2nd Timothy Study, Part 20

Wow! Already on part 20?!?! Cool! Okay Y'all, we've only got chapter four left; so, I am starting to think about what I'm doing next. Any ideas? Please tell me! Sorry, I haven't done the study in a few days, I've been out of town. Btw, I have volleyball tonight, so I will probably only have time for one verse. Remember to pray before we start our study today. :D

1. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

In verse one, Paul charges Timothy. What does that mean? Well, to charge someone means to order them to do something. Paul orders Timothy to do something. Next he says that he does it before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. To charge someone to do something is one thing. To charge someone to do something with a witness or two is another. To charge someone to do something with Almighty God and His son Jesus Christ as witnesses, is really another thing!

Why would Paul charge Timothy, with God as a witness? Why would it matter? I think that, when someone does something that they know is right and true, they want a witness, so that others also know that he has told the truth. When Paul charged Timothy, he wanted Timothy to know that what he said was true, so, he had God and Christ Jesus as witnesses. Obviously, God is a witness of everything, but, answer truthfully, are we always thinking about that? If we did, we probably wouldn't do anything wrong on purpose!

In the second half of this verse, Paul tells us what God and the Lord Jesus will do. He says that they will "...judge the quick and the dead..." What does it mean to be quick? The first thing that came to my mind was a runner, they are fast at running, they are quick moving. But that's probably not what he's talking about here. In another version, instead of quick, it says "living." Now that makes more sense! But why would someone translate it as "quick?" Well, I honestly don't know. The only thing I can think of (this is amusing) is, living people move, dead people don't. Which one is quicker? The living obviously! :P I don't know. What are your thoughts on this?

So, God will judge the living and the dead. He won't just judge the people who are still living, or the people that have died, he will judge both, together.

The next part is the "when." When will the living/quick and the dead be judged. Paul says, "...at his appearing and his kingdom." Once the work on earth is done, once all of God's elect are saved, then the judgment will come. "...at his appearing and his kingdom." Aren't you excited!? Don't you want that day to come?! For us Christians who are still alive on earth, this will be a glorious day! We will finally get to see our Savior and God, face to face! That will be the day that we will enter heaven for the first and only time, we will get to stay there for all eternity!

Well, this is a very happy place to stop for today, even though I am leaving y'all at a bit of a cliff hanger. :P Tomorrow we will see what Paul charged Timothy to do.....

In Him,
Buttercup <3