Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans.  Tonight is study #13 in Romans 3,  and we are continuing to read Romans 3:5-6:

But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

In our last study, we were considering what the Bible has to say about God and His righteousness, as He is absolutely holy and righteous.  The Bible tells us, for example, in Psalm 145:17:

JEHOVAH is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

God is righteous, and the commandments of God are righteousness, as we saw in our last study in Psalm 119:172.  “JEHOVAH is righteous in all his ways…”  Whatever God does, He does righteously.  His salvation program is righteous.  His judgment program is righteous.  There is no unrighteousness in God of any kind.  He is perfectly holy, just and righteous, which is why we read in 2Timothy concerning His Word, in 2Timothy 3:16:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The Law is righteousness, and all Scripture is the Law of God, and all Scripture is profitable for “instruction in righteousness.”  For example, in Psalm 9 we can read much information concerning Judgment Day, and it says in Psalm 9:7-8:

But JEHOVAH shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

JEHOVAH shall judge the world in righteousness, which can be understood to identify with Christ.  Christ is the righteous Judge, and God has given to the Son the task of executing judgment.  We read that in John 5:27.  Also, since the Word of God, the Bible, is righteousness, God uses the Word to judge the world, according to John 12:48:

… the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

We have seen many Scriptures that support and confirm the idea that the Word of God, the Bible, is that which will judge the world, and it is presently judging the world.  And Christ, the Judge, can be seen as coming as the Judge of all the earth in the Bible; He is “coming in the clouds,” representing the righteous commandments of God, and He is judging the world in righteousness according to the righteous, holy standard of God’s Law book, the Bible.  Then it says, “…he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.”  Ministering the Word of God, the Bible, in this current time period, the prolonged Judgment Day time period, will be ministering judgment to the people.  It is judgment whether the Word of God (the Law) is executing judgement against the wicked, or whether it is serving to spiritually feed and nourish the souls of the great multitude.  It is the savour of life unto life to those who are saved (and righteous), or a savour of death unto death to the unsaved because they will remain in their sins.  And the Word of God is accomplishing all these things.

In the New Testament, we read a similar statement in Acts 17:29-31:

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

That certainly makes it very clear who this “man” is who was ordained to judge the world.  It is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ who has risen from the dead.  And in this appointed day He will judge the world in righteousness.  And that appointed day is known; it began on May 21, 2011.  And according to biblical evidence, Judgment Day will be carried out over a prolonged period of time that the Bible indicates will be 22 years from May 21, 2011 until some date in the year 2033, which is 23 inclusive years. 

And during this time period, Christ the righteous Judge will execute the judgment written, as the Bible has revealed His coming, and it has revealed truths like the door (to heaven) being shut, and the spiritual sun, moon, and stars are darkened, because there is no more salvation.  The Lord Jesus Christ has taken the kingdom of Satan, consisting of the nations of the world, and the evidence of its fall is all the division we see taking place within the nations across the face of the earth.  And this is a result of the fact that Satan, who had been the king of the earth, was defeated, deposed, and put down from all rule, and now the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, has taken His seat to rule upon the judgment throne, wherein He will execute righteous judgment, and smite the nations with the sword protruding out of his mouth (the Word of God), and He will rule them with a rod of iron, the same Word, which is the just standard of the Law of God, the Bible.  Christ will move within His people as the Spirit reveals the truth of these things to our understanding, and we will then follow and obey them.  We will go forth to feed the sheep (with the Word) while simultaneously judging the world through that Word, which God has said is the honor of the saints.

So Christ has come with ten thousands of His saints, the completeness of the elect, as it can be said because they have all been saved, and are all in Him.  It required that every one of the saints must be saved before God could begin to execute the judgment process on the world.  All these things are taking place in our day, which is incredible.  It is stunning that it is happening in our time, and we are the ones that are alive on the earth to finally experience the fulfillment of all the things the Bible has said about the pouring out of the wrath of God.  We are witnesses of it.  We are testifying of it.  We are believing it, as 2Thessalonians points out where it says in 2Thessalonians 1:10: “…(because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”  Let us turn to 2Thessalonians where we read of God’s righteous judgment.  The Lord emphasizes this again, and again, and He wants it to be known that He judges according to His Word, and His Word is righteousness, and He is righteousness.  The sinner is given a just and fair trial.  There is no wrongdoing, no error, or any injustice.  Whatever God does during this time period is upright.

And if you do not think people are charging people with injustice, just consider the many accusations regarding the doctrine that God has stopped saving people and shut the door of heaven, ending His salvation program.  How often have we heard that this is not fair for God to do that?  And, of course, they have no idea what they are talking about: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”  This is what Abraham asked the “three men,” who were God in the appearance of men, as they visited him before they went to Sodom to destroy that city.  Of course it is certain that the Judge of all the earth will do right.

We read in 2Thessalonians 1:5-6:

Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

That is, Satan and his forces had dared to put forth their hand against God’s anointed, the churches and congregations.  Yes, God used Satan and knew what he would do, and in that way Satan accomplished the purpose of God, and was as a servant of God carrying out the judgment on them.  But that is no excuse.  God did not make him do those things.  He did those things because he is wicked and evil, and he wanted to destroy the people of God and destroy God so that he could be God.  So after the carrying out of the judgment that began at the house of God with the Great Tribulation judgment on the churches, then God turned around and recompenses (repays) tribulation to those that had troubled the people of God.  And it is a just and right judgment.

