BIBLE. GOD AS JUDGE OF MAN

 SHORTLY AFTER HARVARD COLLEGE WAS FOUNDED IN 1636, THE TRUSTEES OF THE SCHOOL WROTE, " LET EVERY STUDENT BE PLAINLY INSTRUCTED, AND EARNESTLY PRESSED TO CONSIDER WELL THAT THE MAIN END OF LIFE AND STUDIES IS TO KNOW GOD AND JESUS CHRIST...  AND THEREFORE TO LAY CHRIST IN THE BOTTOM,
AS THE ONLY FOUNDATION OF ALL SOUND KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING. THE WORDS OF THE EARLY TRUSTEES ARE STILL TRUE. MANY PEOPLE STILL SEE THEIR CHIEF GOAL IN LIFE IS KNOWING GOD BETTER. THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE SHOWS US THREE GREAT TRUTHS.: FIRST, THE KNOWLEDGE IS OUR CHIEF GOOD; SECOND, GOD HAS REVEALED IN NATURE CERTAIN TRUTHS ABOUT HIMSELF TO EVERYONE; BUT THIRD, PEOPLE HAVE REJECTED THIS REVELATION AND HAVE SUBSTITUTED FALSE GODS IN THE PLACE OF THEIR CREATOR. AWARENESS OF THE TRUE GOD IS, CONVEYED TO US IN ALL THAT WE SEE EXTERNALLY, IN ALL THAT WE SEE AND INTERNALLY THROUGH THE WORKINGS OF OPEN MINDS AND HEARTS.  BUT, WE HAVE DENIED OUR AWARENESS OF GOD, CHANGING THE KNOWLEDGE WE DO HAVE INTO SUPERSTITION. AS A RESULT, THE WORLD, FOR ALL ITS WISDOM, DOES NOT KNOW GOD. AND SO LACKS KNOWLEDGE OF ITSELF ALSO.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE? IT IS OBVIOUS FROM WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN SAID THAT MAN AND WOMEN CAN DO NOTHING THEMSELVES. BUT THE GOOD NEWS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, IS ALTHOUGH WE  CAN DO NOTHING GOD HAS DONE SOMETHING. HE HAS DONE WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE. HE HAS COMMUNICATED WITH US. IN OTHER WORDS, IN ADDITION TO THE GENERAL BUT LIMITED REVELATION OF HIMSELF IN NATURE! FINALLY, THERE IS THE APPLICATION OF THESE TRUTHS TO THE MIND AND HEART OF THE INDIVIDUAL
 OUR THINKING CONCERNING THE AUTHORITY AND INSPIRATION BY THE  HOLY SPIRIT. SCRIPTURE MUST START ALWAYS FROM THE FACT ITSELF THAT THE BIBLEASSUMES EVERYWHERE THAT IT IS A MESSAGE DIRECTLY FROM GOD HIMSELF
IT MAY BE OBJECTED THAT IN THE MAJORITY OF THESE  CASES THE CLAIM TO AUTHORITY IS MADE ONLY ON BEHALF OF THE MESSAGE DELIVERED AND NOT ON BEHALF OF THE WRITTEN RECORD IN WHICH THAT MESSAGE HAS BEEN HANDED DOWN TO US. THUS IT MAY WELL BE THE CASE THAT THE PROPHETS OR JESUS CHRIST SPOKE WITH DIVINE AUTHORITY, BUT SOMETIMES WE HAVE THEIR WORDS SECOND HAND. THE FACT THAT INSPIRATION IS CLAIMED FOR THEM DOES NOT MEAN THAT INSPIRATION IS CLAIMED FOR THOSE WHO COMPILED THE RECORD OF THEIR TEACHING AND ACTIVITY.
