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June 5, 2026 |
| Judged by Our Works | ||
The Bible repeatedly says that we are judged by our works, as to whether they are good or evil. That doesn't mean that salvation comes by works, or by more good works than evil works. The Bible is also clear on that.
We can understand this when we consider what makes a work good or evil. It isn't what was done so much as what the heart was behind what was done; essentially, why you did it.
A righteous heart is a heart of faith in God. Ideally such a heart would never do anything evil, but we are human.
The Bible consistently teaches that all people will be judged by their works, which serve as the visible evidence of their faith or lack thereof. This principle is rooted in passages such as Revelation 20:12-13, which states that the dead were judged "according to their works" as recorded in books, and Romans 2:6, which declares that God "will render to each one according to his deeds." (Some AI)
The laws in our society are based on Biblical principles. Thus, we see the same idea there. For example, killing someone can be either evil or good, either murder or self-defense. The difference is found in the person who took the action, not in the body lying on the ground.
In this study, we'll look at this question from the point of view of a whale (literally, a big fish), and not just any whale, but Jonah's whale.
I think we all know the story of Jonah and the Whale well enough that I can jump into the verses in the middle of the story.
Then each man said to the other, "Come, let us have the lots fall so we may know on whose account this calamitous evil has struck us." So they had the lots fall, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, "Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamitous evil struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 9 And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." (Jonah 2:7-9)
Then the men became greatly fearful, and they said to him, "What is this you have done?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, "What should we do to you that the sea may become quiet for us?" - for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 12 So he said to them, "Lift me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become quiet for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you." 13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy against them. 14 Then they called on Yahweh and said, "Ah! O Yahweh, we earnestly pray, do not let us perish on account of this man's life, and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Yahweh, as You have pleased You have done." (Jonah 2:10-14)
The other people ask Jonah what they should do to Jonah to get this storm to stop. They are probably thinking of taking him back to port or setting him adrift in the lifeboat. Instead, it sounds like Jonah tells them they should kill him. That isn't what he says. If he had said that, they probably would have cut his Carotid Artery with a knife. They made a sacrifice later, so they had the tool for that. That would have been a relatively quick and painless death. But Jonah doesn't say "kill me." He says they should throw him overboard.
Everything they know tells them that this would be his death, and I think many readers of these verses see it that way, and so Jonah's words are transmogrified into "Kill me." They think this would be a terrible way to die. They wouldn't have thought of it themselves. They don't want to be murderers. We know that because they say, "Do not put innocent blood on us." Instead of throwing him overboard, they try to make it to shore, but they cannot.
They decide they will have to throw Jonah overboard. They don't know Yahweh, but they pray to him because Jonah has said Yahweh is causing this storm. They are polytheists, so praying to an unknown God is nothing to them. In their prayer, they say that Yahweh should just kill this man and not all of them. They also say that they shouldn't be guilty for killing him, after all, Yahweh is the one who is causing all of this. They are just trying to save their lives.
We need to note something carefully. Jonah says that they should throw him overboard because that is what God told him to say. Jonah is a prophet, and God speaks to him clearly. God has a plan, and it doesn't include the death of Jonah. Jonah doesn't know what the result will be of that. God also didn't tell Jonah what would result from his preaching to Nineveh. Later in the book of Jonah, we hear Jonah say:
"I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning evil." […] 10 Then Yahweh said, […]11 "So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" (Jonah 4:2,10,11)
Jonah was saying I knew you were a forgiving God, and so I knew that Nineveh would repent and be saved. Jonah hated Nineveh because it was a wicked city, and he wanted it destroyed. So Jonah wasn't told what the result would be of preaching to them, but he had figured it out.
So they lifted Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stood still from its raging. 16 Then the men greatly feared Yahweh, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows. (Jonah 2:15-16)
There is a question that comes out of these verses. Jonah tells the people to throw him into the sea. Why doesn't he just jump into the sea himself?
The reason Jonah didn't jump overboard is that, as far as he knew, doing that would be suicide. Suicide is murder, a violation of the 6th Commandment.
There are justifiable reasons for killing a person, war is one, killing a person to stop him from killing is another. Those are what we call self-defense or defense of another. I know of no justifiable reason for a sane person to kill himself.
The people on the ship believed killing him was self-defense and that his blood would not be on their hands. I'm not so sure about their reasoning, but we aren't that interested in them.
That raises another question. Jonah told them they should throw him overboard, and he offered no resistance that we know of. Isn’t that assisted suicide?
No, it isn't, but this takes us to our topic. We are judged by the heart behind our works. Murder and suicide happen in the heart, not by the actions. Jesus offered no resistance, but we don't see that as a suicide. If a pacifist offers no resistance, does that make his murder a suicide? No.
People usually justify the evil things they do in advance, making it possible to do them and live with themselves afterward. But God knows the heart.
No matter what the situation, the person knows, within himself, whether it was murder, suicide, self-defense, or whatever. Actually, he judges himself by the truth that is built into him and all of us.
Should Jonah have thrown himself overboard to save the other people? The idea here is that there is a greater good involved where one man gives up his life so that many others can live. It's like a soldier who jumps on a grenade to save the rest of the people in his company.
