Psalm 90 * November 10, 2002 * Last Judgment * Pastor Pagels

I guess you could say that I have worn many different hats during my lifetime. And looking back now, I can see how the Lord’s hand was guiding me every step of the way.

The first hat I wore was actually a crown, but I wasn’t royalty because of my royal bloodlines. Actually I was born to Jewish slaves. Because our Egyptian masters had given the order to kill all Hebrew males at birth, my mother was afraid for my life. She was able to hide me for three months, but when I grew too big she put me in a basket and floated me on the Nile River.

Thanks be to God that Pharaoh’s daughter found me before a wild animal did. She had compassion on me and took me in as her own. I was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. I was treated like a member of the royal family. But that didn’t last.

One day I came upon an Egyptian who was beating one of my countrymen. When no one was looking, I killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. The problem was that somebody was looking. Eventually Pharaoh learned what I had done and wanted to kill me. So I traded in my royal robes for the clothes of a fugitive and fled to the faraway land of Midian.

It was in Midian that I met a man named Jethro. To make a long story short, I went to work for him and married one of his daughters. And for forty years in the wilderness, I wore the headdress of a shepherd.

Then one day God appeared to me in the form of a burning bush. He recruited me to work for him. He wanted me to help my brothers and sisters back in Egypt. He called me to lead them out of that land of slavery. I was still a shepherd, but my new flock was God’s chosen people.

I could go on and on about how the Lord delivered us from the hands of the Egyptians, how he broke their backs with a series of ten plagues, how he destroyed their armies in the Red Sea. Suffice it to say that God gave us our freedom and charted our course for the Promised Land.

As the leader of a new government, I performed all kinds of duties. But I stand before you today because of my role as Israel’s judge. I listened to my people’s problems. I settled their disputes. Because of my unique experience, I believe that I can offer you some insight as you observe Last Judgment Sunday.

In your creeds you confess that Jesus will return to this earth to judge all people. My name is Moses, and I too believe that there will be a final day of reckoning. In fact, I wrote a psalm that explores the hopes and fears, the highs and lows, the present realities and future implications of the fact that God will come again to judge the world.

For the next few minutes, please follow along with me as we take a closer look at my psalm, Psalm 90, a psalm that I would like to call…

ONE JUDGE’S TAKE ON THE LAST JUDGMENT

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (1,2). Of all the people who ever lived, I am humbled that the Lord chose me to write down the story of how the world came to be. I recorded the details of God’s creation in the opening chapters of Genesis.

But even before that, before there were people, before there was an earth, before there was a sun and moon and stars, before there was anything, there was God. God is eternal. God always was. God always will be. And if anyone wants to know what gives God the right to judge the world, the answer is simple: Because he made it.

There is quite a contrast between God’s eternal nature and the nature of his creation: “You turn men back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust, O sons of men.’ For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night” (3,4).

These words remind us that God’s creation is not like God. These words remind us that God’s creatures do not last forever. These words even remind us why that is.

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, the Lord handed down this sentence: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return”(Genesis 3:19).

God led me to compose those words, and they are the some of the saddest words ever written. They stand as a record of God’s first judgment. Because Adam and Eve sinned, they died. Even though Adam lived for over nine hundred years, he still died. And because we are Adam’s descendants, we share the same fate. We are dust, and to dust we will return.

If death was the end, if a person lived and died and that was it, then judgment wouldn’t really be so bad. In fact, many people prefer to view death as something like getting a shot. We don’t really look forward to it. It might even hurt a little bit. But when it’s over, it’s over.

The wages of sin does lead to physical death, but God’s judgment does not stop when the heart stops beating. When the sinner comes to grips with that, it becomes much easier to understand what I meant when I wrote: “We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence” (7,8)

How does it make you feel to know that God is aware everything you have ever done? Do you get a little uncomfortable when you remember that God has seen every skeleton in your closet? Do you start to squirm in your seat when you realize that God has on file a complete list of every thought and desire conceived in your heart?

