When Paul addressed the philosophers in Athens, he taught them about the “unknown God” (Acts 17:23). He explained how the living and true God is different from all man-made idols. God created the world, made us in His image, and provided us with all good things to enjoy. Paul concluded his message with the declaration that God was now making to all:
“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
This message was not for the Athenians alone. All men who lived from that time to today, and for as long as the world stands, need to heed this message. So let us examine what God is declaring to us even today.
Repent
Repentance is a change in mind that leads to a change of life. Biblically speaking, it means to turn from sin to God. This is necessary because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The wise man said that “God made men upright” (Ecclesiastes 7:29), but we have departed from His perfect standard. He calls us to “come to repentance” because He does not want “any to perish” (2 Peter 3:9).
This call to repent is for everyone. Luke’s account of the Great Commission emphasizes this: “And that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). Since the gospel has gone into all the world (cf. Colossians 1:23), no one can claim ignorance of God’s will. Paul told the Athenians that God “overlooked the times of ignorance” before that, but no longer. When Christ returns, He will be “dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Regardless of one’s background, culture, language, upbringing, or other personal circumstances, God is calling them to repentance.
God Will Judge the World
This is why we are to repent (“all people everywhere should repent, because…”). This judgment is a certainty. The Hebrew writer said, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). When God says He will do something, He will do it: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).
Paul wrote, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). When we stand before the Lord on that day, judgment will be based upon what we have done in this life. The wise man said, “For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Even the “secrets of men” will be judged when the Lord returns (Romans 2:16).
The Day Is Fixed
Whenever this day is, God has already determined when it will be. No “doomsday” scenario involving nuclear war, global warming, an asteroid hitting the earth, or anything else will alter it.
However, just because the day is fixed does not mean we know when it will be. Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matthew 24:36). Many people have made predictions through the years about when the Lord will return and the world will end, and all such predictions have failed. Those who claim to know the day of judgment are false prophets, and the Law of Moses said this regarding them: “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22).
Judgment in Righteousness
Sadly, it is not uncommon for human courts to make unjust judgments. There can be many reasons for this.
- They can be bribed, which “blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just” (Exodus 23:8).
- They can be mistaken while refusing to entertain this as a possibility because they have “lifted up” their hearts as if they were God (Ezekiel 28:2).
- They might lack crucial information, which includes hearing just one side of a story. When this happens, “the first to plead his case [always] seems right” (Proverbs 18:17).
- They might be bound by evil laws, just like King Darius, who knew it was wrong to punish Daniel, but the law prevented him from stopping it from happening (Daniel 6:14-15).
In contrast, God’s judgments are always “true; they are righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:9). When the final judgment is made, it will be right. However, Jesus warned that many will be surprised at the judgment: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23). We do not want to be among that number, so we need to make sure we are doing the will of God.
Through Jesus Christ
This was the role given to the Son. All will stand “before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). When He came into the world the first time, it was not “to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). However, when He comes the second time, it will not be to make another sacrifice for sin but to judge all of mankind: “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him” (Hebrews 9:27-28).
Judgment will be based upon the word of the Lord. Jesus said, “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day” (John 12:48). This means we can know what God expects of us. We are to “observe all that [He] commanded” (Matthew 28:20), knowing that He is “to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9).
Proof through the Resurrection
How can we know that God will judge the world? Paul declared that the resurrection of Christ was the “proof” that it would happen (Acts 17:31). The power that raised Jesus from the dead allows us to be raised from the dead. Paul explained this to the Corinthians: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22). There were many eyewitnesses to confirm Jesus’ resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:4-8). Besides this, the change in the apostles – from fearfulness to confidence (Matthew 26:69-75; Acts 4:13), even if it meant suffering and death (Acts 5:29, 41) – proved that they knew the resurrection was a fact.
The resurrection proved that Jesus was (and is) the Son of God. Paul began his letter to the Romans by affirming that Jesus was “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). He went on to say that through Christ he had “received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake” (Romans 1:5). In other words, because Jesus was raised from the dead, we must obey Him. If we believe that He is our Lord, we must do His will.
Conclusion
One day, the Lord will judge the world in righteousness. While we do not know when that day will be, we do know that it is coming, and God wants us to be ready. Jesus provided this warning:
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will” (Matthew 24:42-44).
Let us not be caught unprepared. Instead, let us be ready at all times to welcome the Lord when He returns.
