In this day & age, as we've seen previously, judgment gets 'a bad rap'! Put simply & in everyday terms, judgment, or a judgment, is a decision, or even a preference, in some cases, a choice of one option over another, wherein one decides what is right & wrong, whether morally or relatively, and makes a choice dependent on that decision! When most people think of the Judgment of God, however, the tendency is to think of this judgment as ending in destruction for those who experience His Judgment! We must remember, though, that as they received a guilty verdict, the Body of Christ, the Israel of God, was judged as well & judged Righteous, without condemnation!
In some ways, the Judgment of God is similar to ours, although in reality, it's the other way around; our Heavenly Father passes Judgment in any given situation, according to His Righteous Will, according to His Moral Preferences! Many Christians in this day & age are wondering, 'if judgment is fulfilled ( as in Fulfilled Eschatology ), then what happens to us upon the demise of our physical body?' There are two problems inherent with this question; the first is that it assumes, as above, that judgment means condemnation & two, that fulfilled means cessation!
Fulfilled, as we have discussed elsewhere, in terms of a contract, necessarily means cessation, or an end, but we are speaking of a Covenant, which is never-ending! In everyday terms ( legal & mundane ), there are contracts & there are covenants. Both contracts & covenants may stand alone, or a contract may evolve into a covenant! In the case of an agreement between two parties for mutual benefit, one may contract with another for a certain job to be performed. Once the job has been performed to the contractor's satisfaction, the contract may be closed, having been fulfilled. In the case of land covenants, for instance, two ( or more ) parties also agree to adhere to certain guidelines & as long as the land remains in the possession of the ones involved in that covenant, it is fulfilled in perpetuity. A Marriage Covenant, such as that between our Heavenly Father & His People, between Christ & His Bride, the Church, is much the same; the Marriage, though fulfilled at the Time of Consummation, is forever being fulfilled as well!
Israel according to the flesh was condemned by their final rejection & murder of the Son of God! Because of this Judgement, their execution came in the form of destruction at the hands of Rome in AD70! At the same time, however ( at the Cross ), the True Israel of God was judged Righteous & received Salvation ( physically speaking ) in the Destruction of Jerusalem. Though they had fled Jerusalem as they were commanded, after the Jewish Temple was destroyed, ending forever that first covenant economy, they were saved from the hands of their enemies!
Judgment, therefore, has two faces; it is a two-edged sword, so to speak! It means a division between what is right & what is wrong, between good & evil; it means salvation for some & destruction for others, good for some, evil for others! It can also be as simple & seemingly inconsequential as, 'I'm going to wear my blues socks today, instead of my purple ones', or 'I think I'll have eggs & toast instead of cereal for breakfast'. However, it can also have a more serious connotation to it, as 'I think I will show love to that person & not that one today', or I will save that person from drowning & let that one go'!
Yes, Judgment IS fulfilled, but it is also being fulfilled! As the Son of God, Israel according to Promise, we are Judges of the Earth & so make judgments everyday, not only seemingly inconsequential ones, but ones that could have very serious consequences & often do! Because we are in the midst of a Covenant, we continually fulfill the requirements of that Covenant, not necessarily because we must, but because we love to! Just as in a Marriage, both parties involved work together ( make judgments ) to keep the ship afloat, so we must decide to take up our cross daily & follow Him to whom we are joined in Blessed Union!
Charles Haddon Shank
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