The Judgment Of Christ (EP 140)

Summary

---

The Bryce Crawford Podcast

Episode 140: "The Judgment of Christ"

Date: September 29, 2025
Host: Bryce Crawford

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Bryce Crawford delves into the often-overlooked and sobering theme of God's judgment as depicted in Revelation 5. Crawford emphasizes the gravity and holiness of God's judgment, challenging listeners to consider what it truly means to ask for God's judgment and to reflect on their faith, repentance, and lifestyle. The episode bridges the majesty of God’s throne, the worthiness of Christ, and the stark realities of divine accountability.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Dual Nature of God: Love and Judgment

Timestamp: 00:10–01:08

• Bryce sets the stage by noting that discussions about God's love are common and comforting, but Christians often neglect the seriousness of God’s judgment.
• He emphasizes that judgment is an essential aspect of God’s nature:

  "Yes, God is a father, yes, God is a friend, but he's also the righteous judge that sits on the throne, that has the authority to get to dictate and judge you where you stand." (01:32)

2. The Vision in Revelation 5: The Throne, the Scroll, and the Unworthiness of All

Timestamp: 01:08–06:18

• Crawford recounts John the Disciple's vision, describing the awe-inspiring throne room and the angelic beings who worship God but cannot bear to look upon Him due to His holiness.
• The scroll with seven seals in God's right hand represents divine judgment. No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth is deemed worthy to open the scroll, causing John to weep.
• Bryce asks listeners to reflect on the gravity of what’s depicted:

  "Whatever is in the right hand of this God is so magnificent and valuable and righteous, whatever's in his hand, nobody can touch." (05:06)

3. The Judgment We Ask For—Unknowingly

Timestamp: 06:18–08:43

• Crawford warns that Christians often sing songs about God opening the scroll or breaking the seals without truly realizing they are asking for God's return and judgment.

  "You are verbally asking the God of the universe to stand up off of his throne, right? Return and judge you where you stand." (07:24)

• Calls out the disconnect between actions and worship:

  "There’s a lot of people that are sitting on the fence, lukewarm, but they’re asking God to open the scroll..." (07:43)

4. The Worthiness of Christ Alone

Timestamp: 08:43–11:17

• Only the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah,” Jesus Christ, is worthy to open the scroll, underscoring Christ’s unique qualification through his sinless life, suffering, sacrifice, and resurrection.
• Notable Reading:

  "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed the people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation..." (09:35)

• Bryce’s reflection:

  “If I were to be sitting on the throne, judging me, judging you, you would know I wasn’t worthy.” (09:53) "But the one who is judging us is the one who lived a perfect life in the wicked world that we can't avoid." (09:59)

5. The Implications of Judgment—Grace or Wrath

Timestamp: 11:17–15:12

• Judgment is not only necessary but just. Christ is the only one qualified because He lived a perfect and sinless life, making His verdict righteous and fair.
• Stern warning regarding self-examination and forgiveness:

  "The same measure of mercy you show other people, you will be shown by the Father. You better be very careful who you ask to open the scroll." (11:55)

• The choices are stark: put faith in Jesus and receive grace or reject Him and face judgment.

  "But if you and I don't put our faith in Jesus, God grants our wish. We spend an eternity separate from God in hell, where we receive the full wrath and righteous judgment of God." (12:34)

• Illustration with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to stress the reality and irrevocability of final judgment (13:10–13:45).

