Pastor John, hello and thank you for this podcast. I’ve been thinking a lot about the judgment Jesus pronounces on the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum in Luke 10:13–16, as well as his declaration of woe upon an entire generation in Luke 11:51. My question is, what actually happens to these groups of people and the individuals within them when Jesus condemns a city or a generation? Does this kind of judgment mean that every person within that group is judged the same way? Were there faithful believers in those cities who were spared, or does the judgment apply corporately, even to those who might have personally repented?

“It’s hard for me to fully grasp the weight of this, and I’m struggling to understand whether these judgments were referring to an earthly destruction, such as the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, or if they point to eternal judgment, meaning these people would face condemnation after death. How do we understand collective pronouncements of judgment like this in light of individual accountability before God? Does God judge people corporately or individually, and how does that work? Lastly, I want to know how to understand this in relation to today — how should it shape the way we think about God’s judgment, whether over nations, communities, or even our own time? I want to grasp the weight of this sobering reality.”

Individual Salvation

Well, let’s start by laying down the pervasive New Testament reality of radical individual responsibility: responsibility before God for salvation and personal holiness and final judgment. There is such a thing as corporate reality — I’m not denying that. The church is a corporate reality: It’s a bride; it’s the body of Christ. I get that. I love that. I don’t want to minimize that. But pervasively in the New Testament, God deals with individuals for salvation (and whether they are part of corporate realities), for holiness, for final judgment.

Just do a word search (this is what I did, anyway) on the singular Greek word pas, “every.” You can do it in English with every. Every is a singular word and it means “each person.” And what you find are dozens of statements like these: “God will repay everyone.” “Everyone who hears,” “everyone who has left home,” “everyone who is trained like a scribe,” “everyone who asks,” “everyone who acknowledges Christ,” “everyone who exalts himself,” “everyone who is born again” — and on and on and on. These are all individual; everyone, every single person, matters and is dealt with by God for salvation, for holiness, for eternal judgment.

“If you confess with your mouth [singular; one mouth, one head] that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart [singular; one heart, not two hearts, not a corporate heart] that God raised him from the dead, you [singular] will be saved” (Romans 10:9). God deals with individuals in the New Testament when it comes to salvation, their own personal lives of holiness, and their final judgment.

Now, the question is this: How does this pervasive reality of individual salvation relate to corporate judgment, when God says that a whole city or nation will be judged? 

Corporate Judgment

The first part of the answer is that statements about corporate judgment can be judgments of devastation in this world, like Brian already said, or at the end of the world in a day of eternal judgment.

For example, Jesus clearly predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place forty years after he had gone back to heaven. It was in history. It wasn’t at the end of time. Luke 19:41–44:

When he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! . . . For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side . . . because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

That’s the destruction of Jerusalem, predicted. It happened forty years after that, and that’s historical. So, that’s an example of divine judgment in this world, before the end comes.

But in Matthew 11:22, when Jesus pronounced judgment upon the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, he said, “It will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.” That’s an example of final judgment, at the end of history, at the day of judgment, that results in damnation or salvation.

Making Connections

So, now, what about individual believers in Christ who are in Jerusalem as judgment comes, or who are in Chorazin and Bethsaida when they are told they’re going to perish at the last day? And there are three biblical answers (at least) to this question of how individual believers in cities or nations that are to be judged, in this world or at the end, relate to that situation. There are three biblical answers.

1. Solid Salvation

Every individual who believes in his heart on the Lord Jesus for salvation will never be damned, ever (John 5:24). It doesn’t matter what group he’s in or what city he’s in or what nation he’s in. He will never come into judgment. He has passed from death to life. He may live in Chorazin or Bethsaida, but he’s not of Chorazin, to use the language of Jesus (John 15:19). He’s not of Chorazin or Bethsaida. He’s not counted as part of that corporate group that perishes, because he has individually been saved by God already. 

2. Purifying, Not Punishing

Genuine believers may indeed endure the destruction of their property, even lose their lives, in God’s historical judgment on a city or a nation. They will not experience that judgment as punishment, but as purifying.

“Every individual who believes in his heart on the Lord Jesus for salvation will never be damned, ever.”

God’s design is not the same when his judgment falls on his enemy as when his judgment falls on his child. They may die — the child may die. The same disease that kills the unbeliever by way of judgment may kill the child. Now, here’s the reason I say that. In 1 Peter 4:12, 17, it says this: “Beloved [that’s Christians], do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. . . . For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.” There it is. “And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

So, from that and other teachings, I draw the conclusion that God’s judgment may begin with the household of God. And if it does, Peter says in an earlier verse, “the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Peter 4:14). Even as you’re enduring this hard hand of God, and you may die under it, the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Don’t view this as punishment. That would be a big mistake. Christ has endured our punishment if we are Christians. That’s past. We’re never going to be punished for the sins that Jesus has covered. This is God’s purifying fire. Trust him, and your faith will come through as gold and redound, as Peter says in the first chapter, “in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).

So, that’s the second way that individuals relate to corporate judgment. We may go through it and even die, but God designs for us not punishment but purification and final reward. 

3. Way of Escape

And the third way individual Christians relate to corporate punishment of cities or nations is that God may make a way of escape.

For example, Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, and he told his followers how to get out. He said in Luke 21:20–22, “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.” So, God has plans for his people often to escape the very situations where he’s bringing judgment. 

Reading the Times

So, in summary, if God pronounces final judgment on a city or a nation and destines them for final judgment and destruction, no Christian who lives among them will share that destiny. They’re justified and will never be condemned. They will enter eternal life.

Second, if God pronounces historical judgment on a city such that, say, the Black Death or Ebola or COVID is going to wipe out three-fourths of the population for the sins of the city or the nation, many Christians may perish of that disease. Indeed, we have seen this in history. Sacrificial Christians stay in the dangerous places and care for the dying and catch the disease and die themselves. They’re not being punished.

And third, God may warn his people to flee from a particular city because historical judgment is about to befall them. It’s like Lot’s family was saved (Genesis 19:15–17).

All three of those situations are true today, and we need to saturate our minds with God’s word, the Bible, so that we are discerning when we seek to read the signs of the times.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy.  Read more about John.

Categories: Studiu biblic, Teologice