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Commentary on "The God of Grace and Judgment"
Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, January 21, 2012 - Introduction
Overview: The God of Grace and Judgment
The Key Thought for this week is worth repeating and considering for a few moments:
God’s judgment is as pervasive in the Bible as is the theme of salvation; in fact, the two teachings are intricately entwined.
It is as important to give credit when it is due as it is to point out the gaps within these lessons. This week’s lesson starts off strong. God’s judgment is a critical component to understanding God’s character. Furthermore, without a reasonable understanding of judgment it is nearly impossible to really understand and appreciate the meaning of grace.
Observations
Salvation requires being saved from something, so what are you being saved from?
God cannot be understood by simply referring to one aspect of His Character. God is Love, but God is also Holy and Just. In understanding God’s judgment, we must also understand His holiness. His holiness is what defines righteousness and what sets the standard for judgment. And just like you cannot understand salvation without understanding judgment, you cannot understand judgment without knowing the criteria being used for that judgment and the possible outcomes of that judgment.
This lesson does a nice job of establishing that judgment occurs, but without understanding the holiness of God one cannot properly understand the standard of judgment. And without understanding the punishment of the wicked, one cannot understand the result of judgment. Christ speaks more in the Gospels about the punishment of the wicked than He does about heaven which should give us some indication of how just how important this subject is to comprehending salvation.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised January 17, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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