Saints Judge the World
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
John 5:22-27 “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, (23) that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. … (27) and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.”
As revealed to us in the passage of scripture quoted above, God the Father has committed all judgement to His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason that our Father did that is twofold. Jesus stated that the first reason why God has committed all judgement to Him is so that all should honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Our Lord stated that the second reason why God has committed all judgement to Him is because although Jesus is the eternal Son of God He is also the Son of Man. And so it is as the Son of Man that Jesus is fully qualified to judge all men, for not only is He the only man who never committed any sin but it was also as a man that He paid the price for the sins of all mankind.
1 Corinthians 6:2 “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”
As we have already seen earlier, our Lord Jesus has reserved the judgement of His saints for Himself. Nevertheless the Lord has committed the judgement of the unbelievers to His saints. The Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul revealed this particular truth to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. In an earlier passage of scripture we have seen that when the unbelievers are judged on that day that books will be opened. The books referred to in that passage are the detailed records of the lives of every unbeliever that has ever lived. And so the saints on that day will be seated as judges before whom the unbelievers will be brought, and the angels of God will then place the books before the saints who will review them and then pronounce the appropriate sentence of eternal punishment on each one. And so we see that the unbelievers judgement will be just like a court of law, for the scripture declares of that day that the court will be seated, and the books will be opened (Daniel 7:10).
Matthew 12:41-42 “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed, a greater than Jonah is here. (42) The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed, a greater than Solomon is here.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above, our Lord Jesus confirmed the same truth to us that the saints will judge the world. The context of this passage is that the Lord Jesus was teaching on the unbelievers’ day of judgement. And so in this passage our Lord Jesus taught us that the men of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba would be among those who would pronounce judgement on the generation that heard Jesus preach in the flesh but nevertheless rejected Him. Both the men of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba are among the saints in heaven today, for as Old Testament saints, their faith was accounted to them for righteousness. And so this passage clearly teaches us that the Lord’s saints will be the ones who will pronounce eternal judgement on the unbelievers on that day.
Revelation 3:9 “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie--indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above, our Lord Jesus told the church at Philadelphia that He would one day make their adversaries come and worship before their feet. And so it will be on the day of judgement when this event will take place, for the unbelievers that we have known in our lives and who mocked our belief in Jesus Christ as our Saviour will be made to come and worship at our feet as we pronounce eternal judgement on them. As an aside, this is one of the reasons why believers who practiced a lifestyle of sin will have no part in reigning with Christ, for God is not a hypocrite and He will not allow one of His children who practiced a sinful lifestyle to sit in judgement of unbelievers for committing those same sins.
1 Corinthians 6:3 “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?”
Not only will the saints’ judge the world on that day but, as revealed to us by the apostle Paul in the passage of scripture quoted above, we will also judge angels. The angels referred to in this passage are Satan’s angels, for God’s angels do not need to be judged. Nevertheless, although the saints will judge Satan’s angels on that day, they will not judge Satan himself, for our Lord Jesus has revealed to us that Satan has already been judged (John 16:11).
Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
Not all saints will judge the unbelievers on that day however. The above quoted passage of scripture is an account of the saints being given their various thrones on that day as part of their eternal inheritance. But I want you to notice that the scripture declares that judgement was also committed to them, for part of the responsibility of one who receives their throne is to judge the nations. The saints however who will have forfeited their thrones because of their chosen lifestyles of practicing sin will not be seated with their brethren to judge the unbelievers on that day. They will observe the court proceedings from the sidelines because the whole church will be present on that day, but they will not take part in the process of judging the unbelievers, because judgement would not have been committed to them.
Michael E.B. Maher
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