God’s judgment is a common topic throughout the Bible and even in popular culture. But what does the Bible mean by divine judgment? Does it mean God smites us when we go too far? In this sermon Greg Boyd invites us to see the divine judgment or the wrath of God in a different light. God’s judgment actually means that sin possesses its own repercussions—you might say that the wrongdoing ricochets. This is how divine wrath works because this is how God designed creation.
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The Nature of God’s Judgment
• Greg Boyd
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Greg opens a new series on Revelation 14-18 which is entitled “The New Exodus.” The theme of deliverance from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament book of Exodus parallels the imagery found in these chapters in Revelation. This first sermon addresses what it means to say that God judges or that God pours out his wrath.
When most think about the concept of divine judgment, they picture God as waiting to smite us when we cross the line. He is ready to throw thunderbolts or send other catastrophes because we have not acted as we should. But we must ask if this view of judgment reflects what’s actually transpiring in the biblical narrative.
Revelation 14 begins with a scene that echoes Exodus 15 where the children of Israel are standing with Moses after they’ve just passed through the Red Sea, singing a celebratory song of Yahweh’s victory over the Egyptian army. This is followed by the appearance of three angels. In Revelation 15:8-10, we read what the second and third angels proclaimed:
A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” The third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.
The word of the two angels equates the cup of adultery (spoken by the second angel) with the cup of God’s wrath (proclaimed by the third angel). The second angel says that the maddening wine is the result of their sin (adulteries), which means that their sin is maddening. It has its own consequences built into it. This maddening wine is a consequence that parallels with the wrath of God. Sin, in the end, punishes itself.
In Revelation 16:3-6, we read a similar theme (see focus scripture above). The connotation of this passage is that the blood they shed is the blood that they drink. Sin is collapsing in on itself. If you shed the blood of others, you will experience the violence of those actions.
Then in Revelation 18:4-7, we read:
Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“‘Come out of her, my people,’
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
Give back to her as she has given;
pay her back double for what she has done.
Pour her a double portion from her own cup.
The sins pile up to a breaking point. God allows sin to run its full course, and when this occurs, all that has been done recoils back. Their sins ricochet back on them. In other words, the nations will reap what they have sown.
This pattern is found throughout the Scripture. See for instance, Revelation 11:18, Hosea 2:17, and even the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:1-2, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” We are judged by our own judgments. We reap the self-destructive consequences of our own sin.
Greg applies this view of divine judgment in two ways. First, he invites us to avoid judgment by getting right with God and others now. It is important to ask what aspect of Babylon we need to be freed from. We need to deal with this now instead of waiting, because waiting will result in a sin ricochet. We will experience the repercussions of our actions. It is crucial to deal with anything that stands in the way of real life as we walk in love with God and others.
Second, just as sin contains its own consequences, so too righteousness contains its own reward. As we embrace the way of walking with God, we are also embracing the way of God’s fruit. As such we will experience the fruit of God’s life, which includes things like love, joy, freedom from bondage, and peace. In other words, we learn to live as we are designed to live.
Greg concludes by asking us “What is the Spirit calling you out of this morning?”
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Judgment, Sin, Transformation
Sermon Series: The Unveiling, The Last Exodus
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The MuseCast: February 17
Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 16:3-6
The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
you who are and who were;
for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”
2 thoughts on “The Nature of God’s Judgment”
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OK, I looked for Hosea 2:17, no Lebanon, etc., there. I found it in Habakkuk 2:17. Please make corrections as needed! Thanks. (Great sermon, otherwise.)
William Barnes, OT teacher
Whoops! Thanks for catching that!
–Emily from the Communications Team