The Finality of Judgment
And He said to me “It is done!” Rev 21:6a
“Sir, just a reminder, all sales are final. There will be no refunds, exchanges or returns.” These words of the sales clerk set me doubting my judgment about the “good deals” that I thought I had picked up. Somehow the idea about a decision (that in this country at least) I have come to accept as temporary, made me uncomfortable when I realized that my decision was irreversible. There was finality to it. There is something about the human mind that abhors finality. Finality implies that there is a finish point, a point of no return, a point where one has to live with the choices one has made. It is a place where one must relinquish control.
In the fascinating book of Revelation, as John gets a glimpse into the end of all history, he hears the words of ultimate finality – “It is done!” It is final! There is no reversing of decisions. There is no time to change our minds. The validity of the phrase “there is always tomorrow” has ended. All humanity must now trust in the judgments made, decisions taken, and relinquish control.
John had once heard another cry of finality. It was the dying words of the Son of God as John stood at the foot of the cross - “It is finished”. Now, the aged John, exiled in the island of Patamos, hears another cry of finality from the resurrected Son of God. “It is done!” There was a finality of salvation, and there is a finality of judgment! The Bible is unique in this aspect that all of what it suggests, all the actions that it commands, and all of its message revolves around these two inexorable cries. “It is finished” and “It is done!”. All of the Old Testament culminates in the first, all of the New, looks to the second. The first was an assurance to all humanity of the love and mercy of God, the second will resound as the cry of the justice and judgment of God. Those who look at the cross and hear the Savior cry “It is finished”, and submit to its finality will not fear, nor have to second guess their decision at the sound of “It is done!”
It is interesting that even in that harsh finality of judgment, the verse betrays the love that sounds it, for the verse ends with the words “I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.” May I implore you to cast your anchor in the first finality, the finality that salvation was provided by a loving God who sacrificed His own Son that we may live, so that the words, “It is done!” may become a sound of joy. And if you have already cast your anchor in the Savior, then let us "Establish our hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand" and live in this light of finality.
Danesh Manik
“Sir, just a reminder, all sales are final. There will be no refunds, exchanges or returns.” These words of the sales clerk set me doubting my judgment about the “good deals” that I thought I had picked up. Somehow the idea about a decision (that in this country at least) I have come to accept as temporary, made me uncomfortable when I realized that my decision was irreversible. There was finality to it. There is something about the human mind that abhors finality. Finality implies that there is a finish point, a point of no return, a point where one has to live with the choices one has made. It is a place where one must relinquish control.
In the fascinating book of Revelation, as John gets a glimpse into the end of all history, he hears the words of ultimate finality – “It is done!” It is final! There is no reversing of decisions. There is no time to change our minds. The validity of the phrase “there is always tomorrow” has ended. All humanity must now trust in the judgments made, decisions taken, and relinquish control.
John had once heard another cry of finality. It was the dying words of the Son of God as John stood at the foot of the cross - “It is finished”. Now, the aged John, exiled in the island of Patamos, hears another cry of finality from the resurrected Son of God. “It is done!” There was a finality of salvation, and there is a finality of judgment! The Bible is unique in this aspect that all of what it suggests, all the actions that it commands, and all of its message revolves around these two inexorable cries. “It is finished” and “It is done!”. All of the Old Testament culminates in the first, all of the New, looks to the second. The first was an assurance to all humanity of the love and mercy of God, the second will resound as the cry of the justice and judgment of God. Those who look at the cross and hear the Savior cry “It is finished”, and submit to its finality will not fear, nor have to second guess their decision at the sound of “It is done!”
It is interesting that even in that harsh finality of judgment, the verse betrays the love that sounds it, for the verse ends with the words “I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.” May I implore you to cast your anchor in the first finality, the finality that salvation was provided by a loving God who sacrificed His own Son that we may live, so that the words, “It is done!” may become a sound of joy. And if you have already cast your anchor in the Savior, then let us "Establish our hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand" and live in this light of finality.
Danesh Manik
posted by Danesh Manik | 7:55 AM
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