Word of Encouragement (10/28/2021)

“And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever” (Rev. 5:13)!

On the last day, all creatures will praise God and the Lamb. In this praise, God is described as the One “who sits on the throne.” Obviously, this description communicates God’s sovereign lordship over all.

As we saw yesterday, insofar as this praise is offered by all, including the condemned (the reprobates), what is highlighted is God’s lordship as the Judge of the living and the dead. We must never lose sight of this basic fact about God. This is not so that we will be driven to serve God and live rightly by fear of punishment. One of the most wonderful things about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that our judgment is in the past. When Jesus died for our sins on the cross, He received our Final Judgment and endured the eternal damnation in our place. So, the moment we trust Him as our Savior, we are no longer liable to the Final Judgment: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). How wonderful it is to “look into the Judge’s face and see the Savior there” (Michael Card, “I Have Decided”)! We no longer deal with God as our Judge but as our loving Father. Fear of punishment is no longer the motivation for our holy living; it is gratitude for God’s amazing grace.

But God is still seated on the throne. He is still the Judge of the living and the dead. That’s the amazing thing—that the Judge is our Father! If we are to remember (and praise God) that God sits on the throne as the Judge of the living and the dead, it is not to motivate ourselves to serve God with fear (as if fear were the best and most effective motivator!). Rather, we are to remember it because it is true. A child may not know (or care) that his father is the President of the United States. All he cares about is that his dad loves him and plays with him. So, he may just barge into the Oval Office and demand his dad’s attention in the middle of his cabinet meeting or something! But as he matures, he will come to respect and appreciate his father’s position and work. It will make him appreciate the time and attention his father gives him so much more.

God is our heavenly Father. Jesus is the One, who told us to address Him as “our Father in heaven!” But we are not His children as Jesus is. We have been adopted. And God is not just our Father; He sits on the throne as the Judge of the living and the dead. We cannot forget this—not to make us feel distant from God because we were only adopted and we should know our place but to remind us how amazing and great is the grace God has bestowed upon us. He is not just a stranger, who decided to adopt us out of the goodness of his heart because he felt sorry for our miserable condition. We were summoned to His tribunal, as it were, to be sentenced for all our sins. But Jesus interceded for us with His nail-pierced hands and secured for us divine pardon. Not only that, but God also adopted us as His children, as co-heirs with Christ. This is the total package of God’s grace, as it were.

Do you know who is loving you? Do you know that your heavenly Father sits on the highest throne above all others? Do you know that He will judge the world and the reprobates will cry out to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:16)? But, because of the Lamb that was slain for us, that terrifying Judge will look upon you with nothing but love and delight? What are you going through these days? Let the light of this glorious truth dispel the darkness of your sorrow and fear!