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The Cause of Our Rejoicing in the Judgment Hour
William Diehl
Colossians 2:13-14 And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
In Christ the condemning list of the charges against us or legal indictment (Greek: chirographon) has been blotted out and nailed to His cross where He suffered under the curse of the Law for our sins. Now since Pentecost, He reigns as the Judge of the world to deliver and save all who come unto Him through faith in His sinless life and atoning death. In the proclamation of the Good News that in Christ there is now no condemnation, all the world is being called unto the courtroom of God. All are being judged for either eternal life on the one hand, or eternal death on the other. There is no escape from this judgment hour message. The fate of all is being determined as all the world is called into the judgment hall of God to "behold the Man" All the world is being asked, "what think ye of this Man?".
In the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the final day of judgment becomes a present day reality. To those repentant sinners who believe and call upon His name, confessing Him as their Savior and Lord, their faith is "counted for righteousness". All must face their life's record through the conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment which the Holy Spirit brings to the conscience of the guilt ridden sinner, as he stands before the holiness of God's holy Law. As the Spirit of God brings conviction, those who do not resist this conviction and this drawing of the Holy Spirit will cry out, "What must we do to be saved from the just wrath of God?"
It is only through faith in the shed blood of Christ that the sinner can find forgiveness, have his conscience purged and cleansed, and find the rest and peace that faith in the blood of Christ alone can bring. Those who repent of dead works and believe, have their names written in the Lamb's "Book of Life" and receive the seal of God's approval in Christ---- the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Because of the incense of Christ's righteousness, God can look upon the forgiven and justified sinner and say, "This is my beloved son / daughter with whom I am well pleased." The believing repentant sinner is accounted as being as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself!!! Because He is worthy, we are reckoned as worthy in the merciful reckoning of God. By faith we have a legal adoption into the family of God and so long as we abide by faith under the covering of the blood of the everlasting covenant, the verdict of acquittal on the final Day is assured.
Our faith in Christ is built upon "better promises" than our mere good works and promises to "obey and live". Our faith and assurance is built upon the oath and promise of God Himself who cannot lie that everything that the Law demands has been met in the Person of Jesus Christ, the One Mediator between God and man. He ever lives to make intercession for us by the incense of His perfect righteousness. With the apostle Paul, we can bear witness that we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is power of God unto salvation for all who believe. In the Gospel is revealed God's way of putting sinners right with Himself. It begins in faith in Christ's blood and it ends in faith in Christ's blood at the coming of our Lord. Whosoever trusts in the blood sprinkled upon the door post of his heart has the verdict of life and has passed from the sentence of death unto the verdict of life eternal. "He who is justified by faith shall live".
To all who believe, the Spirit of God is poured out into our hearts and with all the joy of the condemned criminal who has been pardoned and set free from the punishment that he so justly deserves, we cry out with tearful gratitude in praise and thanksgiving and joyful singing. Truly those who have sat in the darkness of the prison-house of sin have seen a great Light and give all the praise and glory and honor unto the Lamb who sits upon His throne. We have been brought to completion in Christ and find our true Sabbath rest in His finished work of redemption on the Cross.
"The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day,
and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my guilt away.
The cleansing stream I see, I see!! I plunge and oh, it cleanses me!!
Yes, praise the Lord, it cleanses me, it cleanses me, yes, cleanses me. Even so come Lord Jesus. Amen
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