Jesus Christ did not come into the world to condemn us (John 3:16-18). For although we read in the Old Testament that the Lord would come and judge the nations (Psalms 98:8-9; Isaiah 51:5), the wise God hid the details in Christ (Proverbs 25:2; Colossians 2:3). Jesus did not immediately judge the nations, as the Jews expected from a Messianic king.

Jesus said to the Pharisees:

You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. (...) I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him. (John 8:15-16. 26)

Throughout his life, Jesus continually relied on God to judge people, so when he judged with his words, he did so not alone, but through the true God. It was evident in his teaching that he spoke with authority (Matthew 7:28-29; John 7:46), because what he said he did not speak on his own authority (John 14:10). Jesus identified his words with the word of God, which will judge those who reject him on the last day, for he said:

If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment - what to say and what to speak. (John 12:47-49)

Jesus always did as the Father has commanded him (John 14:31) and spoke what he heard from God (John 8:40-44). He constantly asked him and listened to him, knowing very well that only God knows always what is best for all people, including those who have already died and those yet to be born. For Jesus came for us to bring us to the Father (John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Ephesians 2:18; 1 John 2:1-2), and not to establish his own earthly kingdom in this world, where others serve him as ruler (Mark 10:45). He resisted (James 4:7) and did not listen to the father of lies, who disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and who wanted to divert Jesus’ thoughts to himself by drawing his attention to what he could do and receive as the Son of God in this world (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus not only remained pure in his heart, but he did not sin in his thoughts either. For despite his fleshly weakness (Matthew 26:41; Romans 8:3), in temptation he continually judged his thoughts in the light of the Word, constantly submitting them to God’s control. Therefore, God never left Jesus alone (John 8:29, 16:32), because he always listened to his Father and despite his sufferings remained faithful to him to the end.

However, as was the case with the first man (2 Corinthians 11:3), we too are tempted and sin if we do not ask our Creator (Psalms 139:23-24) and listen to the Father of lights, who really knows all our needs (James 1:13-17).

Sin blinds because it alienates us from a life that pleases God (Ephesians 4:17-19) and ultimately causes us to perish in darkness (James 1:14-15) because it separates us from the fountain of life by whom we can walk in the light (Psalms 36:9). But God has never pleasure in the death of man (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:10-11. 18-20), just wants us to turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to him (Acts 26:18). God delights in mercy and not in condemnation (Micah 7:18-19), not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). For this reason, God, who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16), sent his Son into the world as light (John 12:46) to take away sins (1 Timothy 1:15; 1 John 3:5).

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and he did not come to destroy people’s lives. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but for judgement he came into this world.

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” (John 9:39-41)

Jesus came for those who gladly receive God’s exploration of their sins (Luke 19:1-10). For there is no complacent man who will not be judged by God for his evil deeds, no matter how righteous he may hold himself, but every God-fearing man will be forgiven when he repents, no matter how serious their sins are. (Luke 18:9-14; 1 John 1:8-10). But whoever does not believe do wicked things, and are not ready to see their blindness, because they do not want to see their sins in the light, and therefore they are already under judgment because of the wickedness of their darkened hearts. John writes:

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:19-21)

God sent his Son so that, realizing our blindness, we do not hide from him (Hebrews 4:13), even when our hearts condemn us and we see how many sins we have (Luke 7:36-50). A God-fearing person is aware that he could not stand in the presence of a holy God with his sins (Psalms 90:7-8, 130:3-4; Luke 5:8-10), and that he would receive the punishment he deserves for his deeds (Luke 23:39-43). Because nothing can be hidden from God (Jeremiah 16:17; Psalms 69:6), since he sees and knows everything (Proverbs 5:21; 1 John 3:20; Psalms 139:4-6. 16-17). He knows not only our actions, but also our intentions and every thought (Hebrews 4:12-13), yet he wants to draw us close to him as long as he can awaken in us repentance and love for him. For all sin is ultimately directed against God, and he is righteous when he speaks and his judgment is just (Psalms 51:3-4). The letter to the Hebrews states:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1-2)

God knew in advance that the majority would not rejoice at the coming of Jesus, because they love lie more than the One who wants to save them. He knew that they would treat him the same way as the prophets he sent (1 Thessalonians 2:15; Acts 7:52), yet he sends his Son, through whom he created the world, the life (John 14:6, 11:25-26; 1 John 1:2) and the true light (John 1:1-5. 9. 14), to speak to us for the last time through him.

