– Today I want to address a ministry of our Lord Jesus that I believe is currently under-taught and has implications for our Statement of Faith conversation at Council. Thank you for joining me as we reflect on God’s Word today.

Have you had those Bible study moments where you stopped mid-verse and thought, “Wow, how did I ever miss that for so many years?” That happened to me recently. Acts 10 is the fascinating interwoven story of two visions. In Caesarea, the God-fearing Gentile, Cornelius, seasoned angel who tells them that his prayers and benevolence have been received by God, and he’s to send for a man named Peter staying in Joppa, a little less than 40 miles away. As Cornelius’s messengers arrive, Peter is reflecting on his vision of the sheet, or perhaps tablecloth, of animals he viewed as unclean. Four days from the time Cornelius saw his vision, Peter is now standing in the centurion’s home being given a full audience of receptive listeners to preach to.

Here’s his message, Acts 10, starting in verse 34: “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.'”

What a great telling of the gospel—”Jesus Christ is Lord. God shows no favoritism. People from every nation are welcome. Jesus was anointed with Holy Spirit power and performed public miracles, healing and overcoming the demonic. God was with Him, yet He was killed on a tree, raised on the third day, and then shared the table of friendship with us as His chosen witnesses. Incarnation, reconciliation, revelation, crucifix, and Resurrection relationship” all packed in a few sentences. Way to go Peter. This we believe; this we celebrate; this we proclaim. But the next verse we seem to miss, or at least not emphasize to the degree it is implied that we should.

Peter continues that Jesus commanded us to preach to the people and to testify. A double command is given to them that they are to preach and testify, to proclaim and bear witness, to herald and give solemn evidence. Jesus, Peter says, commanded us to declare and solemnly affirm that He is the One whom God appointed as . . . What word comes next? I’m not playing Bible trivia with us. I’m pressing for a point. What were the first chosen witnesses commanded to declare Jesus as? Lord? Well, yes, Peter has already done so, but that’s not the commandment from Christ to which Peter is referring here. King? Yes, they believed and taught the controversial message of Jesus as King—1 Timothy 6 being the most notable: “The blessed and only Ruler, King of kings and Lord of lords.”
He’s certainly seen as such by John in the Revelation, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. . . . His eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns. . . . He’s dressed in a robe dipped in blood. . . . The armies of heaven were following him . . . on his robe and on his thigh he has the name written ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords.'” Powerful. But Christ’s Kingship is not what is emphasized here.

As Jesus is with His disciples, in this brief and precious season between the Resurrection and the Ascension, what does Jesus impress upon them that they are to make central to their message? He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One whom God appointed as Judge of the living and the dead. This is what surprised me in my devotional reflection—Judge? Really? This is what Jesus was emphasizing in His final training moments with His preaching team? Jesus is Messiah, Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, Coming King, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Son of God, Son of Man, Redeemer, Lion of Judah, Alpha and the Omega, beginning and the end, Creator of all things through whom we live and have our being—all true, all important, all biblical, all to be taught and celebrated and causes for worship.

But according to Peter, what was emphasized by our risen Lord Himself in these closing, final discipleship sessions was, “Make sure the people know that I am the One God has appointed as Judge of everyone—dead or alive.” “Judge” in the Greek, “kritēs,” from “krinó,” to judge, whether in a court or privately, to make a judgment, declaring a verdict—in the positive, in favor of, or in the negative, rejection or condemnation. Evidently it originally meant “separate,” like separating grain from chaff, to distinguish between. Hence, we read in Matthew 25, Jesus declaring that He will someday separate the sheep from the goats. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One whom God appointed as Judge of the living and the dead. This was to be a preaching priority for the apostles. Did they do so? I believe the New Testament evidences that they heard and obeyed.

Let me support my conclusion. Act 17, in his message to the philosophers in Athens, Paul proclaims that God has “set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” Jesus as Judge made it into Paul’s evangelism.

Romans 2: “This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”

Jesus as Judge was core to Paul’s understanding of the gospel: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done well in the body, whether good or bad” —2 Corinthians 5.

Was it only Paul who spoke of this? No, James 5: “Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door.” Somehow, the “standing at the door Jesus knocking to dine with us,” has made more artistic portrayals and sermons than “Judge Jesus standing at the door.”

In Revelation 19, the passage I already referenced, John sees the horse-riding Jesus and prophesies that “with justice He judges and makes war.” And as for Peter, he writes in his first letter: “They think it’s strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” There it is. The very same phrase from the post-Resurrection instructions of Jesus Himself, the Judge of the living and the dead. Acts 10, 1 Peter—same phrase.

This aligns with what Jesus said about Himself during His ministry years. John 5: “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son . . . for as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”

And of course, Jesus told many readiness parables of the owner or the master who leaves for a season and then returns to call his servants to give an account, longing to say to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness. It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” This was a primary, common, fundamental message of the New Testament Church and of Jesus Himself. But it has been largely lost to us. I say this to our error.

How would it have impacted our thinking-preaching lifestyles, who we’ve become as people and as The Alliance, if rather than thinking of Jesus as King only, we also celebrated Jesus as Judge—Christ our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming . . . I’m not implying in any way that Jesus isn’t coming as King nor that Simpson got it wrong; and no, we’re not going to consider a change to the Fourfold Gospel at Council. I celebrate Christ as our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. But at Council ’23, we did approve portions of our Statement of Faith, which need to be ratified next May. You may remember that the actions of two Councils are required for us to change this core document, and our original statement made no mention of our Lord’s role in judgment.

Upon ratification, statement 1.10 will read: “There will be a bodily resurrection of all people. Our Lord Jesus Christ will judge with perfect justice as the unrepentant and unbelieving are raised to the conscious anguish of eternal separation from God and repentant believers are raised to the unending joy of eternal life with God.” I believe this is biblically significant and timely for our ministries. Jesus as Judge is an underdeveloped truth in much American and Alliance theology yet was foundational in New Testament times. I could give many more passages to support this, but I’m calling us to correct our error.

Let me close in the manner Paul closed his final letter to Timothy: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardships, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. For I’m already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I’ve fought the good fight, I’ve finished the race, I’ve kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”