August 21, 2013
1 Peter 4:17-18 — the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Sometimes we have a comfortable view of judgment. One day we will all die, and the righteous will be judged according to our works, perhaps losing rewards but not suffering great punishment. Sinners, we smugly conclude, will be dragged before the great white throne, be condemned and go from there to their eternal punishment. How foolish we are if we don’t look for judgment much sooner. Now, in fact!
How foolish we are if we do not look for judgment near at hand … look what Peter says — “it must begin at the house of God”.
What can all this mean?
What does it mean by judgment beginning now? It can be taken as a reminder that the Messiah is coming soon. But it may also be a confirmation that we are under judgment even now. Here, especially, in America there are many who feel that God’s people have today become so like the world around them that we are naturally losing those benefits that a Godly nation might possess.
Then what does “the house of God” mean? It means, of course, the church as an institution — but it also relates to us as individuals, as members of God’s household.
I know many people — even some friends that I love — will think me old fashioned and naive, but I can’t help thinking that we householders have turned off the alarms and let down the barriers. And the devil, our adversary, that raging lion, has found it all too easy to break in and devour whom he will.
The righteous “scarcely” will be saved. Not “the righteous will almost not be saved”, nor “the righteous will only just escape at the last judgment”, but “the righteous will have a hard struggle in this fallen world”. John Calvin puts it this way:
Our course in the world is like a dangerous sailing between many rocks, and exposed to many storms and tempests; and thus no one arrives at the port, except he who has escaped from a thousand deaths. It is in the meantime certain that we are guided by God’s hand, and that we are in no danger of shipwreck as long as we have him as our pilot.
The righteous will navigate the perilous rocks of this present age and the house of God, having been judged, will be cleansed. The church will be presented spotless to its Bridegroom. But for now, we should not be surprised at the discipline we are under … And we must be grateful that we will not be wrecked on the rocks — unlike those who are not protected by the Captain of our salvation!