Recently ACB was appointed as a justice to the SCOTUS to replace the deceased RBG. Acronyms aside, what was noted by the media about Amy Barrett’s nomination as a Supreme Court Justice was her family of seven children. She is the first mother of school age children to sit on the Supreme Court. To US citizens she is known as Justice Barrett, but her children call her “Mam”.
When Amy Barrett walks into the courtroom, there will be people present who stand in relation to her, not as children to a mother, but as the accused to a judge. They will call her “your honour”. Amy Barrett is one person, yet she fulfils two roles – mother and judge. She is simultaneously a loving parent and a righteous justice. Some people love her and experience her maternal care, others are the object of her judgement as she upholds the law and condemns the guilty.
This analogy helps us understand how God is simultaneously the Father of mercy and the Judge of all the earth. God, through his Son the Lord Jesus, can give everlasting life to some, whilst administering his wrath upon others, precisely because he is a Judge and a Father. He is holy and merciful – he is a Saviour and a Justice. God, therefore, can sentence some to hell, whilst welcoming others to the bliss of heaven. Do you know your eternal destiny?
Since God is called the “I AM” (the ultimate reality in the universe), we are all linked to him in one of two ways. He is either our Saviour or our Judge. We stand in relation to God either as children in his family or as convicted criminals in his courtroom. This is inescapable – where do you stand before God?
Our default position by birth and practice is that we are guilty sinners and will be condemned by the Judge of all the earth. He is bound by his righteous nature to punish every sin we have committed. He will not turn a blind eye to our lies, lust or pride, but will sentence every sinner to His prison – hell. How then, can we get out of his courtroom and into his house? How can we know God as a Saviour and not Judge?
The Lord Jesus said – “you must be born again” (John 3:7).
To enter the family of God and enjoy his salvation you need new spiritual life. You need a moment of conversion, when, through repenting of your sins and believing in the Lord Jesus, you pass from spiritual death to new life. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36 KJV). Again, we see the binary realities that affect us all – life or wrath, salvation or judgement, knowing God as Father through faith in Christ or facing him as Judge. Which is it for you, today? H.Rees