The Courtroom of God

by Stephen Bastin

The insides of courtrooms are awesome.  They are built to impress those brought before the court and create a sense of awe in those standing for judgment.

I have never been there as a defendant.  I have been there in the interest of people I was trying to help.  I have been there as a prospective juror.  I have been there as a visitor.  But never as a defendant.  I do not want to ever be there in that position.

Yet there is a courtroom that I will have to enter as a defendant.  God will be the judge.  He has offered to let Jesus be my lawyer if I will submit to His Son.  The thought of that appearance strikes fear into my heart, even as I hope for a positive outcome because of the intercession that Jesus has promised.

I cannot imagine what it will be like for those who stand before the judge of all men with no one to stand in their defense.  There will be no Johnny Cochran who successfully defended O.J. Simpson, but will be unable to defend himself.  There will be no Clarence Darrow to argue that people came from monkeys and therefore are not answerable to their Creator.  I cannot imagine what it will be like to see the books opened and the charges read against the one who has refused the services of God’s only Son as their mediator!

Imagine the person who has had an abortion.  “But our Supreme Court decided that a woman has a right to choose.”  To which God might reply, “Whose court decides?  Can your Supreme Court overturn my law, ‘You shall not murder.’”  To which the woman replies, “But I thought it was just a piece of tissue.”  And God will answer, “That was a person on their way to birth and growth and maturity.  Every soul is precious in my sight.  Not just the ones you deem ‘worthy.”

Or consider the one who has entered into a homosexual relationship.  “God, it’s not my fault.  You made me this way!”  To which God has already responded in His book, “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?  The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it?”  (Rom 9:20)

In fact, while God has made us what we are He has not predetermined what choices we will make.  Behavior (including homosexual behavior) is a choice.  Because you like Cadillacs does not give you the right to steal a Cadillac.  Because you like girls does not give you a right to have a sexual relationship with any girl you choose.  God intended that we control our behavior according to the rules that He has given us in the Bible.

One of the driving forces behind our public school system was a desire that our children learn to read so that they could read the Bible.  People used to understand that the Bible was the book that would prepare us for life.  The Bible needed to be read and understood so that people would know right from wrong.  Now, heaven forbid, someone should take a Bible to school and read from it!

Now our children are being taught that they simply evolved from a lump of seaweed and there is no right and wrong.  Everyone just decides for themselves

what they will do.  Choice is supposed to be good.  Moral directives from on high are bad.  Religion must be banned from public life.

Well, look where such thinking has taken us.  Divorce is rampant.  Our legislators have decided that there is “no fault.”  Children are raised by one parent and a stepparent.  Meanwhile, the other parent competes for the children’s affection by lavishing presents.  Discipline goes out the door, lest the child demand that they be allowed to go live with the “good” parent who cares for them by giving them anything their little heart desires.

Schools are being run by the “inmates.”  Small children are being handcuffed and led away by the police because they cannot be controlled in the classrooms.  (Honest, I saw the picture on TV.)  Teachers are often unable to control children who have been “taught” that there are no restraints.

Fewer and fewer people are going to church.  And when they go, they are liable to be taught that the stories in the Bible are not true.  The Bible is full of contradictions.  The do’s and don’ts of the Bible are just a result of a misguided culture to which we should no longer pay any attention.

The miracles in the Bible, from the Creation, through the Flood and the miracles of Jesus, to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead were demonstrations by God of His power.  Through the prophets and the apostles chosen by Jesus, God has spoken.  His words are true and His judgments are righteous.  The judgments of God will be final.  From His court there will be no appeals.  There will be no lawyers to argue that your “rights” were violated and your trial unfair.

God’s decision will be final.  You will be sent to heaven or hell.  There are no other choices.  There will only be two groups.  The saved and the lost, the righteous and the unrighteous, the believers and the unbelievers.

I once spent an entire summer studying physics in every spare moment.  I had messed up in college the semester before and got a grade of “E.”  (That is not E for excellent, but halfway between a D and an F.)  I was given one last chance to pass the course.  The test would be given just before the fall semester began.  If I passed, I would continue on course.  If I failed, my whole schedule would have to be revised to take into consideration that I did not have the physics prerequisite for other courses that I would be taking.  I studied as if my life depended on passing that test.  I passed.  (If I had studied half as much when I took the course, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble.)

You have a final test coming up.  It will cover your life.  There are only two possibilities.  It is “pass” or “fail.”  There will be no second chance.  Your “second” chance is now.

The book is the Bible.  The covenant is the New Testament of Jesus Christ.  His words will be the standard for the judgment.  His apostles are the chosen writers of Jesus’ covenant.

Jesus said, “If you believe not that I am He (the chosen one, the Christ) you shall die in your sins.”  Do you pass that question?

When questioned by believers, “What shall we do?”  Peter responded, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  Have you repented (changed your mind about your sins)?  Have you been baptized, following the example of Jesus who was immersed in the Jordan River?  Will you pass the judgment of God?