It goes on to say in 2Thessalonians 1:7:

And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

You see, it is the revealing of Christ.  It is in the same manner that the “son of perdition” was revealed.  (It is not the same word for “revealed,” but is a similar word.)  But how was the son of perdition revealed?  It was in the Bible as the Lord opened up the eyes of His people to see it and understand it.  Likewise shall the Son of man be revealed in the Scriptures, or from heaven, as the Word of God comes down from heaven.  And He is revealed with His mighty angels.  Those “mighty angels” are the “ten thousands of saints,” or the completeness of the elect of God.  (The word “angels” can equally be translated as “messengers.”) 

Then it goes on to say in 2Thessalonians 1:8:

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Remember it said in Romans 3:5-6: “Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance...God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?”  There is no question from the legal standpoint of the Bible.  Men may question it, but they are unjust and unrighteous rebels.  But as far as the holy standard of God’s Word, to come in “flaming fire taking vengeance,” is a righteous thing.

Then it says in 2Thessalonians 1:9:

Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

This is what I mentioned earlier, as it goes on to say in 2Thessalonians 1:10:

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

“In that day” is a common way the Bible uses to refer to Judgment Day.  “…because our testimony among you was believed in that day.”  Why do you think God would say that?  It is curious, is it not?  He points out that His testimony is believed in that Day of Judgment.  It certainly makes sense once we understand that Judgment Day is being worked out in the manner in which it presently is – the Bible is declaring it, and the people of God are believing it because the Bible says it.  Although we do not see it with our physical eyes, it is a spiritual judgment, and spiritual things must be believed.  God is a Spirit, and we believe in Him, although we cannot see Him with our physical eyes, but we know He exists.  And heaven is a spiritual kingdom, a spiritual place that the Bible tells us about.  We have never seen it, but we believe it.  The Bible tells us about evil spirits like Satan and the fallen angels, and we believe they exist.  The Bible tells us that God has struck the souls of men dead, and man’s spirit is dead.  We cannot see a dead spirit, but we believe it.  And the Bible tells us that He has resurrected the souls of certain ones, if we are saved.  We have never seen our souls, but we believe it.  You see, spiritual things are to be believed by the people of God, as long as they are truthful (biblical) spiritual things.  They are to be believed.

So when the Bible brought forth the information regarding judgment beginning at the house of God and the loosing of Satan (who had been bound since the cross) to enter into the congregations to take his seat as the man of sin, we believed it.  We could not see it.  You cannot see Satan, so we could not see that he was in the churches.  Simultaneously, the Spirit of Christ departed out of the midst of the churches.  We could not see the Spirit of Christ when He was present in the churches for 1,955 years, and we could not visibly see the Spirit of Christ’s departure (from the churches), or the entering in of the evil spirit of Satan.  But we believed it.  What the Bible declares, it proves through the comparing of Scriptures, and the Spirit teaches us through that process, and when these conclusions harmonize with the whole Word of God, God’s people believe.  We hear His voice.  It is the voice of truth, and we believe it although we cannot see it.  Spiritual things are invisible things.

Likewise, May 21, 2011 was Judgment Day, and the door of heaven shut.  Who could see the door when it was open?  Nobody could see it because the Bible explains that the “door” is Christ.  “I am the door,” we are told in John 10:9.  So it was the Word that ministered the open door of heaven, and for God’s elect heard, faith came, and they entered into that heavenly, invisible spiritual kingdom. 

This was all within the boundary of the day of salvation, but then God determined from above: “Shut the door.  All that were to be saved have become saved, and they have entered in.” 

And of course these things are understood and believed through “eyes of faith,” through trusting the Word of God.  There has been no change – God’s people continue to believe the things God tells us through the Bible.  And we stand on them, and we believe them.

God is really commending those He is referring to here: “When he shall come to be glorified in his saints…”  The saints are the elect, and Christ comes with “ten thousands of his saints.”  The great multitude make up the vast majority of those saints, and we are alive and remaining on the earth.  And our belief glorifies God.  It says in Isaiah 24:15:

Wherefore glorify ye JEHOVAH in the fires, even the name of the JEHOVAH God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

The isles refer to the continents.  Each continent is an enormous island, and they are the “isles of the sea.”  Therefore, where are the fires in which we are to glorify God?   It is the world.  The world has been lit by a spiritual fire.  Spiritual flames are consuming the earth. 

Earlier in Isaiah 24, it says in Isaiah 24:6:

Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

The Bible says, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”  And the few are the elect that are left on the earth wherein the (unsaved) inhabitants of the earth are being burned up.  And yet, we are alive and remaining, going through the fire.  We are the “third part” that endures the flames.  The fire has been put to the “gold, silver, precious stones,” and to the “wood, hay, stubble.”  The “wood, hay, stubble” are burned up, and the “gold, silver, precious stones” will endure to the end.  Through that endurance, JEHOVAH will be gloried, and He will be glorified because we believe and trust His Word, and the things the Bible tells us at this time.  And that will glorify God: “Wherefore glorify JEHOVAH in the fires…in the isles of the sea.”