AGAINST THIS OBJECTION WE MAY SET THE FACT THAT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT ESPECIALLY, AND WITH REFERENCE TO THE OLD, A DEFINITE AUTHORITY IS CLAIMED FOR THE WRITTEN WORD OF THE BIBLE. THIS POINT EMERGES CLEARLY IN MANY PARTS OF THE TEACHING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. THUS HE ANSWERS THE TEMPTER WITH THE THREEFOLD "IT IS WRITTEN."   ON THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION HE TELLS HIS DISCIPLES THAT IT IS WRITTEN OF THE SON OF MAN SHOULD SUFFER MANY THINGS AND BE SET A NOUGHT. TO THE JEWS WHO SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES HE GAVE COUNSEL THAT THESE ARE THEY WHICH
TESTIFY OF ME.'
  AFTER THE RESURRECTION HE INTERPRETED TO ALLTHE DISCIPLES IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES THE THINGS CONCERNING HIMSELF. SHOWING THEM THAT ALL THINGS NEEDED TO BE FULFIILED. WHEN WE COME TO THE APOSTLES WE FIND THAT THEIR TESTIMONY TO THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE IS EQUALLY CLEAR. IN ALL THE GOSPELS GREAT EMPHASIS IS LAID UPON THE INSPIRED FORETELLING OF THE WORK AND PERSON OF CHRIST.
GOD AS THE JUDGE OF MAN.
GOD LOVES MAN, BUT HE IS ALSO MANS JUDGE; HIS LOVE IS NOT SENTIMETAL LOVE. SINCE IT IS GOD'S DESIRE TO DEVELOP MORAL CHARACTER IN MAN, HIS LOVE IS ALWAYS ACCOMPANIED BY DISCIPLINE. THE FATHER IN THE PARABLE OF THE PRODICAL SON DOES NOT FORGIVE HIS SON AND RECEIVE BACK UNTIL HE RETURNS IN A PENITENT MOOD, DISCIPLINED BY HIS OWN ACTIONS. GOD THEREFORE, COMBINES IN HIMSELF THE LOVING FATHER AND THE JUST JUDGE. WHILE HE YEARNS TO FORGIVE MAN, FORGIVENESS IS POSSIBLE ONLY TO THE MAN WHO HAS GIVEN-UP HIS REBELLION AND DEFIANCE AND SUBMITTED HIS WILL TO THE WILL OF GOD. SUBMISSION IS MAN'S PART; FORGIVENESS IS GOD'S. ALTHOUGH GOD HAS CREATED MAN FREE, HE HOLDS HIM RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HE DOES IN HIS FREEDOM.  JESUS FORMULATES THE PRINCIPLE OF JUSTICE IN TERMS Of ESCHATOLOGICAL. (END TIMES). HE OFTEN REFERS TO A LAST JUDGMENT AT THE END OF TIME; IN THIS RESPECT HE AGREES WITH THE THOUGHT OF ZOROASTER, WHICH HAD ALREADY MADE ITS PENETRATION INTO JEWISH APOCALYPTIC WRITINGS. IN THEIR CLASSICAL PERIOD, THE HEBREW PROPHETS EXPRESSED THE BELIEF THAHT EVERY MAN GETS HIS JUST RECOMPENSE IN THIS LIFE. SOME OF THE HEBREW THINKERS, HOWEVER, NOTABLY JOB AND THE SECOND ISAIAH, RECOGNIZED THAT THE IDEA OF JUST RECOMPENSE IN THIS LIFE IS UNTENABLE; IT SIMPLY DOES NOT CORRESPOND WITH WHAT WE ACTUALLY SEE ABOUT US IN THE WORLD. YET,THEY STILL BELIEVED IN A JUST GOD.-----THAT IN THE END JUSTICE WOULD PREVAIL AND THIS VIEW CAME TO BE FORMULATED IN ESCHATOLOGICAL TERMS, AS REPRESENTED IN THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS..
