Does God ever make judgments on our behavior in this life? Are these sometimes immediate? If you ask a lot of Christians some will say ‘yes’ and others will say ‘no.’ What does the Bible and our experience say about these things?
First, let’s look at the Old Testament. In Genesis 3 the consequences for the sin of our parents were immediate and long term. We still suffer from their decision to this day. God had warned them, but the devil lied to them, they trusted the devil and disobeyed God and they were expelled from Paradise and felt shame in their bodies. The long-term consequences were that death entered our world and people could be separated from God for all eternity.
Fast forward to the book of Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament. Through the prophet, God tells the nation of Edom exactly what punishments they will face because of their sins. They had laughed at and were happy about the punishment that Israel was experiencing for the unfaithfulness. They also took advantage of Israel’s trouble for themselves. If you read through the book of Amos you will also clearly see that God is punishing the nations for their various misdeeds. This theme runs throughout much of the Old Testament.
But what about the New Testament? Many Christians today will assign those actions to the God of the Old Testament and then say God doesn’t do those things anymore. Yet Jesus clearly warned the cities of the day of impending judgments against them because they refused to believe in Him. However, some will then assign these judgments to the last day. But then consider what Jesus said about Jerusalem because they failed to recognize that He was the Messiah. Matthew 23 is filled with warnings from Jesus, and He said in v. 38, “And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate.” – NLT. He expanded on this in Luke 21:20-24 in which Jesus described the coming destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies in 70 AD. This was the direct result of their refusal to believe in Him.
God also makes personal judgments against people in the New Testament. In Revelation 2:18-29, Jesus tells exactly the punishment He was going to inflict on a woman who was leading His servants into sexual immorality. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, also believed God’s judgments could be immediate and personal. John wrote an extensive letter defending his beliefs to the Bishop of Exeter, for the bishop had attacked many of the Methodist beliefs and practices of the day. He told of a man, who had been cursing and blaspheming all week and who had boasted he was going to go to church and no one “would stop his mouth.”1 But he never got the chance. He took ill on Friday and was buried on Sunday. Wesley believed it was the hand of God that struck a hardened sinner and wrote in his defense, “I do look on this as a manifest judgment of God on a hardened sinner for his complicated wickedness.”
None of us likes the idea that some of the troubles we experience in this life may actually be judgments from God. Yet the Bible teaches us in both the Old and New Testaments that there are consequences for our actions and they may come in this life, sometimes very quickly. We may ask, “How can a loving God do such things to us?” There is no doubt that God loves all people, but people keep ignoring His love and His call to repentance and faith in Jesus which results in eternal life. God always has the eternal view in mind and never wants anyone to perish in their sins. Consider the following verses.
Ezekiel 33:11, “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?” – NLT.
Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked change their ways
and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.” – NLT.
And 1 Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” – NLT.
It is clear that God loves all of us, but we need to be the ones to respond to His love with repentance from our sins and faith in Jesus to forgive our sins. Faith in Jesus means that we live in obedience to Him and seek to please Him in all we do.
1 p. 38, The Works of John Wesley, Volume IX, Zondervan. Reproduced from the authorized edition published by the Wesleyan Conference Office in London, England, in 1872.
For New Living Translation (NLT):
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
For the Good News Translation (GNT):
Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
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