Rejoice at Judgment?

   May God's peace fill your heart and soul because of what the Lord has done for you, when you consider this amazing truth found in Psalm 96.  It declares that the heavens will be glad, the earth will rejoice, the sea will roar, the field will exult, the trees of the forest will sing for joy at a coming event.  What could possibly be the reason why?  

 God is coming to judge the earth!  

 Do you remember being called to the principal's office? (or to your boss' office)  Was there a sudden drop in your heart, an instant panic? In our natural response the first thought is "uh oh, what did I do wrong?"  So this Scripture is totally contrary to our feelings where an immediate red flag goes up.  How can this be?

 Deep in our hearts we long for good to be honored and evil to be dealt with; in short, justice.  We know the good tree has good fruit, and the bad tree bears bad fruit.  Of course, God is all just and every sin will receive its consequence.  But, what if there is evil or sin in us?  

That is the point.  Jesus promised to send the Spirit (John 16:7-11) to convict of sin and righteousness and judgment, which is His provision to reconcile and give His peace to us.  Paul said he couldn't even judge himself, but called on God to judge him before taking communion.  When we are judged and repent of what the Lord exposes, then we can stand righteous before God. Jesus who knew no sin, became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)  His righteousness and His perfect love cast out all fear. 

We can rejoice that God is coming to judge the earth.  We know in our hearts that Jesus has taken our sin and given us His righteousness.  So rather than instill fear, the coming of the Lord to judge brings peace and joy because we are already judged and the Jesus' righteousness we now have is perfect.  You don't have to panic if you are being followed by a police car when you know you are going the speed limit.  Obviously part of Jesus reigning is removing all sin and setting up a holy kingdom on earth. Romans 14:17 declares this kingdom is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."   We rejoice that this kingdom that is in us, will also be established on earth as it is in heaven!