Steven A. Bush - August 6, 2017
Jesus: Both Redeemer and Judge
In Luke 12:49 Jesus cryptically says: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!" (ESV) John the Baptist prophesied of Jesus, recorded in Luke 3:17: "His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” (ESV) This perhaps doesn't sound like your dear sweet loving Jesus strolling light-footed through fields of wildflowers! So how do we juxtapose Jesus as Judge with Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer as described in John 3:16-17? "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." (NIV) Is this one of those alleged contradictions? Well there's a good reason why verse 18 follows verse 17: "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." (NIV) So Jesus is both Redeemer and Judge. And yes, there are differing consequences depending on Who He is to you!