We are consumed by God’s anger because he knows we are guilty. We are terrified by God’s righteous indignation because we know he knows we are guilty. “All our days pass under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan…Who knows the power of your anger? For your anger is as great as the fear that is due you” (9,11).

I was Israel’s judge for many years because God gave me the wisdom to be fair and even-handed. But there were days when I became very angry as I sat in the judge’s seat. When I saw how people lied and cheated, when I saw their greed and corruption, when I saw how often they were thinking only of themselves, there was a part of me that wanted to see them pay. Even though they had not wronged me personally, I wanted them to get what they deserved.

If that is how I felt, try to imagine how God feels every time his law is broken. When people disregard God’s Word, God takes it personally. When people defy God’s will, they slap God in the face. When people know right from wrong and still choose the wrong, they fan the flames of God’s anger. And I can tell you from personal experience that anywhere near the wrath of God is not a good place to be.

I was there when the people bowed down to a golden calf and the Lord killed three thousand in a single day (Exodus 32). I was there when the people grumbled and complained in the wilderness and God sent venomous snakes into our camp (Numbers 21). With my own eyes, I have seen God unleash his wrath against sin.

Maybe you think you don’t have to worry about that kind of judgment anymore. You don’t worship idols, or do you? Is your relationship with God the most important relationship in your life? Do you give God the honor and glory he deserves, or do your checkbook and your day planner tell a different story?

Maybe you think that you don’t have to worry about God’s judgment because you are content. You have no reason to complain...except when you don’t get your way…except when your kids don’t do what you tell them…except when your parents don’t understand…except when it is obvious that God is being unfair.

The time is different. The place is different. But the sin and the consequences of sin are the same. Thoughts of the Last Judgment strike fear in the sinner’s heart. Because you and I are sinners, threats of God’s judgment should strike fear in our hearts. On the Last Day, there will be no more second chances. On the Last Day, God’s judgment will be final. On the Last Day, God’s judgment will be eternal.

So is it a lost cause? Is there anywhere we can go? Is there anything we can do? Yes. Do what I did when my people worshipped the golden calf. Remember that as great as God’s anger is, God’s love is even greater. And then ask him to forgive: “Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (13,14).

If God was fair, there could be only one verdict, “GUILTY.” If God was fair, there could be only one sentence, “DEATH.” But God’s courtroom is special. In this courtroom the Judge is also our advocate. In this courtroom the Judge is motivated by compassion.

The Lord had compassion on his servants already in the Garden of Eden. He promised Adam and Eve that he would send a Savior, to rescue them from death. My people relied on that promise. My people trusted that promise. My people put all their hopes in that promise.

Thousands of years later, in an out of the way place in an out of the way town, a baby boy was born. He looked like other people. He grew up like other people. But he did not act like other people. Jesus was perfect. God’s Son came into the world to make us perfect in the eyes of God.

And then he died. There was no crime, there was no due process of law, there was no “innocent until proven guilty.” But none of that mattered. Jesus was put to death.

Nothing could have been more unfair. Nothing could have been more unjust. But it was God’s way. God took the sins of the world and nailed them to Jesus’ cross. Because Jesus paid your debt in full, God the just Judge is able to declare: “NOT GUILTY! You are free to go. No, you are free to come with me.”

Through Jesus, the gate to heaven is open wide. Because of Jesus, judgment is not a depressing thought. Because of Jesus, Judgment Day will be a day of restoration, a day of glory, a day of joy.

God didn’t allow me to enter Canaan, but he did permit me to see it before I died. From the top of Mount Nebo, the Lord showed me the Promised Land in all its glory. It would have been nice if I could have finished what I started. It would have been nice if the Lord had allowed me to lead my people back to the land of our forefathers, but I know that God has given me something far greater.

On the Last Day, I will enter the Promised Land. And so will you. Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. He will take all believers to live with him in heaven. And our joy will never end. Amen.