Head for Cover

     I happened to be watching a TV show where a judge was questioning the plaintiffs and the defendants over a dispute on family law. The judge quickly zeroed in on the plaintiffs and it became evident they were in the wrong and committed a very serious crime. You could see the judge getting more and more incensed at their actions and the pathetic arguments they were giving. I could almost feel the heat from the judge’s anger coming through the television. I felt uncomfortable.

      I remember a time I was in a grocery store with some buddies of mine when I was about ten years old. We decided to take some candy bars and stuff them in our pants just to see if we could get away with stealing them. As we were leaving the store my candy bar became loose and I was trying to keep it from falling on the floor. The manager of the store saw what was going on and he grabbed me and my friend. He made us call our mothers on the phone and he told them what we had done. I was so embarrassed I wanted to climb in a hole.

     What will it be like to stand before God in all His holiness and power and account for our lives? The Bible is clear that God will require this from everyone of us, even from us believers. It will be the most uncomfortable, embarrassing thing we will ever experience. Imagine the eyes of God piercing our hearts and bringing out every dark thought or sinful action we have ever committed. And unlike an earthly judge or a grocery store manager, God judges with perfect holiness, justice, and righteousness. His is not an earthly judgment with earthly consequences. His judgment is eternal. We will abide in His judgment forever. If it will be uncomfortable for us Christians to stand before God what will it be like for the ungodly? No wonder the reaction given by the unrighteous when Jesus appears in His glory:

              Then the kings of the earth and the great men and

              the commanders and the rich and the strong and

              every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves
              and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said

              to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and

              hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the

              throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.”

                                                                 Revelation 6:5, 6