1 Peter 4:17 (KJV)
For 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?
Gill says of these judgments that they are “afflictions and persecutions, which are fatherly chastisements, and different from God’s judgment on the world.”
Albert Barnes comments, “It refers to such calamities as would settle the question whether there was any religion or would test the value of that which was professed.”
Our judgment is not for sins, as they have already been tried and paid for in Christ, and we have been pronounced justified. That said, every honest Christian knows that we are far from being as holy as we ought to be, and upon earnest observation, we have reason to question whether all who profess salvation—even those inside the local churches—are truly born again. (Consider the seven churches in the book of Revelation.) Judgment begins in the house of God, as God—not we—begins to pluck out the tares.
Judgment also serves to further purify and sanctify the believer. We endure the difficulties of our faith, and in so doing, we find our faith tested and proven more enduring.
And judgment begins here because here we are. As strangers and pilgrims on the earth, it is natural that the earth, which is not friendly to mankind in the first place, would be even less so to those who have separated themselves from it.
We are judged, but we are not forsaken, cast down, or defeated.
We are judged, but we are most concerned about those who will be judged outside of Jesus Christ.
Would to God they would be saved and spared that judgment!
#DivineJudgment #PurifiedInChrist #FaithTested #StrangersAndPilgrims #SalvationUrgency
Refined by Fire: Judgment Begins in the House of God
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