For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. (Acts 13:27-28)

Jesus’ life testified that the works of the world are evil (John 7:7). They heard his word and saw his works (John 10:37-38), but they were not willing to examine themselves. They were not willing to give up their own lives to follow the light of the world (John 1:9, 8:12, 9:5, 12:35-36. 46). The deceitfulness of sin hardened their hearts and the darkness blinded their minds (2 Corinthians 4:4), so that they could not recognize the Lord of glory because of their blindness (1 Corinthians 2:8). With unbelieving and evil hearts, they hated God without a cause (John 15:22-25), and instead of judging themselves, they judged Jesus in their self-righteous pride.

They killed the righteous one who came to save us (Matthew 18:11), and Jesus did not resist them (James 5:6; Acts 2:23). Although he suffered unjustly, he did not threaten, but in prayer entrusted himself to the Lord God the Almighty (Revelation 16:7), who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:19-23). ​​"Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered" (Hebrews 5:7-9). He humbly endured being numbered with the transgressors (Mark 15:28), thereby showing us what way we too should walk with him in this world (Philippians 2:5-8). He came as a humble Servant, not with sovereign power to punish. Therefore, Jesus did not call upon the help of legions of angels (Matthew 26:52-54), but upon his Father, who prepared him in prayer to endure the humiliation of suffering. He knew that, as in all temptations, so in this final trial, he could only endure with God alone(1 Corinthians 10:13).

God’s will is that we too follow Jesus on this path of humility and service (John 13:13-17) and believe in him, who cleanses us from all unrighteousness (John 8:31-36; 1 John 1:9), that we may live a life pleasing to him in complete godliness, with good works from a pure heart (1 Peter 1:17), and that through his name we may receive forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:45-47; Acts 10:42-43). He is merciful, and therefore wants to have mercy and to avoid punishing the sinner. Isaiah writes:

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18)

For he has the power to take away our sins, to forgive everything and anything (Luke 5:17-26), if we fear God. The book of Psalms says:

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalms 130:4)

For it is the glory of the holy God to forgive  in his grace and make us righteous (John 5:41-44). Therefore, it is pleasing to him when we turn to him with a broken heart in repentance (Psalms 34:17-18, 51:17; Isaiah 66:2).

If we gain insight and turn from our sins (Isaiah 55:7; Ezekiel 18:27-28), then he will unconditionally blot out our transgressions (Psalms 103:8-13; Isaiah 43:25, 44:22). For such is our God, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3), who is always ready to forgive for the sake of his holy name (Psalms 25:11, 79:9, 109:21, 143:11; Jeremiah 14:7). To those who obey him, God has given the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:30-32), who explores our sins when we sin, so that our loving Father in Jesus can take them away (Luke 11:13; 1 John 3:5), because he is good and wants to cleanse us (1 John 1:5-2:2) so that we may gain eternal life (Romans 6:22). Paul writes:

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

For he wants us to bear much fruit for his glory (John 15:7-8), not just to start with him on the road.

Jesus is not of the world, just as his disciples are not of the world (John 17:13-16). His kingdom is not earthly, but spiritual (John 4:23-24, 18:33-37), of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17-18). Jesus overcame the world in a spiritual sense, that is, through faith and humility (John 16:33), and so we too can overcome (1 John 5:4), even if we have to enter it through many tribulation (Acts 14:22).

Although the evil and the rulers of the world of darkness are held captive for the final judgment (Jude 1:6) and have been disarmed (Colossians 2:15), the devil still seeks to devour us (Ephesians 6:10-12; 1 Peter 5:8-9), that is, to make us die in the captivity of sin. But God has shone a light in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6), which darkness can never overcome! The book of Psalms says:

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalms 27:1) 

The ruler of this world is judged (John 12:27-32, 16:7-11) and we are not longer ignorant of Satan’s designs (2 Corinthians 2:5-11). God’s design is different, for he does not delight in punishment, but by the Holy Spirit he wants to lead us to repentance when he sees us sinning. He wants to forgive us (1 John 2:1-2) and heal us (Proverbs 28:13; Psalms 32:1-11) for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, so he chastises us for our good,

“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:6-11)

God wants to renew our inner being day by day and to sanctify it. But whoever disregards this (1 Thessalonians 4:7-8) hardens himself and so cannot reach repentance. If he blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness (Mark 3:28-29). And this means damnation, to remain in sin, forever separated from the love of God. For eternal judgment can already become a reality in this world, just as eternal life can also become a reality (John 5:24, 6:47. 54; 1 John 5:11). John writes:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)

