WHEN WILL THE WICKED BE JUDGED? (James 5:7)

Do you ever look at the world around you and see people who are not even trying to be obedient to God, who are only looking to satisfy their own needs, and say “Lord, why do you allow the wicked to be so successful?”

It is easy to look at countries like Pakistan where Christians are being persecuted to the point of killing them by the thousands, and ask “Lord, why do you allow this to happen?”

When you find yourself working for someone who is deceitful, dishonest, and whose sole purpose is to make your life at work miserable, and ask “Lord, why are you not judging this person?  You promise that you will judge the wicked, so when are you going to do it?”

While it is true that God will reward the obedient believer and punish those who are disobedient, the Bible tells us that it will happen on God’s timeline and not ours.  

In our podcast this week, James tells the believer to be patient until the coming of the Lord.  God will judge all men, the believer and the unbeliever.  In fact, Nothing is more certain from Scripture than the fact of God’s judgment to come.

The Bible is clear that all of us are to be judged, we are simply not going to be judged all at the same time.  Just as there are several resurrections, there are several judgments.  They are distinguished by the subjects of the judgment, the time of the judgment, the place of the judgment, the basis of the judgment, and the result of the judgment.  

If you knew the Lord was coming tomorrow to judge you, how would it change your behavior?