Will the Righteous Be Judged with the Wicked?

God deals with nations as nations and individuals as individuals.

This great nation has enjoyed the blessing of God for 228 years. In God We Trust is still printed on the currency. The pledge of allegiance still declares that this is one nation under God. We can rightly be thankful to God for our history. Even presently, we can be thankful for Supreme Court justices who are willing to uphold our Constitution even when their lives and the lives of their family members are threatened. There are still national heroes.

And yet there are many reasons why God could justly destroy this nation.

It often seems that God has only two options when dealing with the sins of nations. He must either overlook the sin of the wicked for the sake of the righteous, or He must judge the sins of the wicked and the righteous must suffer alike. It seems impossible to sort out.

Abraham asked the same question when the angelic messengers told him that God would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? (Genesis 18:23).

Peter answers this question quite effectively in 2 Peter 2. I would challenge you to spend some time meditating upon it.

The wicked will be judged.

In this context the specific wickedness in mind is the Christ-defaming work of the false prophets. Peter leaves no room for an alternative.

for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. (2 Peter 2:3)

Just because the judgment has not come yet, does not mean that the Judge has been idle or inattentive. He is watching. He knows what is happening. He will act in due time. After all, He judged the angels who followed Satan in his rebellion. He judged the world in the time of Noah. He rained down fire on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He will always judge the wicked. It is a certainty.

What about the righteous, then? What about us?

Peter makes this remarkably encouraging statement in 2 Peter 2:9

The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.

With God, this is not an either/or situation. The word temptations in this verse is referring to the trials that come with the judgment of God, not the temptation to sin. God is wise enough—sovereign enough—to judge the wicked AND deliver his own people at the same time!

In the immediately preceding context, Peter gives two examples of this—Noah and Lot.

and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; (1 Peter 2:5).

and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked, for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. (2 Peter 2:7-8)

This does not mean that the righteous will be unaffected by the judgment of God.

The destruction of the entire planet during the flood disrupted Noah’s life and world. I am sure losing all his friends and relatives and living for a year on the Ark subjected him to inconvenience, hardship, and fear.

Lot’s world was turned upside down when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He had to leave his city and worldly goods behind and also lost his wife, who looked back in disobedience. But God did deliver him.

God does not always choose to keep His people from hardship or harm, but that is not because He cannot do it. His hands are never tied. The righteous suffer for His specific purposes–not just because they are collateral damage in His judgment of the wicked.

I pray that God will turn the hearts of people to Himself, but He is also trustworthy and He knows how to deliver His people from trials. Life might get hard, but I can trust in Him. My choice is to panic and join with the wicked as they are destroyed, or to place myself in His caring Hands.

Onward, forward, following Christ, my Captain.