6. A Call to Sobriety, Action, and Wholehearted Faith

Timestamp: 15:12–16:06

• Bryce urges listeners not just to believe in Jesus superficially but to follow Him fully with surrendered hearts and daily obedience:

  "My prayer is that you don’t just believe in Jesus because even the demons believe, but that you follow Jesus." (15:25)

• Closes with a heartfelt prayer for listeners to live with a sober awareness of judgment, to be empowered by God’s love, and to set their eyes on Christ above all else.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is the God that you're disobeying... when you indulge in sinfulness instead of his presence.” (03:10)
• “We sing beautiful songs to ask God, ‘Who’s worthy to open the scroll?’–and we don’t understand what we’re singing... We are asking God to... bring judgment on the earth.” (07:01)
• “But the one who sits on the throne and opens the scroll and brings a judgment is the one who defeats sin and death. The very thing that holds you and I bound. That’s who breaks open the scroll. That’s who is worthy.” (10:17)
• “Be very careful what you say. And this might be your wake up call. You better be very careful who you ask to open the scroll.” (11:50)

---

Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:10 – 01:08: Introduction to God’s judgment
• 01:08 – 05:36: Revelation’s throne room, scroll, and unworthiness of all but Christ
• 06:18 – 08:43: Unknowing requests for judgment through hymns and worship
• 08:43 – 11:17: Christ’s unique qualification to judge
• 11:17 – 15:12: Judgment, mercy, and the gravity of faith decisions
• 15:12 – 16:06: Summation, challenge to listeners, and closing prayer

---

Final Thoughts

Bryce Crawford’s episode “The Judgment of Christ” is a sobering wake-up call, urging Christians to understand the seriousness of God's judgment and the necessity of genuine, all-in faith in Christ. He challenges believers not to take God’s grace for granted and to examine the realities of what they sing and pray for—to live with spiritual integrity, urgency, and reverence for the righteous Judge.

---

Transcript

[A]

Experian is your big financial friend, helping you explore credit card offers with confidence. Some cards are labeled no Ding Decline, which means if you're not approved, they won't hurt your credit scores. See experian.com for details. Applying for cards labeled no Ding decline won't hurt your credit scores if you aren't initially approved. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford Podcast. I'm Bryce, and today, by the title of the episode, we're going to be talking about the judgment of God. And you know, I don't know if a lot of people are going to think this is a strong episode, if a lot of people are going to be scared or nervous. But, you know, it's all fun and dandy to talk about the love of God when we can't also forget about this aspect of God that is true and that's his judgment. And we're going to be reading out of Revelation 5 today.

[B]

And the reason why I wanted to.

[A]

Talk about this passage is because sometimes.

[B]

I don't think we believe or understand.

[A]

What we're fully singing. Sometimes I don't think we really understand what we're asking for. When we pray and sing songs, like we sing about Revelation 5, which I think are beautiful and magnificent songs.

[B]

And so when you look at the.

[A]

Book of Revelation, you have a guy, John the disciple, who is trying to describe a vision, dream that he has of the end times and of heaven. And he's trying to put into words this heavenly, righteous, beautiful, magnificent thing he saw. And then in Revelation 4, we see him to begin to describe the throne room of heaven. And when John's describing the throne room of heaven, he describes these four living creatures, each of them with six wings, and they are full of eyes all around within, and day and night. These angels sing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. You see these angels? They're in the throne room. They're in heaven. These angels, the most holy beings that a human being could probably ever lay their eyes on before God. If an angel like that was described in the scriptures, were to appear before you would fall on your face and worship it like a ton of people did back in scripture because they'd never seen anything before. Like, obviously we don't worship angels, we worship Jesus Christ. But you get the picture I'm painting. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. These angels with six wings, eyes all over their bodies, they have to cover themselves with their wings just to cry out about how holy God is, how righteous God is, how perfect he is, how just this God is that we worship. Yes, God is a father, yes, God is a friend, but he's also the righteous judge that sits on the throne, that has the authority to get to dictate and judge you where you stand. And so these holy beings are looking at the God of the universe. And with eyes covered all around their body, they begin to cover themselves because the holiness and the righteousness and the justice of God is causing them to where they can't even look at him. And they're crying out how holy he is. This is the God that's sitting on the throne here. This is the God that we're worshiping, this holy, righteous, just God, that even the angels, they have to cover themselves with their wings to cry out how holy he is. This is the God that you keep rebelling in when you go watch porn. This is the God that you keep rebelling against when you go drown your problems in alcohol. This is the God that you keep rebelling against when you indulge in sinfulness instead of his presence. This is the God that you're disobeying. And we come into church services and we go to conferences and we. And we sing these songs, Open the scroll, break the seal. God who's worthy to open the scroll. And we don't understand what we're singing. You know the joke where it's like, oh, I. I sang Refiner by Maverick City. And then my life just like started to get refined. We, we make a serious joke about that because we know it's serious when we ask God to refine us. And he does. But we don't take that same logic and apply it to Revelation chapter five. I mean, we just sing about this thing that we're about to read together and we don't understand what we're singing. Revelation 5, verse 1. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals. So in the right hand of the Lord who's seated on the throne, the one who has the authority to judge, the one who has the capacity and the justice and the righteousness to have a word to say about your life. He's holding the scroll, and the scroll is covered in seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? John says, the most magnificent angelic creatures I've ever seen in my life. These holy angelic beings, they don't even have the slightest ability to touch a single seal on this scroll. So whatever is in the right hand of this God is so magnificent and valuable and righteous, whatever's in his hand, nobody can touch. And he gets distraught, he gets sad. You see, John the Baptist is having this vision where he sees our righteous, just God sitting on the throne with.