EARLIER IN THE GOSPELS WE ARE INTRODUCED TO THE IDEA OF A COMING JUDGMENT BY JOHN THE BAPTIST IN HIS PROPHETIC, HE CALLS THE MULTITUDE FLOCKING TO HIM A BROOD OF VIPERS AND WARNS THEM OF THE WRATH TO COME,
EVEN NOW THE AX IS LAID TO THE ROOT OF THE TREES; EVERY TREE THEREFORE THAT DOES NOT BEAR GOOD FRUIT IS CUT DOWN AND THROWN IN THE FIRE....
 HE WILL BAPTIZE YOU WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND WITH FIRE. HIS WINNOWING FORK IN HIS HAND, AND HE WILL CLEAR HIS THRESHING FLOOR AND GATHER HIS WHEAT INTO THE GRANARY, BUT THE CHAFF HE WILL BURN WITH UNQUENCHABLE FIRE [MATTHEW 3:10-12]. THE TRADITION OF USING FIRE AS A SYMBOL OF JUDGMENT IS CARRIED ON BY JESUS WHEN HE SPEAKS OF THOSE WHO ARE "THROWN INTO HELL WHERE THEIR WORM DOES NOT "DIE" AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED."  (MARK 9:48).
THE GREEK WORD FOR "HELL" IN THIS PASSAGE IS "GEHENNA", A WORD DERIVED FROM THE "HINNOM" AND REFERRING TO THE VALLEY OF HINNOM, SOUTH OF JERUSALEM, WHERE THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY DUMPED THEIR TRASH AND GARBAGE. FLIES BRED HERE CONTINUOUSLY AND THE SMOKING FLAMES NEVER DIED OUT. IN ONE OF HIS PARABLES JESUS PICTURES A RICH MAN WHO LIVED LUXURIOUSLY, WHILE A BEGGAR LIE AT HIS GATE HUNGRY AND DISEASED. WHEN THE BEGGAR DIED, HE WAS CARRIED BY ANGELS TO THE BOSOM OF ABRAHAM, BUT WHEN THE RICH MAN DIED, HE FOUND HIMSELF ENGULFED IN THE FLAMES OF HELL
(LUKE 16: 19-31).
 THIS APOCALYTIC VIEW OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, HOWEVER, IS NOT THE ONE THAT IS MOST COMMON IN THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS. " THE KINGDOM OF GOD" MEANT FOR JESUS THE REIGN OF GOD. AS WE  HAVE SEEN, JESUS HAD IN MIND THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUAL PERSONS, NOT THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS.. WHENEVER A PERSON BRINGS HIS WILL INTO SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD, THEREFORE, HE ENTERS INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (MATTHEW 5:3, 8, 10).  SEVERAL OF THE BEATITUDES EMPLOYS THISS THEME...." BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, THEIR IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. BLESSED ARE THE PURE OF HEART, FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD. BLESSED ARE THEY WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR THE RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE, HAVE ALREADYENTERED THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. THE KINGDOM OF GOD, JESUS SAYS IS LIKE A SEED CAST UPON THE EARTH. WHILE MEN GO ABOUT THEIR AFFAIRS, THE SEED, OF ITS OWN STRENGTH, SPRINGS UP, GROWS
 AND COMES TO MATURITY. THIS MEANS THAT THE KIGDOM OF GOD IS TRUTH, WHICH PLANTED IN SOMEONE'S MIND, EVENTUALLY TRANSFORMED HIS LIFE AND SO CARRIES HIM INTO GOD'S KINGDOM (MARK 4:26-29). WHILE JESUS AT TIMES MARSHALED THE LURID APOCALYPIC IMAGERY IN ORDER TO DRIVE HOME HIS MESSAGE, HE REGARDED ITS ELABORATE SYMBOLISM AS A KIND OF POETRY, WHICH PRESENTS AS  VISIBLE HISTORICAL PHENOMENON SOMETHING THAT IN ITSELF INVISIBLE. THE KINGDOM OF GOD NEVER TAKES MATERIAL FORMS EXCEPT AS IT IS INCARNATE IN HE LIVES OF HUMAN BEINGS.