Much of Christian preaching, including mine, is about being saved from the Judge. Continually we proclaim that Christ came to die on the cross for our sins. There He bore our judgment for us. In Christ, God the Redeemer saved us from God the Judge. Such preaching is valid and true, but there is another stream of truth in scripture--not our being saved from the judgment of God but our being saved by the judgment of God.
Isaiah proclaims: "He will not judge by outward appearances or decide a case on hearsay; but with justice he will judge..." (Isaiah 11:3-4, NEB) Isaiah's point is that human judgment is often superficial and unjust. God's judgment will go beyond the superficial, "outward appearances" and "hearsay." As such His justice will often be less harsh than human judgment.
Scripture also makes the point that God may sometimes judge us less harshly than we do ourselves. John reminds us : "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all." (I John 3:20, KJV).
Don't get me wrong! On Judgment Day I, for one, will not appear before God longing most for justice; my strongest desire will be for mercy. Even so, my point is that in regard to some of our deeds, the justice of God is less harsh than the judgment of humanity and even of ourselves. Our hope is not only in God the Redeemer; sometimes it is in God the Judge.
©1997 C. David Hess