What’s so good about judgement?
Tuesday, 22 November, 2005
“Judgment” as an earthly exercise, a necessary function in society, belongs to the Lord. His people are to “do my judgments” (Lev 18:4, author's translation) and their justices are to recognize that “the judgment is God's” (Deut 1:17). The individual member of the Lord's people must act in any given situation as the Lord himself would act if so placed, and the magistrate must decide causes as the Lord would do were he sitting. Earth is to be a reflection of heaven and, in its jurisprudence, is to provide a window into heaven and into God.
For a proper understanding of the meaning of sapat—whether it means “to rule”, or “to follow custom” and “case law”, or “to discriminate”—the important question is why the “judges” in the book of Judges were so named (sopetim, Judg 2:16-18). What was it about people raised up to be “saviours” (2:16; 3:9, 31) that caused them to be called “judges”? The record itself reveals the answer. Certainly the judges were famous for stirring deeds of “salvation” (Judg 2:16), but Deborah was also active as “judge” before (Judg 4:4-5) she summoned Barak to battle; Samson was “judge” throughout his impulsive career (16:31), and Jephthah for six years after effecting deliverance (12:7). Thus they had an on-going function of arbitration which involved hearing cases, deciding issues and apportioning penalties, as judges were instructed to do (cf. Deut 1:16; 16:1-8-20; 17:8-11; 1 Sam 7:15-17). The judges, however, also preserved good order in society: they gave the land “rest” (Judge 3:11, 30; 5:31; 8:28); the verb (sapat) indicates freedom from war (Jos 11:23) or from oppression or threat (Is 14:7), undisturbed conditions (Job 3:13), or the absence of unsettlement or restlessness (Ruth 3:18) or interference (Judg 18:7). And thirdly, the judges had a religious function, in that while there was a judge the people were faithful; they lapsed into unfaithfulness only after the judge's hegemony (3:12; 6:1; 8:33).
Judgment (mispat), therefore, is to be defined as “setting things to rights”. In Isaiah 1:17 it is the due ordering of society; in Isaiah 5:7 mispat and its partner “righteousness” (sedaqa) are the opposite of mispah (whatever precisely that means) and se'aqa, a howl of pain (cf. Amos 5:7), that is to say, social disruption and disorder. In OT “judgment” there is no particular emphasis on “passing adverse sentence” or “condemnation”. Psalms 96:11-13 and 98:8-9 are typical in calling all creation to rejoice before the coming Judge, which is strange if judgment means condemnation, But if (as is the case) judgment is “setting everything to rights”, it is no wonder that all creation exults in the prospect (Rom 8:18-21).
(J.A. Motyer, “Judgment”, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity and Diversity of Scripture, edited by T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner; consulting editors Donald A. Carson and Graeme Goldsworthy [Downer's Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000], 612-613.)
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Actually, there is only one final judgement for human race and for Satan.
When Jesus returns at His 2nd coming, the righteous dead will be resurrected and the righteous living will be translated to the meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18)
The evil will be destroyed by the brightness of the Lord’s 2nd coming. This follows the millenium describe in Revelation 20.
At the end of the 1000 years, the judgement will be passed on the wicked dead. (Revelation 20:12-15, Rev 21:8))
What about Satan?
He will be thrown into the lake of fire to be destroyed. (Revelation 20:10)
Thanks, Siow Huat, for your comments, but I am puzzled as to what exactly you are responding to given the content of this post.