CREATOR,

REDEEMER,

AND JUDGE

Some people think of God as the Creator---and that’s it, nothing more.

God is the Creator! Who can deny it?

Some people think of God as the Redeemer---and that’s it, nothing more.

God is the one who saves. “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!”

Some people think of God as the Judge---and that’s it, nothing more.

God is the one who divides good from evil and will finally right all wrongs. God is the Judge.

The folks who think of God as the Creator rejoice in the beauty of nature, the awesome majesty of the universe and it’s trillions of galaxies.

Those who think of God as the Redeemer, are awed by how merciful God has been to us all—his amazing grace!

Those who think of God as Judge, tremble at the evil in our minds,

the evil which we have done, knowing that evil has consequences before the throne of God our Judge.

But we cannot begin to know God, until we see the whole picture---until God reveals himself to us through his Son, who alone gives us the whole picture.

Jesus tells us that God is our Creator, Redeemer, and Judge, all wrapped in one.

“At that time Jesus declared, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Matthew 11:25-27

Jesus reveals a God who creates, redeems and judges. More than that, Jesus manifests himself as the incarnation of the God who creates, redeems and judges.

Jesus creates?

Are you telling me that Jesus creates? Are you saying that Jesus is the one who proclaimed, “Let there be light!” at the moment of the Big Bang?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

John 1:1-4

Eons before he appeared as Jesus of Nazareth,

he was the Word “who spoke, and it was done.”

Even now the Son holds the creation together by his word of power. (Hebrews 1)

Many people, even religious people, find it hard to accept---that the Lord Jesus already existed back at the dawn of creation.

“Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you claim to be?" Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. But you have not known him; I know him. If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad." The Jews then said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am."

John 8:53-58

“Before Abraham was, I Am.” Such a statement can only come from the mouth of a madman or from the mouth of God.

“I Am” is the God who created and sustains all that exists---seen and unseen. When the “I Am” visits us on our level, we are looking into the face of Jesus.

Jesus redeems?

It’s called sin---the compulsion to play God, to think of myself as the center of the universe, always trying to make things go my way.

Sin is no minor flaw, it’s a fatal disease.

“The good that I would, I do not; and evil that I would not, that I do!” Who will deliver us from sin’s power?

But sin is more than a disease…

it is a curse which carries the stain of guilt.

And guilt is a prison wrapped around us all.

Deliverance from this prison carries a price.

It must be paid for, atoned for, in order for the prison door to open.

But how can we pay for our guilt if we’re destitute?

How can we atone for our sin, if our guilt is costly beyond our means?

We need help.

We need someone who has the means to “buy us out” of our bondage to sin,

someone who is able to atone, to wash it away.

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

We live in a prison where our self-preoccupation weighs so heavily upon us that it’s hard to breathe.

So what does God do?

He takes the burden on himself.

He draws my sin and your sin and the sin of the race into his own heart and

burns it away with unquenchable fire.

The execution outside Jerusalem looked ordinary enough.

Only heaven could see what was really happening as heaven’s fire came down on the crucified one and burned up the guilt of the whole human race.

That crucifixion was the doorway to new life for us all.

It was the moment of our redemption.

“But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned everyone to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53

Jesus judges?

One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." But he said to him,

"Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?"

Luke 12:13-14

During his time with us in flesh and blood Jesus never allowed himself to be placed on the judgment seat by any human being.

His authority to judge comes from heaven alone.

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.”

John 5:26-27

Jesus chose never to use his authority as judge until he had first redeemed us.

Even after Jesus rose from the dead as the Firstborn of the New Creation, he still reserved his authority as Judge until the appointed time.

While we keep trying to usurp the Judgment Seat and judge each other,

the true Judge waits.

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”
John 5:28

In mercy he waits.

With unspeakable power the risen Lord continues to spread the fire of redemption across the earth,

… across the barrier of death into a world beyond our knowing, (I Peter, Chapters 3 and 4) preparing for the day when he will indeed judge us on the basis of what we did with the mercy we received.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.”
Matthew 25:31-33

In this terrifying passage we do not hear Jesus checking on…

our doctrines

our spiritual gifts

how well we knew the Bible

how many souls we saved.

We will be judged on the basis of what we did with…

the mercy he poured into our lives.

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

Matthew 25:34-40

When Jesus went up on that cross, he died for all.

Moreover he draws all people who ever lived to that cross…

Offering redemption to all.

Forgiveness for all.

New life to all.

Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, anarchists, animists.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth (on the cross)

will draw all people to myself”

John 12:32

After all people have had their encounter with grace, the Redeemer, who is now the Judge, simply looks at what we did with the mercy we were shown.

Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?' Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment,

but the righteous into eternal life."

Matthew 25:41-46

Jesus, the Son of God, is Creator, Redeemer, and Judge.

Sooner or later each of us will encounter Jesus in all three ways.

God grant that each of us will submit our bodies, minds, and spirits

to his creative power,

… That each of us will open ourselves to his redeeming grace,

… And that each of us may so live in that grace that our final encounter with Jesus, our Judge, will find us standing among the sheep.