Final Judgment

Imagine that your first baby has just come into the world. Nine months has been a long time to wait, but at last the wondrous moment has arrived, and you are anticipating the moment of holding your baby in your arms. But something seems amiss. The doctors are taking too long in bringing him to you. They take him off, and after a long time bring the baby to you with this news: “Your baby is perfect in every way except one. We have determined that your baby has no capacity whatever to feel pain.”

How would you respond? Would you begin to rejoice in the knowledge that your firstborn child will never experience the terrible and excruciating pains that all the rest of us have to endure? Would the thought of an entire lifetime of pain-free living bring a thrill of joy to your heart?

Not if you had any sense, it wouldn’t. Without the ability to feel pain, your child would be doomed to a future of terrible injuries, burns, and cuts made far worse than they would otherwise be as a result of having no built-in apparatus to warn him of possible danger to his person.

Pain, like it or not, is God’s gift to us. It is a type of accountability system that warns us to make all possible haste to extract ourselves from injurious situations. Yes, we can put our hands on that hot stove, but we must be prepared to pay a price. We can stay out in the hot sun on the beach all day, but we’ll think twice about it next time.

One of the most fundamental laws of the universe is the law of accountability. Throughout the physical, intellectual, and spiritual realms this law is woven into the fabric of all life. I will never forget the first time I fired a 20-gauge shotgun. As a skinny kid, I wasn’t prepared for the powerful recoil I experienced. I didn’t realize it then, but what I was experiencing was a physical manifestation of accountability, which we know as the law of action and reaction. As the pellets went forward, the butt of the gun must kick backward. It had no choice.

The ultimate expression of the law of accountability, according to the Scriptures, has to do with a very specific day. It is the day when we must stand before our Creator and give account of our lives. The Bible reveals that this is a day everyone will participate in; there will be no “excused absences” or “tardies.”

Some of the Scriptures that speak of this time are:

• But the LORD shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. (Psalm 9:7,8)
• Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13,14)
• So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12)
• It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)
• For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (1 Corinthians 5:10)

While a personal “life review” is promised to every individual, the Bible makes it clear that there is a great difference between the judgment of the believer (those who are Christ’s) and that of the unbeliever. Let us consider these two judgments.

Judgment Day for the Unbeliever

Every sinner who has ever lived will has his own personal day of standing before God to give account of his life. The famous sinners will be there: Adolph Hitler, Jack the Ripper, Nero, Voltaire, Billy the Kid, and Al Capone will all have their time. But of course by far the majority will be sinners of the more quiet type – ordinary men and women who lived modest lives, eked out a living, paid their taxes, but somehow never managed to find time for Jesus Christ.

Who will they stand before? It will be God, of course, but it will be God in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible says:

• And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He (Jesus) who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. (Acts 10:42)
• For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. (John 5:22,23)

While many of these times of judgment would be fascinating to watch, there is one special case I would love to see. It would be most interesting to see Pontius Pilate when he stands before Jesus. The last time the two were together the roles were exactly reversed. Pilate, at least to outward appearances, held Jesus’ life and destiny in his hands. Now Jesus will be the judge. Pilate’s miserable life will be held up for scrutiny in the eyes of the Galilean he once held as a prisoner. Now he will behold the true nature of the One who had stood before him that day – no longer seen as a mere man, but as He truly is – the eternal God.

It is interesting that the sinner will face this judgment in a resurrected body. Paul declared that there would be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15).

Jesus said, “for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear (My) voice and come forth — … those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation“ (John 5:28,29).

The apostle John, as an old man, was actually given a glimpse of this, which is recorded in the book of Revelation:

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. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. (Revelation 20:12,13)

These will not be merely the spirits of those who have once lived on earth that stand in the presence of Jesus; they will appear before Him in their physical bodies! This judgment will not be general in nature; it will get quite specific. It will involve far more than the Lord telling the wicked, “You have done evil and must go to hell.” Jesus said that even the simplest words spoken could be a witness in the time of trial: ““But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. 37 “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36,37)

Many sinners like to talk about God “damning” this or that person or thing. The truth is that God will not need to “damn” (the word means to condemn) the sinner. All He will have to do is bring out a transcript of the words he has spoken on earth, and his own words will do the job nicely.

Not only will a sinner’s words serve as witnesses, but even the smallest acts of wrong will not be overlooked. Little white lies, sarcastic digs, minor acts of selfishness – all will be reviewed thoroughly. John writes, “And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:12).