He who does not obey Jesus and lives in sin; he is self-condemned (Titus 3:10-11). Whoever sins against the Holy Spirit will no longer escape eternal damnation, just as no Christian who loses the great grace of salvation, eternal life (John 15:6; Hebrews 3:12-13, 6:4-6; Galatians 5:4; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Peter 2:20-22; Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). The letter to the Hebrews states:

How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” (Hebrews 10:29-31)

God is able "to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment" (2 Peter 2:9). Then God, who examines our hearts (Proverbs 24:12), will judge us not according to our formal works but according to the works of our hearts through Christ Jesus (Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6-8; 1 Peter 1:17; Revelation 20:11-13, 22:12), "who is to judge the living and the dead" (2 Timothy 4:1).

For God ultimately handed judgment over to Jesus (Ezekiel 21:27; Acts 17:30-31), and made him the righteous judge (2 Timothy 4:8; Acts 10:42), the heir of all things, to judge all men righteously at the final judgment when he comes again. Jesus said:

For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, (...) And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. (John 5:22. 27-30)

Jesus also explained to his disciples that the righteous and the wicked will live together in this world until the final judgment (Matthew 13:24-30. 36-43), when God will judge the world. For the judgment belongs to God, who judges righteously without partiality. Therefore, only he can save us from judgement. God is both righteous and gracious (Psalms 116:5). He alone has the power to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12). Our God is merciful, who forgives sin and does not want to destroy us, because even if he does not forgive everyone, he is a forgiving God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Psalms 86:5. 15). That is why Jesus taught us to this too (Luke 10:25-37). Luke writes:

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; (Luke 6:36-37)

Jesus warns us to beware of the hypocritical and judgmental Pharisaic spirit (John 9:14-34; Luke 12:1, 6:37), to beware of merciless judgment (Luke 9:51-56), and to always forgive anyone who sins against us (Luke 11:2-4). James writes:

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13)

For although no man can forgive his own sins, yet he who follows Jesus must always forgive from his heart those who sin against him, no matter how grievously they sin against him. For if God forgives us unconditionally when we repent, then we must do the same, and always be loving, kind, and forgiving toward others. For God enables us to forgive without expecting any compensation. And where this readiness is lacking, God does not forgive (Matthew 6:12. 14-15, 18:21-35). Mark writes:

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses. (Mark 11:25-26)

The Holy Spirit not only leads us to repentance, but also enables us to assess others when they have repented (John 20:22-23). And we do not condemn those who do not want to repent of their sins, but we asses him by not having fellowship with him, and we leave the judgment to God in the light of the Word (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). For if we were to promise forgiveness of sins and we are in fellowship with him, we would be partakers of his sins. The condition for forgiveness of sins is a broken heart, a contrite spirit, and respect for the words of God (Psalms 34:17-18, 51:17; Isaiah 66:2). God asks of us a pure heart, not formal actions. Paul writes:

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

But there have always been and will always be those who distort the truth. God also foresaw that, as in the case of the Jews (Isaiah 29:13-14), Christianity would become a hypocritical religion and the apostasy would occur (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. 8-12). They profess their faith in Jesus with their lips and justify themselves with formal actions, but their hearts are far from him (Matthew 7:21-23, 8:11-12; John 16:2-3). Jesus said that hypocritical religious teachers will receive the greater condemnation (Matthew 23:14; Mark 12:38-40), and that all will be judged who take pleasure in religious falsehood. Many claim to have the Christian faith, to follow Jesus, and some are eager to see his imminent return in such a way that they think they know the exact or approximate time of its arrival. However, the Father has fixed that time by his own authority (Acts 1:6-7), and therefore only he knows it (Matthew 24:36, 25:13). It would be a sin to start making any predictions about it. Only God can know what is in the hearts of the billions of people who are currently being born in the world (Jeremiah 17:9-10). For the plan of salvation has been and is being fulfilled by Almighty God through His promises throughout the history of mankind so, that he takes into account the will of every single person born on earth. The letter to the Hebrews says:

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.  For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;” (Hebrews 10:36-37)

The return of Jesus was near for the first Christians and is near for us because it is the last imminent promise of God, for the fulfillment of which we now also patiently await, because James writes:

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:7-8)

As followers of Jesus, we want to be ready at all times to receive our Lord with a heart strengthened by grace and a sanctified, blameless life (Hebrews 13:9; 1 Thessalonians 3:13), whenever the day of judgment comes for us. John writes:

By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. (1 John 4:17)

COME, LET'S FOLLOW JESUS ​​TOGETHER!