[B]

A scroll and seven seals in his hand. And he begins to get sad because he realizes who can open the scroll. He's like, I can't open the scroll. These angelic beings I'm seeing can't open the scroll. The seraphim that have to cover their eyes with their wings to cry out how holy God is, yet they can't open the scroll. None of the major or minor prophets of the Old Testament can open the scroll. Who can open the scroll?

[A]

Verse 3. And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it. Whatever was in this scroll was too perfect and magnificent for anyone to look at. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it.

[B]

Do we understand what he's describing? We'll get there.

[A]

Just wait. Verse 5. And one of the elders said to.

[B]

Me, weep no more. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David is conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. This scroll that's in the right hand of this magnificent, righteous, just God that John the Baptist is weeping over. The fact that he thought no angelic being, no human being, no prophet could open the scroll. This scroll is the judgment of God. And we come into church spaces and we go to conferences and we sing beautiful songs to ask God, who's worthy to open the scroll. God, open the scroll, break the seal.

[A]

But I don't think we understand what we're singing when we sing the words, open the scroll, break the seal, worthy Lord, we are asking God to stop everything that's going on in the world and to return and bring judgment on the earth. When your heart, when your lips are singing out to Jesus, cry out, God, open the scroll, break the seal. Who's going to open the scroll? You are verbally asking the God of the universe to stand up off of his throne, right? Return and judge you where you stand. And I know there's a lot of people that are listening to this episode right now where if they knew that's what they were singing, they wouldn't be singing it because there's a Lot of people that are sitting on the fence, lukewarm, but they're asking God to open the scroll. At church, there's a lot of people that are sitting on the fence that are indulging in secret sin. But then you'll go to a conference and ask God who's worthy to open the scroll. And you don't know what you're singing. You don't understand what you're singing. You're asking the God of the universe to bring judgment on you. And you know what's so scandalous and wild about this idea? Is that if we were to say Bryce Crawford gets to judge everyone on the planet, you would say, well, Bryce isn't worthy. Bryce is a sinner, like me. Well, if we chose any human being, past, present or future, excluding Jesus Christ, we. We would go, who's worthy? No one's worthy. No one deserves to judge me.

[B]

And then John the Baptist says it.

[A]

In verse six, between the throne and the four living creatures. And among the elders, he said, I.

[B]

Saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns, with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed the people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God. And. And they shall reign on the earth. Later down, John the Baptist says, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. What's the point I'm getting at? One day you and I are gonna die, and we're gonna stand before this almighty, righteous, just God. And we can't hide from our actions, words and thoughts. In fact, they're gonna testify against us one day. And if I were to be sitting on the throne, judging me, judging you, you would know I wasn't worthy. If you were sitting on the throne, you know you wouldn't be worthy of judging people. But the one who is judging us is the one who lived a perfect life in the wicked world that we can't avoid. The one who is judging us is the one who was Beaten for sins that he didn't commit that we should be paying for. The one who sits on the throne and opens the scroll and brings a judgment is the one who defeats sin and death. The very thing that holds you and I bound. That's who breaks open the scroll. That's who is worthy. And you and I don't have to be hopeless because he's ransomed us. Because of his great love for us. Because of the blood that was slain. Because of the lamb who was slain and slaughtered. And blood paid the price for our.