The sinner’s works are important for two reasons: 1. The collective nature of them will be proof positive of his unfitness for the kingdom of heaven (“I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” – Matthew 7:23). 2. The specific deeds of the sinner through his lifetime will all need to be given an exact punishment, perfectly suited to God’s perfect justice. (“Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism” – Colossians 3:25)

Not all sinners will suffer the same measure of punishment in hell. Jesus declared that the servant who knew his master’s will would be beaten with many blows, but the servant who was ignorant, and did not know what his master wanted would be beaten with few (Luke 12:47,48). People who have grown up in houses and communities and nations where Jesus was rarely or never spoken of will have a much easier time of it in hell. It will be no picnic, but their suffering will be far less than those who were granted many opportunities to hear of and receive Jesus as Savior. Considering how many churches, Bibles, preachers, and Christian bookstores we have in America, I’m afraid our sinners will have the worst time of ever. “To whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48).

The ultimate verdict will based upon a very simple concept. We are told that there is a Book of Life which God keeps. This book has within it the name of every redeemed soul that has been born-again through faith in Jesus Christ. The final verdict will be given as God, having made his case that the deeds and words of the sinner are fully deserving of divine justice, will show in this Book of Life that their name is simply not there.

This book has been known about since ancient times. Thousands of years ago, Moses, crying for mercy for the people of Israel, prayed, ““Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” (Exodus 32:32)

In His charge to the churches in the book of Revelation, Jesus promised, ““He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Revelation 3:5).

In one of the most fearful verses to found in all of Scripture, John concludes his vision of this great judgment day of the sinner by saying, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

Judgment Day for the believer

The judgment day for the believer will be in stark contrast to that which was just described. The time, nature, tone, and results will all be different. The judgment of the sinner occurs at the end of a thousand-year reign of Jesus on the earth, according to Revelation 20.

Those who have been saved through faith in Jesus will experience their judgment 1,000 years earlier. Paul makes this plain, stating:

• 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 who have loved His appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)
• So that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:7,8)

What Kind of Judgment?

You may wonder why there would be a need of judgment for believers. After all, has not Jesus forgiven our sins and made us acceptable in God’s sight? If this is true, what purpose could there be for a time of standing before the Lord as Judge, to have our lives reviewed and analyzed?

The purpose of the believers’ judgment is entirely different than that for the sinner. Those who have not been saved will have their works brought forth in order to reveal the justice of God’s sentence, and the proper degree of punishment that will befall them in hell. God’s justice will be absolutely vindicated as the records are revealed.

For the believer there is no punishment. The issue of God’s wrath has been settled once and for all at the cross of Jesus. The Bible declares:

• God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (1 Corinthians 5:19)
• To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood … (Revelation 1:5)

So why a need for a judgment for the believers? This judgment will not be in order to punish us for our transgressions, but a determination of the rewards we will receive for the lives we have led and the deeds we have done.

Is this some kind of justification by works? Not at all! Clearly we are saved by faith in Christ alone, and not by works, for “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” (Galatians 2:16) No, this will not be a matter of earning heaven through good deeds, but rather a determination of divine compensation for the works of grace that God has wrought in our lives. The Scriptures encourage us with the knowledge that “God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name …” (Hebrews 6:10)

No, your works shall not be forgotten, dear Christian. Every single deed you have done, that has been motivated by God’s Spirit, every loving sacrifice you have made, every act of kindness and mercy shall have its divine recompense. Jesus seems to go out of His way to make this clear, stating,

Whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42)

The knowledge that we shall be rewarded for the “things done while in the body” seems to have been lost in much of the church today. Many think it is carnal for us to think about rewards that we might gain through serving Christ. And yet the Bible is filled with encouragement to remember the rewards that shall be ours one day. In the very last chapter of the Bible Jesus tells us, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work …” (Revelation 22:12)

Other Scriptures that deal with this include:

• Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven … (Matthew 5:11,12)
• For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. (Matthew 16:27)
• Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. (2 John 8)

CONCLUSION

So we see that life has accountability, even in the spiritual realm. (Especially in the spiritual realm!) For the sinner every transgression shall have its perfect counterpart of justice. Just as the shotgun recoils backward in perfect accordance with the measure of projected force forward, so the sinner shall find the “recoil” of God’s justice in perfect accord with the rebellious deeds he has committed during his stay on planet earth.

To the joy of the Christian, he will find that the blood of Jesus Christ has truly atoned for his every sin and misdeed. There will be no charges against him on that great day at the bar of God’s judgment. However, the works of grace, which the Holy Spirit has wrought through him, will be rewarded with rewards and blessings which the human mind cannot even conceive of. The greatest joy, of course, will be to live in the presence of the Savior who has made all this possible. The old rugged cross shall never lose its luster. Throughout eternity we shall glory in the One who has purchased for us, not only pardon for our transgressions, but the incredible privilege to live in the abiding presence of our God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen!