When we think about judgment, many questions naturally come to mind. Who will judge us, and why? If Jesus is our Judge, how can He judge those who lived centuries before His birth? How can He judge every person who has ever lived, those who are alive today, and those who have already died? And if God is the ultimate authority, why does Scripture say that Jesus is the Judge rather than the Father? These are important questions, and they are focused on in this text.
Understanding God’s judgment is not simple because it touches on some of the deepest truths about the relationship between the Father and the Son. As we work through these passages, take your time. You may find it helpful to read this text more than once. Allow Scripture to guide your thinking, and as each piece comes together, the larger picture will become clearer.
To begin, let’s look at one of Jesus’ most important teachings about judgment in the Gospel of John.
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.
17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. (John 5:16-27)[1]
In this passage, Jesus makes an extraordinary claim. The Jewish leaders were already angry because He healed on the Sabbath, but Jesus went even further. He declared that His work was the Father’s work and that He shared in the Father’s authority. This is why they accused Him of making Himself equal with God. You must understand that this is blasphemy, but you must also understand that it is the reason for what He is saying.
Jesus then explains why He has this authority. He tells us that the Father and the Son work in complete unity. Whatever the Father does, the Son does also. The Father gives life, and the Son gives life. Most importantly for our study, Jesus declares:
“Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” (John 5:22)
He continues by saying:
“And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” (John 5:27)
These verses reveal a foundational truth: the Father has entrusted all judgment to His Son. This does not mean that the Son acts independently of the Father. Rather, the Son judges with the full authority of the Father because they are perfectly united in purpose, will, and nature. To honor the Son is to honor the Father who sent Him.
As we continue our study, we will explore what this means for humanity, why Jesus alone is qualified to judge every person who has ever lived, and what His judgment means for those who believe in Him.
Let us look at this from a different perspective
If Jesus is the Judge of humanity, several important questions naturally arise. How can He judge people who lived long before His birth? How can He judge every person who is alive today, as well as those who have already died? And if God the Father is sovereign over all creation, why does Scripture tell us that judgment has been entrusted to Jesus? To answer these questions, we must first understand who Jesus is and how He relates to the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Before His ascension into heaven, Jesus gathered His disciples and gave them what we now call the Great Commission.
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)
Notice Jesus’ opening words:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18b)
This is an extraordinary statement. Jesus declares that every authority, “whether in heaven or on earth”, has been given to Him by the Father. This agrees perfectly with what Jesus had already taught in John 5, where He said:
“The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” (John 5:22)
The Great Commission also introduces one of Christianity’s most important doctrines. Jesus commands His disciples to baptize believers:
“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
Why does Jesus use these three names? Because baptism welcomes a believer into a relationship with the one true God, who has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christians do not worship three gods. We worship one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons. This truth is known as the Trinity.
The Trinity teaches that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. They are distinct Persons, yet they share one divine nature. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Yet all three are equally and eternally God.
This leads us to another important question. How can Jesus be both fully God and fully human?
The Apostle Paul helps answer this question:
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”
(1 Timothy 2:5)
Jesus is the perfect mediator because He possesses both a divine essence and a human nature. According to Luke’s Gospel, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary (Luke 1:26–38). He experienced human life from birth to death. He grew, learned, worked, became tired, wept, suffered, and experienced temptation. Yet throughout His life He remained without sin.
Because Jesus is fully human, He understands our weaknesses and our struggles. Because He is fully God, He possesses the authority, wisdom, righteousness, and power to judge every human being.
The Father did not appoint Jesus as Judge because the Father lacks knowledge or understanding. Rather, the Father chose to glorify the Son by entrusting all judgment to Him. Father and Son are perfectly united in purpose and will. Jesus judges with the full authority of the Father.
This means that every person who has ever lived will ultimately stand before Christ. The prophet Daniel was given a vision of God’s heavenly courtroom:
10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:10)
Daniel’s vision describes an innumerable multitude standing before God’s throne. The exact number is not the point. The point is that no one is absent. Every person who has ever lived will stand before the Judge. As we read this, it says: ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. This could easily be all the people of the world (10,000 X 10,000 = 100,000,000, or more than anyone could ever see).
That Judge is Jesus Christ.
This answers our original questions. Jesus can judge those who lived before His earthly birth because He did not begin to exist in Bethlehem. The Son of God is eternal. He existed before creation itself. Let’s read this:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)
He knows every human life because He is the Creator and Lord of all. The Father has entrusted judgment to Him so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. You can read this in the Gospel of John:
23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. (John 5:23).
If He is the judge of us, why isn’t it really God’s judgment of us instead?
After His crucifixion, Jesus did not remain in the tomb. On the third day, God raised Him from the dead. Luke records one of the many appearances of the risen Christ. Let’s read:
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. (Luke 24:36-43)
The disciples were startled when Jesus suddenly appeared among them. At first, they believed they were seeing a spirit, or a ghost. Jesus immediately corrected them. He invited them to look at His hands and His feet, to touch Him, and He even asked for something to eat. He ate a piece of broiled fish in their presence to demonstrate that He had truly risen from the dead.
This is the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus did not merely appear to be alive; He was alive! His resurrection was physical, real, and witnessed by many people. Only God has the power over life and death, and the resurrection of Jesus demonstrates God’s victory over death itself.
Forty days later, Jesus gathered His disciples one final time before returning to the Father.
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: (this is Jesus talking) “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)
As the disciples watched, Jesus ascended into heaven. Although He disappeared from their sight, He did not cease to exist. He remains the risen and living Lord. The angels assured the disciples that this same Jesus would one day return in glory.
The ascension is important because it reminds us that Jesus is alive today. He reigns with the Father and continues His work through the Holy Spirit. He is not a distant historical figure but the living Son of God.
Because Jesus is both fully God and fully man, He is uniquely qualified to judge humanity. As God, He possesses complete knowledge and perfect righteousness. Nothing is hidden from Him. As man, He experienced human life. He knew hunger, sorrow, temptation, suffering, rejection, and death. Although He was without sin, He understands the struggles of those He came to save.
This helps us understand why the Father entrusted judgment to the Son. Jesus Himself declared:
“The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” (John 5:22)
The Father’s decision was not based on any lack of knowledge. Rather, it was His purpose that the Son, who became flesh and dwelt among us, would also become the Judge of all humanity. The One who lived among us, died for us, and rose again will also judge us with perfect justice and perfect mercy.
How can He see all of the people who are living now?
Because Jesus is the eternal Son of God, nothing is hidden from Him. He knows every heart, every thought, every action, and every word. When we pray, we are not speaking into emptiness. We are speaking to the living God, who hears us and knows us completely.
This is both comforting and sobering. Jesus sees our acts of love, faithfulness, and obedience. He also sees our sins. Yet because He is our Savior, He continually calls us to repentance, forgiveness, and new life.
As Christians, we seek God’s help each day to turn away from sin. This is the lifelong work of sanctification. We do not strive for perfection through our own strength, but by the grace of God, trusting that the One who knows us completely is also the One who loved us enough to die for us.
How can Jesus judge all of us when lots of people died well before Jesus was born?
This brings us to another difficult question: How does resurrection fit into our understanding of time? We experience time as linear. We are born, we live, we grow older, and eventually we die. Time moves forward, and we cannot go backward and change what has already happened.
But our understanding of time is not the same as God’s understanding of time. God is the Creator of time. He is not limited by time in the same way that we are. We experience our lives one moment at a time, but God is not limited by our human perspective. Therefore, this is a linear question. As we believe in God, God lives outside of time.
As we understand time, it is linear. It begins, and then it moves forward. We are born, we live our lives, and eventually we die. From our human perspective, this is the normal pattern of life. It has a beginning, a life, and an ending. But resurrection is different. Jesus lived in our world. He was born, He grew, He lived, and He came to understand His purpose. He lived a human life, and then He died. In that sense, Jesus experienced the same beginning and ending that we experience.
But Jesus was different from us from the very beginning. God was in Him. Jesus was not only human; He was also the Son of God. Because of this, His death was not the end of His story.
So, what happens when a human body dies? What happens when the body is destroyed, and the life we knew is gone? From our human perspective, we do not have the power to answer that question. But in Jesus’ case, we know what happened: He came back to us.
This is what makes resurrection so different from our normal understanding of life and death. Resurrection is outside the normal pattern that we experience. We understand birth, life, and death because we experience them ourselves. Resurrection is different. It requires a power beyond our own.
We may be brought back to life, but we cannot do this by ourselves. We need another power to bring us back. In Jesus, that power was present because Jesus is the Son of God. God had the power to raise Him from the dead, and Jesus returned to His disciples alive.
This is why the resurrection is so important. It shows us that death is not necessarily the end. What appears to us to be the final point in a person’s life is not the final point for God.
As we know, judgment is a place where we are called (God will call all of us at once), and then, as we are “human” formed spirits, we will be judged. In judgment, it will be all people. If this is true, then “all people” will be called from the grave, as “human” formed spirits. But not Jesus. Jesus was resurrected. Which means that Jesus went through judgment first and was found to be God’s Son. Now, in our world, we can die at any time; then we are dead, but Jesus went through judgment first, before any of us. So, why is this true?
In the Gospel of Luke, Luke talks about what Mary told him. In his understanding, this is what Luke writes:
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:26-38)
Here, Luke is telling us Mary’s story. In this story, Mary is talking about what the angel Gabriel told her, and that this was about ten or eleven months before Jesus was born. And, as we understand the Scriptures, this is what we think happened. Here, the angel Gabriel said to Mary, You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. But Mary said, “How will this be?” Mary asked the angel, “Since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Now that we understand that Jesus was part God and part human, we know that He can go through judgment first.
Jesus can judge all of us because God loves Him (as He loves us), but Jesus fully understood what God was saying to Him. This is hard for us to grasp. As we understand this, Jesus “grasped” this when He was much younger (maybe a teenager), and I can only grasp this at 65 years old. To “grasp” this means that we need to understand the issues that exist within the culture (Scriptures [all of them], the prophecies, the law), what these judgments are in the end, and the direction of what God is intending for this. This is not so easy to “grasp.” But this is what it means to be “Part God”. And, therefore, Jesus was special because He was “Part God”.
Having the connection to God made Jesus great for us. But God doesn’t look at our actions; He looks at our hearts and what it says. And this is what Jesus will do for us. He will look at our hearts and see all of what we intended and wanted, and what we felt. This may not be good for us, and yet this is who we are. But we can also change, and try to do better. This is what we need to do, and Forgiveness can help us with all of it.
But how do we know that Jesus is God?
One of the places where we can begin to understand this is in Matthew, chapter 17, in what is called the Transfiguration. At this time, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with Him up a high mountain. Something extraordinary happens there.
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. (Matthew 17: 1-8)
If Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah, then what does this mean? Peter, James, and John also saw Moses and Elijah. They did not simply hear Jesus talking to someone they could not see. They saw these two men and understood who they were.
If Moses and Elijah had already died, how could they be there with Jesus? To understand the question, we need to remember who these two men were. Moses lived many centuries before Jesus. He led the Israelites out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea with them, received the Law from God at Mount Sinai, and received the Ten Commandments. Moses was one of the most important figures in the history of Israel.
Elijah also lived many centuries before Jesus. He was a prophet during the time of King Ahab. Elijah boldly proclaimed that Yahweh was God and challenged the prophets of Baal. Now Elijah challenged Baal’s prophets to a test. 450 prophets of Baal tried to light an altar fire before their god Baal. This failed. When Elijah prayed to God, fire came down from heaven and consumed his sacrifice (and all of Baal’s prophets).
Both Moses and Elijah had lived and died long before Jesus was born. And yet, on the mountain, Peter, James, and John saw them talking with Jesus. So, we have to ask, if they were dead, how could they appear as themselves? This is not an easy question. We have already talked about resurrection. Jesus died, and three days later He appeared alive to His disciples. His disciples could see Him, hear Him, touch Him, and even watch Him eat. This was not magic. God raised Jesus from the dead.
The Transfiguration gives us another glimpse into the mystery of life beyond ordinary human experience.
Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus, and the disciples recognized them. They were not simply names from history. They appeared as themselves. They were able to speak with Jesus, and Jesus was able to speak with them.
What does this tell us? It tells us that God is not limited by the boundaries that we experience in ordinary human life. Death does not make a person unknown to God. The people who lived hundreds or even thousands of years before us are still known by God. Their identity is not lost.
This is important when we think about judgment. If God knows every person who has ever lived, then the passage of time does not prevent God from knowing them. Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah, even though both men had lived many centuries earlier. They were recognizable. They were able to communicate. They were present with Jesus. And then there was Jesus. The disciples saw Jesus in a way they had never seen Him before. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became dazzling white. The glory that was revealed on that mountain gave the disciples a glimpse of who Jesus truly was.
Then the voice of God came from the cloud:
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:part of 5)
This is important. God did not say, “This is one of my prophets.” He said, “This is my Son.” But when the disciples looked up, they saw Jesus alone. The Transfiguration, therefore, gives us an important understanding of Jesus. Moses represented the Law. Elijah represented the prophets. Both were important servants of God. But Jesus stands apart from them. Jesus is the Son.
And this brings us back to our question: how do we know that Jesus is God? The Transfiguration does not give us every answer, but it gives us an important part of the answer. Jesus is revealed in divine glory, the Father identifies Him as His Son, and Moses and Elijah appear with Him as witnesses from Israel’s past.
The event also helps us understand something about resurrection and judgment. We normally think of time as moving in one direction. A person is born, lives, grows older, and dies. But God’s relationship with His creation is greater than our experience of time. Moses and Elijah lived centuries before Jesus, yet they were present with Him on that mountain.
This means that when we think about resurrection, we should not limit God to the way we understand ordinary human life. God knows us. God remembers us. And God has the power to call us from death into life.
That is why resurrection matters when we think about judgment. The God who knows every person who has ever lived also has the power to raise the dead. When the time of judgment comes, no person’s identity will be lost. No person’s life will be forgotten. The same God who knew Moses and Elijah knows each one of us.
And the same Jesus who stood with Moses and Elijah on that mountain is the One whom the Father has appointed to judge humanity.
Conclusion
As we think about judgment, many questions naturally come to mind. As we have read, Jesus will judge us, and He will do this because the Father has asked Him. He can judge all of us because He is the first through judgment. And, even though His birth is later than others, He will do this as the Father has asked Him to do. He will look at our hearts. Even Moses knows of Him. Moses wrote this in Deuteronomy 18:15,
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.
Jesus will be the Judge for all of us, and He wants to help you with everything you are doing.
Understanding God’s judgment is not simple because it touches on some of the deepest truths about the relationship between the Father and the Son. You may find it helpful to read this text more than once. Allow Scripture to guide your thinking, and as each piece comes together, the larger picture will become clearer.
I know that this is hard to ask, but are you one of these people? Are you indulged in money, perversion, politics, or do you just need to “get it right”? If this is you, consider that Jesus wants you to hear Him and to understand what God is asking for. Do not consider all the “niceties” that are in front of you, and consider the foundations of what God is asking you to be.
As we are saved in Christ’s love, we need to understand that judgment is not bad for us. If we Love our Christ and try to follow Him with all our might, and if we learn forgiveness of others, and we try to understand all of what He says to us, then judgment will be easy for us. But this is the question. Are you?
Read what is written on this website. Understand it. And then you will know what Christ would want of you. If you have questions, you can use this website to ask them. I pray for you that you will understand what your conduct means to our God.
Amen.
[1] This text is taken from the New International Version (NIV) from Zondervan Bible Publishers, all the italicizes text is from the NIV.