How God Judges Mankind
In Scripture, the unbelieving are those who do not believe God. They believe God exists, but they do not believe what God says; what God reveals about Himself and how He operates.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. — 1 Samuel 16:7
How many Hebrews, and others over the course of millennia do you suppose have read that?
Millions? Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions?
And yet, the statement has fallen on deaf ears.
Many even today conclude that God is going to judge mankind according to the law; and with Adventists, specifically the Decalogue and Sabbath. According to them, and other Sabbatarian groups, you will be judged and condemned over the Sabbath; not keeping the Sabbath, which has an interesting twist when you consider that it was in the context of the Sabbath, and Jesus working on the Sabbath, He touched on the same issue:
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. °Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. °If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? °Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. — John 7:21-24
What those unfamiliar with the Jewish religion and custom of the time was that a male Hebrew was not considered “whole” until he underwent circumcision. Here, a comparison is made with being healed; returned to a condition of being “whole.” But the overall thrust of the statement made by Jesus is that they were judging Him according to appearance in regards to the Sabbath, with many of them heaping condemnation upon Him as a result, and again, a resistance to switch gears and learn to judge righteous judgment and no longer according to apperance.
Let’s establish a couple things here… the Jews watched as Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, and despite such miracles, they concluded He had sinned, because He transgressed the Sabbath commandment by working. The nature of the work was irrelevant in their hard-hearted minds and souls. It was an open and shut case for those who judged according to appearance. He worked on the Sabbath; He sinned. I submit to you that it was impossible for them to judge otherwise, having the “deceptive and desperately wicked heart” that heart being an unregenerate heart that has no sense of love and compassion on the scale of the Spirit.
If you were truly judging according to the heart, the works would reflect the heart; not the law. So in order for someone today to judge according to appearance, they must feign the appearance of judging according to the heart, so that, through further manipulation of the law, one’s heart will be made to appear evil with an evil intent to intentionally transgress the law…
It is circular reasoning at it’s apex, and we all see it here in these forums on a near-daily basis. You first judge and conclude another as evil, using the law again as the standard of judging the heart, THEN proceed to judge the evil heart that was determined to be evil to begin with, so that their works are in turn evil.
The Pharisees did exactly that. They declared Jesus performed miracles through the power of the devil so that the forced conclusion is that anything done by anyone under the control of the devil is an evil work born of an evil hearted person.
Jesus’ miracles concluded with two that defied this logic, especially the resurrection of Lazarus. The devil has no power to raise the dead. It could also be said to be beyond the power of the devil to cause a man born blind to see.
The bottom line issue here is that Jesus worked on the Sabbath, and true to His Word and statement, His works were good, and not evil; works of compassion and love for those suffering, all counted as nothing by the hard-hearted Pharisees; the administrators of the law, who hated Him, passionately, and wanted Him dead.
I remind the reader at this juncture that Jesus told His followers that they too would be the recipients of persecution, even as He was, and it is an interesting irony that the persecution levied against Christians today is based on the same thing when it comes to Adventists… the law and Sabbath.
Ask an Adventist if good works are lawful on the Sabbath, and should you get a “yes” answer from them, it will come with caveats, where they themselves determine what is an ‘acceptable’ good work and what is not, which again ignores the heart and what God judges mankind.
God is decidedly not going to judge anyone for working on the Sabbath; a work of the old covenant law. All sins of the flesh have been forgiven; the payment being paid by God Himself.
There is however one sin left remaining, that is not a sin of the flesh. It is a sin of the mind, heart, and soul. It is a condemnation of an evil heart of unbelief. It is the condemnation of a deceitful and desperately wicked heart; a heart of stone.
Arguments over the law and Sabbath are but mere distractions to take everyone’s attention off of the heart and motive of heart, where it was the unbelieving Jews who condemned Jesus the Christ, using the law while ignoring the heart and motive of heart. Their hatred of Him was in relation to His flaunting the Sabbath law especially. He was showing the people that even their precious Sabbath could be violated without actual sin being the result. And still, they denied Him, all the result of their evil hearts of unbelief and faithlessness, where they cloaked their evil hearts with the law.
The unbelieving need another standard, and God provided a ready-made alternative for them to grasp hold of; the law that ultimately condemns them to death, due to their denial of the One who could grant them freedom from sin and that law’s condemnation, keeping their evil hearts and minds blinded from their ultimate fate.
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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )
Acts 17:11
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