The last name of Christ that we looked at was Artos. Before that we have dug into the character of our Savior through His names, Aletheia, Phos, Xulon Zoe, Eschatos Adam, and Huios. The name of Christ that we will be digging into today is Krites. Krites is the Greek word for judge. This word in its form in 2 Timothy 4 means one who passes or arrogates to himself, judgment on anything, an arbiter.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the righteous Judge,

will award to me on that day;

and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

2 Timothy 4:7-9

One of the names of Jesus is Judge.

For not even the Father judges anyone,

but He has given all judgment to the Son,

so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

John 5:22-23

God the Father judges no one… and when God the Son, Jesus, came in the flesh neither did He judge any one. However, when He returns… that will be a different story. You know we can complain and whine about the “fairness” of God all we want… but the truth is you will never meet nor know nor be able to comprehend a more just person. So let’s take a moment and look at the why behind my last statement… why do I believe God is just and why has all judgement been rightfully given to the Son? What makes Jesus the only righteous Krites?

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word,

and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life,

and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is,

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,

and those who hear will live. 

For just as the Father has life in Himself,

even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 

and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.“

John 5:24-27

Ah ha… did you see it?

Did you see the qualification of Christ to judge all things?

We live in a day of worshiped tolerance… no one wants to be judged for anything by anyone. From the professing Christian in the church to the vilest sex offender in the prison. Don’t judge me. How dare you judge me. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I have been through. You were not there when… and so on and on and on.

Here’s the thing… you can’t say that before Christ. You might can guilt another fallible, flesh of man into feeling unqualified to stand before you in rebuke, correction, and judgment… but before Christ? Nope He has all right and authority to judge you. Yes it is true, that no other fallible human being has ever walked in your exact shoes… no other fallible human being was there when… and that’s why our eternal judgment is not dependent on any man. We will all stand before Christ.

We will stand before the one who is the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is the One who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He is the One that put on this flesh and walked and lived on this earth tempted in every way that mankind can be, suffering all that mankind can suffer, and yet He did not sin. No one can ever look at Jesus, the righteous Krites and say, how dare you judge me, you don’t know…  because He does know. He was there. He saw. He sees your heart. He knows.

How greater is the knowledge in those of us who profess to be His. How dare we ever attempt to open our mouths before Him with excuses or accusations… because not only is His presence around us but His Spirit within us. This is why He says judgment will begin with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

When we go to human court we have a plaintiff and we have a defendant. We have the accuser and we have the accused. We then have a jury and a judge. Below is a little snippet of an old kids tv show called Kids Court…

 

 

 

As these two kids stood there, they each wanted their will done. They could care less about the opinion or will of the other, they wanted the outcome to be their way, their will, in their favor. Then as the moderator took the case out to the jury what you saw was each person picking a side.

This is what we usually do… we stand up wanting our will done and we come up against someone else wanting their will done… and then we recruit people to take our side… and then a judge stands there and decides whose side will win or we simply divide and never unite again.

Jesus is a righteous Judge because He is not picking sides… He is not here to pick between your will and my will, your way and my way… He is there to bring us all under the authority of God’s will.

“I can do nothing on My own initiative.

As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just,

because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

John 5:30

Jesus stands before us all, as fully God and fully man. He knows exactly what it is to be God and He knows exactly what it is to be man. So He stands there in full knowledge and authority and right to judge, to mediate, to arbitrate, between God and man.

And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world…

John 9:39

 

It was for judgment that Jesus came into this world. Now hang on to that verse, that thought, that truth as we look at  another passage of Scripture.

 

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,

but that the world might be saved through Him. 

John 3:16-17

Ummmm wait a minute. John 9:39 says that Jesus came into the world for judgment and here in John 3:17 it says that God did not send Jesus into the world to judge? Is the Bible contradicting itself?

No it’s not. Jesus did not come into the world as a man to judge it… but he did come for judgment. Let’s keep reading…

He who believes in Him is not judged;

he who does not believe has been judged already,

because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world,

and men loved the darkness rather than the Light,

for their deeds were evil. 

For everyone who does evil hates the Light,

and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 

But he who practices the truth comes to the Light,

so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

John 3:18-21

 

Jesus came for judgment. He came as the living breathing Law of God. The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. And when the world beheld His glory, when men beheld His truth and love and light they could not help but see their sin in comparison… so they either cried out to God in their sinfulness and cried out for His forgiveness… or they wanted to destroy the One that exposed their sin… because they loved their sin and would not accept any condemnation concerning it.

You see Jesus didn’t have to open His mouth… His presence was enough. His presence on this earth exposed and exposes the presence of Satan and his darkness and his lies and his deeds.

Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

John 12:31

And guys here’s the thing… pay close attention… this is huge.

Jesus gave us His Spirit, His Light, His love, His grace so that His presence would remain on this earth always casting out the ruler of this world.

 

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

If the world is judged by you,

are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?

Do you not know that we will judge angels?

How much more matters of this life?

1 Corinthians 6:2-3

Now precious one, I don’t believe this means that in the end days we who believed will all have our own little thrones and give out our “I told you this would happen if you didn’t believe in Him, see He was the only way! Now you are going to hell just like I said you would, so there!” 

Here’s the thing… does your presence make the ungodly uncomfortable without you ever saying a word? When you walk in the room do the dirty jokes stop? If someone speaks a profane word in front of you do they apologize or catch themselves before they say it? Does the gossip and the tales of the weekend club/bar hopping stop when you walk into the discussion?

This is how the saints judge the world.

This is how the saints judge angels.

Does your life shine the Light and expose the death and darkness of the evil one and his deeds?

If not… why?