the sins of his people.
They are no longer recorded in the book of God's law against us (Isa. 43:25;
44:22). In that great day, when God opens the book, he will not find one sin
recorded against any of those for whom Christ died (Jer. 50:20). Our sins were
imputed to Christ. He was punished in our stead. By his blood he fully
satisfied the penalty required by God's law for our sins. Christ paid our debt
to God's law. Now we have nothing to pay! And Jesus Christ is "the Lord
our righteousness" (Jer. 23:6). His righteous obedience to God has been
imputed to all who believe on him, so that in the sight of God's holy law,
according to the record of God's own books, we are perfectly righteous, the
very righteousness of God in him (Rom. 5:19; II Cor. 5:21). Believer, hear
these words and rejoice: "In thy Surety thou art free, His dear hands were
pierced for thee; with His spotless garments on, (you're) holy as the Holy
One!"
If we are in Christ,
united to him by faith, washed in his blood and robed in his righteousness, the
day of judgment will not be for us a dreaded day of
doom, or even of sorrow, but a day of victory, triumph and glory! Let us look
upon that day with sobriety, but not with fear. We must not be presumptuous.
But we must not be unbelieving. We have nothing to fear. We will endure no
punishment. We will suffer no loss. We will receive the full reward of eternal
glory, purchased by his blood and earned by his obedience on our behalf. Our
Mediator's record before God is our record. His merit is our merit. And his
reward is our reward!
Don Fortner