[A]

Sin and for death.

[B]

You and I have the opportunity to be ransomed and snatched out of the pit of hell. Because Jesus Christ is the one that owns the keys to death in Hades. That's who sits on the throne. That's who's opening the scroll. You know what's crazy? Is the judgment of God is necessary. In fact, the judgment of God is deserving.

[A]

In fact, the judgment of God is okay. The judgment of God is right. You know why the judgment of God is right? Because there's only one man who has lived a perfect life who is even worthy of having an ounce to say about anyone's life. And that's him. That's Jesus Christ. He's lived the perfect life. He's avoided sin. He's avoided temptation. He's perfect. He's God incarnate in the flesh, living the life and paying the price that you and I owe. He deserves to judge us. He has the right. He's the one that opens the scroll.

[B]

But be very careful what you say. And this might be your wake up call. This might be your wake up call. You might not have even been thinking about the scroll. You might not even have known what I was talking about. But you're holding judgment, bitterness and resentment towards people in your heart. But the same measure of mercy you show other people, you will be shown by the Father. You better be very careful who you ask to open the scroll. Because there's only one that can open the scroll. That's the one who's seated on the throne and in the mighty hand of God. He holds the judgment that you and I are deserving. One day we're going to stand before him. Our actions are going to testify against us. And if we've put our faith in the lamb who was slain, the one whose blood paid for things that shouldn't have been paid for. The one whose blood and sacrifice paid for the things that and I deserve to pay for. Yeah, that lamb that was slain. If we put our faith in him we have the opportunity to receive the grace, receive the forgiveness of God. But if you and I don't put our faith in Jesus, God grants our wish. We spend an eternity separate from God in hell, where we receive the full wrath and righteous judgment of God. And when you even look through Scripture and you look at that rich man, Lazarus, who went to hell, and then the poor man outside of his gates went to heaven, you know, you see Lazarus in that. In that passage in the Gospels where he's asking for someone to quench him from the pain he's experiencing, just the dip of tongue, of water, just to quench him from the pain and suffering of the wrath. But he doesn't ask to be removed from it. The reality is, is that we put ourselves in that place. We are deserving of the judgment and the wrath. And the choice is yours. The choice is yours if you want to receive the judgment and the wrath of God. Because if you put your faith in the Lamb who was slain, it's paid for, covered, and your wretchedness is dropped in the sea of forgetfulness as if you'd never done anything before. And Christ welcomes you with open arms into an eternity of glory. Jesus Christ. But if you say, no, no, no, God, I want to live my way. If you say, no, no, no, God, I want to keep indulging in the sinfulness. If you say, no, God, I want to live on the fence, even though Satan owns the fence, you want to live on the fence. God grants that wish. It breaks his heart. We're separate from him in eternity. So I pray. My prayer is that you never grow to a place of coldness towards the judgment of God. Like when I sit and read a passage like Revelation 5, I get sobered every time going, okay, this could be the reality of any human being on the planet if they don't put their faith in the King of Kings, I gotta do something about it. So my prayer is that you don't just believe in Jesus because even the demons believe, but that you follow Jesus. That's my prayer. Jesus, I thank you that your love empowers us. Your grace is bountiful, but God, your judgment is just as righteous. God, my prayer is that everyone watching or listening does not merely believe because even the demons believe. But God, we follow you wholeheartedly. Full submission all day, every day. It's you. We only want you. You're the prize. God let you be the apple of our eyes. God, we love you, we thank you, we praise you, Jesus.

[C]

Name marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements, or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.