Littleton City Council

Reading about a judge who orders the arrest of a young man won't raise many eyebrows. Judges often do such things. But the arrest of 19-year-old Aaron Henson in Littleton, Colorado caused quite a stir.

 

The reason for his arrest? A DVD he had checked out from the local library was overdue.

 

The story is a bit more complicated than that. Henson had been summoned to court, but he failed to show up. That's when the judge ordered his arrest.

 

What the judge didn't understand, however, was that Henson's address had changed and he didn't receive the summons. Furthermore the DVD was returned to the library a week before the arrest.

 

The Littleton City Council agreed that the judge's actions were extreme. Judge James Kimmel was released from his position earlier this week.

 

Each of us will one day find ourselves in this scene from Revelation 20:12:

 

 "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books"(NKJV).

 

How can we know that we'll be judged fairly when that final accounting takes place? With billions of souls to be judged, doesn't it seem likely that some facts will be skewed, other facts misplaced? Will there be cases of outrageous judgments like the one in Littleton, Colorado?

 

Paul had no doubts about the fairness of the Lord's judgment of mankind. He made that point in 2 Timothy 4:8:

 

"Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only but also to all those who have loved his appearing."

 

Jesus is the righteous judge, Paul affirmed. No mistakes will be made in our hearings.

 

Even while he was on earth Jesus showed his mastery of the facts. After having her true marital situation exposed, the Samaritan woman reported to her friends, "Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" (John 4:29).

 

If people with limited knowledge were in charge of deciding our eternal destiny, we would have reason to be concerned. But at the final judgment our fate will be in the hands of the all-knowing God.

 

For now, though, our fate is in our own hands. We have the power to choose God's will, to choose an eternity of joy. Let's use the opportunity well.

 

Tim Hall

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