Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There's a truth long overdue, and it concerns the words in Revelation 14:7, which have so often been read with implicit dread: "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come."
This has been commonly understood as the "hour" when God will judge us humans, and God is very exacting and demanding. And indeed, it is true that such a judgment must precede the second coming of Christ, or else how would it be possible when He comes for Him to say, "My reward is with me, to give to every one according to his work"? (Rev. 22:12). What would determine who should come up in the first resurrection "to everlasting life" and others "to shame and everlasting contempt" in the second resurrection? (Dan. 12:2).
The powerful truth is that primarily that "judgment" of the first angel's message of Revelation 14:7 is when God will be judged. He Himself is on trial; He is in the dock. At last comes the court trial of eternity, and the stakes are high. Will He be acquitted?
The vast majority of earth's inhabitants declare themselves on the side of the prosecuting attorney in this court trial--Satan, whose principal charge against God is that He has given mankind a law that is impossible for them to obey. And they believe it!
This charge has also been echoed by countless ministers of the gospel who declare the same; and the world-loving, "lukewarm" condition of the church is a powerful testimony in favor of the prosecutor's contention. If God's own people can't keep His law, who can??
There will be a "last generation" of people who reject Satan's charge and who demonstrate in their lives that his charge is wrong. They will be "witnesses" in the cosmic courtroom for the divine defense. That gives us an infinitely better reason for giving our hearts and lives to the One who died for us, than concern for our own reward!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 30, 1998.
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