Judgements are about justice. But what justice? The Bible speaks again and again of judgment and of tribunals. However, the righteousness of God, His own righteousness, has little to do with judgments on earth or on people. Paul writes that God’s own righteousness is not revealed at the judgment but in the gospel:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For God’s righteousness is revealed in it by faith for faith, as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith.”
Rom 1:16-17

In the gospel of God’s grace, as Paul speaks of it, God’s righteousness is thus “revealed.” The message itself tells how justice was “brought about”. In fact, it was brought about on the cross. The righteousness of God is not dependent on me or you. It was achieved independently of us. The righteousness of God is God’s work. This justice is there. It does not need any confirmation from us to be effective. It is important to note that.

The judgments of God are something else. Their goal is not to bring about God’s justice. While they have to do with justice, the judgements are primarily in the context of our own injustice. Our lives are then in the spotlight. This is to be assessed. It is about a righteous judgment of what we have perpetrated in this life – regardless of whether faith was present or not (e.g., 1 Cor. 3:10-15, Rev. 20:12-13).

It’s the end that matters.
That’s where the vision comes from,
from which the present lives.

Accordingly, God’s judgments and God’s justice must not be confused with each other. They are different things, and God’s judgment is not the end – because of His righteousness, because of the Son of His love, through whom He once reconciled all things to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross (Col 1:15-20).