In 1 Cor. 6:2-3 is an amazing truth: “Do you know not that we will judge the world…. Do you not know that we will judge angels?”
Christians will judge the world? Judge Angels?
That’s extraordinary!
But, why would humans in any sense be qualified to judge others—humans
or angels?
The answer is simple: those with the least amount of evidence of God’s goodness and power who, nonetheless, continue to honor Him are always in a position to judge those who had even more evidence but disobeyed.
Consider Jesus’ words in Luke 11:29-32:
This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.1
See what I mean?
The Ninevites repented because some guy named Jonah happened to walk through their city warning them of coming destruction. Similarly, the Queen of the South traveled a great distance to meet a wise man named Solomon of whom she had only heard rumors. Thus, Jesus says that the Queen of the South and the Ninevites will rise up at the Judgment and condemn those who witnessed His miracles and yet rejected Him because they are without excuse.
Again, those with little evidence who still believe can rightfully condemn those who had more evidence but don’t believe.
It is the same with the fallen angels. Even though angels actually saw God, some rebelled, and so Christians who had much less evidence for God can rightfully condemn those who had much more evidence yet disobeyed.
And what is the complaint of today’s skeptic? Isn’t it, “God didn’t give us enough evidence!”? Well, those who obey God in this life, even though they are ridiculed for those beliefs (and many are even being beaten, tortured, and murdered for their belief), are in the rightful position to condemn those at the Judgment who said, “but we needed more evidence.”
In the meantime, the world has been given the sign of Jonah: Jesus was crucified by a crowd that always asked for more evidence, but then He was raised from the dead. His resurrection is the sign that He is who He said. So you, Christian, may find yourself standing before God at the Judgment and hear the skeptic complain that there wasn’t enough evidence and you can say, “I saw the same evidence you did and still believed and it turns out that, indeed, my beliefs were justified!”
“For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (Acts 17:31-34)
Amen.
- See also Matt. 11:20-24. In that passage we find that those with less evidence who refused to believe will have it easier on the Day of Judgment than those who had more evidence but refused to believe. [↩]