True and righteous are thy judgments
True and righteous are thy judgments
Written on 29 August 2026.
There is something about the final judgment of God that can at first appear extremely severe.
From a Free Grace perspective, a man receives everlasting life simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternal life is not earned by works, morality, discipleship, church attendance, or perseverance.
John 6:47 says:
John 6:47 King James Bible
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Romans contrasts what is earned with what is freely given.
Romans 6:23 King James Bible
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This means that a person could live for many years in unbelief and then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive everlasting life.
At the same time, another person may pass through his entire earthly life without ever believing on Christ.
From a human point of view this can raise a difficult question: how can it be just that one receives everlasting life through faith while another finally suffers eternal judgment?
The mercy of the wicked is cruel
One thing that can change how this question is understood is experiencing the cruelty of wicked men.
The Bible says:
Proverbs 12:10 King James Bible
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
Before experiencing serious hostility, persecution, false accusation, betrayal, or cruelty, a person may look at the final judgment primarily from the perspective of the person being judged.
After experiencing what wickedness can actually do to another person, the judgment of God can be seen from another direction.
The issue is no longer merely that the punishment is terrible. The question also becomes whether God would be righteous if wickedness were never finally answered.
Revelation says plainly that God's judgments are righteous.
Revelation 16:5-7 King James Bible
And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
The words are not:
- God's judgment is unfortunate but necessary.
They are:
- true and righteous are thy judgments.
Persecution can make the justice of God understandable
A believer who has suffered attacks from other people may therefore come to understand something that previously seemed difficult.
God sees the whole matter.
Men see fragments. God sees every act, every false accusation, every cruelty, every persecution, every secret thing, and every motive.
The believer may previously have looked upon eternal judgment and wondered how such a judgment could be fair.
After seeing more clearly what wickedness is capable of doing, the declaration of Revelation becomes easier to understand:
Revelation 19:1-2 King James Bible
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
God's judgment of those who persecute his servants is therefore not presented as unrighteous cruelty.
It is presented as righteous judgment.
The smoke of their torment
Revelation gives one of the strongest descriptions of eternal punishment in the Bible concerning those who worship the beast and receive his mark.
Revelation 14:9-11 King James Bible
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
The passage says:
- the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever
and:
- they have no rest day nor night.
The lake of fire, however, is not limited to those who receive the mark of the beast.
At the final judgment the broader statement is:
Revelation 20:11-15 King James Bible
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Thus the final division is ultimately between those who have everlasting life and those who do not.
Salvation remains free
None of this changes the freeness of salvation.
A persecutor can still believe on Christ while he remains alive.
Paul himself had been a persecutor.
1 Timothy 1:13-16 King James Bible
Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
Therefore persecution by itself does not prove that a particular living person will finally be damned.
While a man is alive, he may yet believe.
But if he remains without everlasting life, the final judgment of God is righteous.
Conclusion
The experience of persecution can make the justice of God's final judgment easier to understand.
What might previously have appeared simply cruel can look very different after seeing what wickedness actually does.
Yet salvation itself remains entirely free.
John 6:47 King James Bible
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
The persecutor who believes on Christ can receive everlasting life.
The sinner who believes can receive everlasting life.
The ungodly man who believes can receive everlasting life.
But the final judgment of those who remain without life is not described by Scripture as an injustice.
The declaration of heaven is:
Revelation 16:7 King James Bible
And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
AI Disclosure: Parts of this page may have been created, edited, or assisted by artificial intelligence tools (such as ChatGPT or other language models). All AI-assisted content is reviewed by a human before publication. For questions, contact the site administrator.