Knowing God: Chapter 14 - God the Judge

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Chapter 14 of Knowing God brings us to the reality of God as Judge. That God is Judge is stated in Gen 18:25; Judg 11:27; Psa 75:7; 82:6; Heb 12:23 plus a host of other passages through the Old and New Testaments leaving no doubt that God is the ultimate Judge of all mankind and will judge us all. 

Dr. Packer points out 4 characteristics that are true of a judge in the ancient near eastern world and thus of God:

  1. The judge is a person with authority. 
  2. The judge is a person identified with what is good and right.
  3. The judge is a person of wisdom, to discern truth. 
  4. The judge is a person of power to execute sentence. 

Because God is the God of perfections, He is the perfect Judge in all 4 of these aspects.


That God is Judge is both a sobering and joyous reality for it brings to our attention that all people, Christians and non-Christians alike, will give an account of their lives (words and deeds) to Jesus Christ Himself at the coming day of judgment, ensuring that retribution for good and for evil will be given.


And while this can and should be terrifying to us (2 Cor 5:11) that terror should lead us not to flee from Christ but to flee to Him. That is the great news of the gospel: the work of God makes it possible for us to “call on the coming Judge to be [our] present Savior!”


As Dr. Packer points out, “Run from Him now, and you will find him as Judge then—and without hope. Seek Him now, and you will find Him (for ‘he that seeks finds’), and you will then discover that you are looking forward to that future meeting with joy, knowing that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom 8:1).” Ah the great truth of the gospel: the One who is to judge us is the One who saves us!

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