This may sound brave and self-sacrificing, but it isn't a Biblical idea. It robs God of the opportunity to save, and it shows a lack of faith in God.
It's a difficult concept to understand, but God will do what he wants to accomplish his plan, and he knows what people will and won't do. Back when God created the universe, he knew that Jonah would react the way he did to God's call. He set up a plan to deal with it, where Jonah would be thrown off the boat, and a big fish would be there to swallow him and take him to shore.
How do you think it happened that there were enough people on that boat who would agree to throw Jonah in the drink? That was set up by God. How do you think it happened that there would be a big fish right there to swallow up Jonah? How do you think it happened that the fish became sick and headed to shore?
We saw that the people on the ship wouldn't throw Jonah overboard at first. What would have happened if they simply refused to do that? Well, that wasn't going to happen because God had arranged things.
God often chooses to use people whom He knows will choose to do something wrong. The Pharaoh of the Exodus is the classic example. God says he is going to repay the people of Egypt because he knows that Pharaoh will continue to reject Moses' request to "let my people go."
Pharaoh always had free choice, but he always chose to do what was wrong. God knew that he would and used him to achieve God's goals.
Churches that have armed security are a problem. By choosing to do that, they are taking responsibility for their safety into their own hands, hands that cannot guarantee their safety. Worse, if God needs to have someone be killed after shooting up a church, he's going to send them to that church. He isn't going to send that person to a church that is trusting that God is in control.
Jesus said, "There is no greater love than this: that a person would lay down his life for the sake of his friends" (John 15:13). Jesus was primarily talking about his love for mankind and what he was going to do. When he says "lay down his life," though, he doesn't mean suicide. He was going to allow other people to kill him, much as Jonah did.
Suicide-by-cop makes for an interesting example. For the person killed by the cop, what he did was a suicide because he took an action that was intended to cause his death. That was the intent of his heart. For the cop, what he did was murder with self-defense as the excuse. The body on the ground doesn't give us the answer to what happened. Each person holds the answer and, in this case, there is a different answer in each person.
Lincoln and the start of the Civil War is another example. Lincoln sent troops to a fort on the border with Confederate land. Military analysts can think of no good reason for him to do that other than that he was trying to provoke a war. In that thinking, he didn't want to attack for no reason, but if he did nothing, the separation of states would continue. The Confederates could only assume he was building up troops for an attack, so they had to attack in defence, and the war started from that.
We can't know Lincoln's intent any more than the Confederates could, just as the policeman can't know what the person running at him is planning. But God knows, and each person will be judged by their heart.
A person who runs into a burning house to rescue a child does not do that to kill himself. He does that because he believes he will survive. Even if he dies in the effort, it is not a suicide.
If a woman walks into an area of a city that is known to her to be dangerous, and she is raped, she is not at all responsible for the rape. The responsibility falls on those who chose to do it.
Even if, somehow, that area was illegal for women to enter, and she entered it knowing that, she would still not be responsible for the rape. She would be responsible only for breaking the law that she broke. Her punishment should be the same as if she had not been raped.
If a person is doing a favor for someone and he makes a mistake that injures the person, because it was not his intent to do harm, his act was unintentional, yet he is responsible and must do what is necessary to heal the person.
The woman above is not partly responsible for her rape, though it wasn't her intention to be raped. She cannot be guilty of unintentionally raping herself.
Assisted suicide is an interesting case because there is a split between what man says is right or wrong and what God says. The laws of man may say that assisted suicide is lawful, but God says it's murder.
Even if the suicide takes the pills himself, everyone who played a part in convincing the person it was acceptable to commit suicide or played a part in enabling or performing the suicide, is guilty.
These situations can be confusing, and there is often an involved person who wants to make it more confusing, for his own benefit.
After the Ten Commandments are given in Exodus 20, there are multiple chapters that are intended to show people how to apply those laws to real situations.
And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his. (Exodus 21:33-34)
The person who opened the pit had no intention of doing harm, yet if harm was done, the person needs to make amends.
It isn't obvious how, but this example situation illustrates the 6th Commandment, "You shall not kill." The murder commandment isn't only about murder. Jesus taught us that. It's about diminishing a person, reducing his value, in your eyes. Reducing his value also reduces the value of his property. Taking actions that endanger anyone's property or not taking actions to protect someone's property shows that you don't value other people.
If the person's own animal were to fall into the pit, that would show that he didn't value his own property, which was given to him by God.
In Deuteronomy, there is a similar situation.
When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone falls from it. (Deuteronomy 22:8)
The homes of that time commonly had flatish roofs, and it was not uncommon for people to sleep up there when the house was hot in the summer.
Notice that the verse doesn't say "anyone falls from it and dies." The bloodguilt of murder would still be on the house owner if the person survived the fall. That's because the owner hadn't cared enough to build a fence (parapet).
We've looked at many different situations. In all cases the answer remains the same. Each person is judged by their works, which were done from their heart.
In society it may not matter much if the act was intentional or unintentional, but that makes a world of difference to God.