Jesus Judges in Place of the Father
So Jesus is one with God, and this unity with the Father gives him an amazing authority. This is what he says in verse 22. “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” Now that's a sure sign of Jesus' divine nature, and in fact, he says again in verse twenty-seven, that God the Father “has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”
Jesus: Righteous Judge
And that title Son of Man is a clear reference to the book of Daniel, where one who's called the Son of Man comes on the clouds of heaven and has given all authority and glory, and everybody worships him. Jesus claims to be this one that Daniel spoke about and so claims that authority to judge.
I had a conversation with somebody the other day and somebody had said something nasty to him and he was feeling very upset. He said this to me, “Who's this person to judge me? He can't judge me. Not even God judges me.”
And that startled me when he said that not even God judges me. And I'm sorry that I didn't say yes, “My friend, there is a judge. God does have authority to judge you.”
Jesus is given the authority to judge all people and it's very clear throughout the Old and New Testament, that God is the righteous judge. That's how the New Testament describes him in Acts 10:42, that Jesus is “the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.”
Prepare for Judgment
Jesus will return to judge one day. Maybe we need to realize that and be sobered by it today.
Are you right with God? Here's a straight question for you: If you are to die in the next 5 minutes, are you right with God when he judges you? Will you be able to stand?
Friends, let's not forget that God is who he is, as the Bible explains him to be. But tomorrow we will get to the good news that for those who are in Christ, there will be no condemnation.
