Sometimes the words of Jesus Christ appear to be, on first reading, highly questionable. For example, He told his disciples:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:13).

Yet if we look around at our world, and at our community, and even in the mirror, we might be forgiven (we will be) for questioning the truth of Jesus’ statement. Where is He, if He has all that power, and if He is good? Our world is in a terrible state, with corruption, violence, vanity, greed, death and suffering. Isn’t it time God did something about it?

If I were God (thank goodness I am not) I would be seeking to bring many, many people to justice-today. But Jesus didn’t do that. He didn’t begin his reign over the world by going out to remove the occupying Roman force from Jerusalem and the nation. He didn’t go out to seek revenge on his murderers, and he didn’t even go and stick his tongue out at those who had rejected him. He must have had something else in mind when he said that he had all power in heaven and earth.

In finding what Jesus meant we have to first note that our creator God is full of mercy-that’s why He sent His only son into the world in the first place. Jesus himself said that he had come to bring mercy to the world:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17 NIV).

Christ’s mission was one of mercy, in which the offer of salvation from our sin and our mortality and our lost condition is being extended. However, that offer has a time limit, as is clearly stated many times in Scripture. There will come a day when the extension of God’s mercy is over. On that day, said Jesus:

“…they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26).

This time the mission will not be one of mercy, but judgment, along with the realization of salvation for those who have accepted him:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).

We’re living in what is sometimes called “the age of grace”- a time in which God’s mercy is extended to all people. It is, then, a time in which free will is still in play to an extent. And the out-working of free-will, if it really is free will, must include the freedom to do wrong. But all wrong-doing will eventually lead to judgment. Our world is in the mess it’s in because humanity’s free-will has not been terminated yet. Since our Creator is perfect, and we are not, we all…all stand condemned, unless we accept that offer of forgiveness, through Gods’ one and only son, Jesus Christ. Our free-will also includes the ability to accept God’s mercy. Do it while you still can.

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).

• APOLOGETICS