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In Christ Jesus, the Hour of God's Judgment has come!!
William Diehl
The concept of "Judgment" comes from the Old Testament and refers to the action of a king when he begins to reign on his throne. When a king reigns, he rules his kingdom with justice and equity. His decisions are carried out when he executes judgment and his verdicts are rendered. He defends the innocent and condemns the guilty. The king must uphold the law of the realm and assure that its word is obeyed and fulfilled in the kingdom. A king in Israel was also the judge of Israel. The terms king and judge are interchangeable in the theocracy of Israel. Thus we have the long era of the rule of the "judges" who administered justice and deliverance and salvation for the people of God in the book of the Bible called Judges.
This of course brings us to the New Testament and how Christ as the Messiah, the Anointed One is both King and Judge of the world and especially the church of the living God. The New Testament is clear that Christ at His ascension was set down in His Father's throne to reign until all His enemies would be made His footstool. The uniqueness of Christ's reign as Judge and King is that He is also the Heavenly High Priest of all the world. He ever lives to make intercession for the sins of all who come to Him and He has the divine right by virtue of His sacrifice for the sins of the world to grant full pardon and justification to the vilest of sinners who call upon His name as Savior and Lord. As Judge He can pardon all transgressors of His Law because He is also the Priest who has fulfilled all the righteous demands of the Law and stands as the Substitute and Representative for the world. By virtue of His sinless life and atoning death, we who are sinful and deserve death can be pardoned and fully justified and declared "innocent". The names of all who come to Him are written in the Book of Life as having fulfilled all the deeds of the Law. In Christ, their names are "sealed" in the Everlasting Covenant and they are accounted as "heirs" and inheritors of the Kingdom of God.
The sealing of their names in heaven brings the sealing of their hearts on earth by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Christ has a legal right to indwell all repentant sinners. The believer begins to be a partaker of the nature of Christ and a doer of the Law in love for God and service to Man and an obeyer of the Commandments of God written upon the heart. So long as we confess Christ as our Savior and Lord, Christ's righteousness covers us. We are accepted as righteous in Him. We are continually filled with the Holy Spirit and have fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Clearly the Judgment of the world began at the ascension of our Lord and His inauguration as our High Priest and King in heaven itself, the true Sanctuary which the Lord "pitched" and not man and not of this world. As High Priest, Christ has entered in the Most Holy Place and ever lives to make intercession for His people before the holy Law of God. They are presented as faultless and clothed in the righteousness of Christ and complete in Him. There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
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