GOD WILL EXECUTE PUNISHMENT: God in the Middle Ages in Europe was portrayed as mean, severe, extracting, and quick to punish. Many during that age viewed God as a God who desired nothing more than to execute punishment upon his people.

 Sin, Evil, Death, Dying, and What Happens After We Die

This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)

Let Us Pray

God Most High, it is our desire to be numbered with the righteous. Prepare our hearts now to meet you when Christ returns, so that we may sit on your thrones and rule with you. In Jesus’ Name Amen

The tables have turned. The tendency is to describe God as loving, kind, gentle, and even at times, permissive. There are those who believe God would never impose severe punishment on his children.  

As a matter of fact, many are of the assumption that God no longer requires obedience from his children and has withdrawn his commandments or standard of measurement. It is said by many spiritual leaders that because of God’s grace we no longer need to keep God’s law.

But what happens to love without boundaries, without justice, and without the law? What type of love allows those loved to live and do as what seems right in their own eyes?

What type of love would cause a parent to have no boundaries for their children or refuse to administer punishment when their children disobey them?

The point is that love without justice becomes chaos and lawlessness. And in contrast, justice without love becomes oppressive and controlling. We see the results of both in our world today.

But God’s judging process is a perfect blend of justice and mercy. His fair decisions and his decision to administer mercy and justice are derived from His unconditional love for his people.

God’s final work as Judge, also known as the executive judgment stems from His love even for the wicked. His decision is final. Thus far, God has administered limited punitive judgment.

For example,

• Revelation 12:7–12 tells of God throwing Satan and his evil angels out of heaven.
• Genesis 3 lets us know that God evicted Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
• In Genesis 6–8 we learn of God destroying the earth with a Flood
• Genesis 19, and Jude1:7 tells of God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah
• In Exodus 11 and 12 we see where God sent an angel to kill all the firstborn sons in Egypt.
• And Acts 5:1–11 tells of Ananias and Sapphira immediate death because they lied to the Holy Spirit. 

All of these incidents, and many more, let us know that there will be an executive judgment in which God will judge the wicked and administer punishment at the end of human history. This final judgment will not be limited, there will be no restraints. 

As have been expressed, the executive judgment is God’s final work as Judge. 2 Peter 2:4–6 and 2 Peter 3:10–13 give us an idea of what will happen in the executive judgment.

2 Peter 2:4-6

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; (2 Peter 2:4-6)

2 Peter 3:10-13

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:10-13) 

It is evident from these verses that after God finishes this judgment humans will not have another chance to be saved.

“God’s goodness and long forbearance, His patience and mercy exercised to His subjects, will not hinder Him from punishing the sinner who refused to be obedient to His requirements. It is not for a man—a criminal against God’s holy law, pardoned only through the great sacrifice He made in giving His Son to die for the guilty because His law was changeless—to dictate to God.”—Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, p. 208. (Split)

God has done everything possible to save us, humans, from being lost forever. God saved us at a high cost to Himself. Anyone who will be lost made choices that led him or her to a bad end. (Split)

God’s work that He does to judge the lost ones and punish them shows His love and His mercy. (Split)

We are nearing the end-time climax of this earth’s history and the end of Satan, his evil angels, and all his wicked followers. What will happen to them?

Find out on Day 6 The Second Death

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