When I hear the words “final judgment” uttered in a religious setting, my stomach gets a little twisty. Maybe you know what I mean. The phrase is often used as a theological bludgeon as if to say, “You’d better be good or else you’ll get it when your father comes home.”
But what if “final judgment” didn’t mean that?
What if “final judgment” meant the finality of judgment? Better put, the end of judgment.
If we interpret Scripture through a Christ-centric lens, this is exactly what it means.
Christ Jesus gave God a body
and became the mouthpiece of the previously hidden God.
He gave voice to God, the Father,
who had previously been hidden in abstraction.
And from the cross,
he utters the final judgment.
Father, forgive them.
Utter and complete forgiveness
IS the final judgment.
And with that,
you and I can stop judging
ourselves, each other, and the world
so harshly.
God’s unconditional love
has the first and final word
even in the midst of our loathing
and projected violence.
In this final word,
God has died to God’s falsely perceived wrath
and in the resurrection, a loving God has been given
for you.
Grace + Godspeed,
Jonas
The finality of judgment