Devotion 13 - Eternal Judgement

Devotion 13 - Eternal Judgment

Some Christian claims that in the Old Testament, God is often characterized by judgment, but in the New Testament, because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, God is now all about grace and love and that our behaviour will never affect our position with our loving Father. Christ has already paid for all our past, present and future sins. Therefore, when we come to the judgment seat, it will be all about rewards and no punishment.

Ps.89:14 – “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.”

Justice requires judgment. God is our loving father, but He is also a God of righteousness and justice. His love is always sanctified with His truth! There are many scriptures that show clearly that all believers will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we will be judged according to how we live on this earth.

Great White Throne Judgment

Rev.20:11-15 – “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 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. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

This is commonly known as the Great White Throne judgment. Here, every person, including unbelievers of the Old Testament period, the Church age, the tribulation, and the millennium will be judged when the Book of Life is opened.  No one will escape, for the sea, Death, and Hades will give up their inhabitants. Those names not found in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire together with Satan, Antichrist and the false prophet.  This is the second death - eternal death and eternal suffering.  These are people who intentionally and wilfully chose not to believe and walk in Christ.  They turned their backs on God’s grace, deciding to leave Him out of their lives.  Unfortunately, eternal damnation is not simply being away from the Lord's presence, it is eternal torment!

Judgment Seat of Christ

2Cor.5:10 – “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.”

 

One day, every single one of us is going to be held personally accountable by the Creator and we will be judged according to our deeds in this life. In other words, the way we live, the decision we make, the way we relate to others etc, etc. on this earth is important.

 We will be Judged for the Works in the Kingdoms

1Cor.3:12-15 – “Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,  each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

 

2Jn. 8 – “Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.”

 

We will be judged on every work we have done in the kingdom. Works that are built on obedience and a proper heart motive of love will be considered gold, silver, and precious stones. Works that are built on ambition and impure motives will be considered wood, hay, and straw.

We will be judged for our Thought life

1 Cor. 4:5 – “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.”

 

Have we ever done bad things but with good intentions, or maybe something good with bad intentions?  The Pharisees did good deeds, yet Jesus called them “whitewashed tombs,” because he knew the selfish purposes of their hearts. During judgment day, all truth will be revealed.

 

However, on the positive side, because Jesus alone is our judge, we are free from the concern that our performance will be judged by men. Whether or not our service is appreciated, we serve; whether given recognition or not, we serve; even if misunderstood, criticized, or seemingly unproductive or unfruitful, we serve. Human judgment is premature and superficial, and is therefore insignificant.

 

We will be judged for our Words

Matt.12:36-37 – “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks… I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.  For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

 

Because our words are the reflections of our heart, we will have to render account for the words that we speak. Therefore, like the Psalmist, we need to constantly pray  “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3) so that we are not careless with the words we speak, especially if it cause harm and hurt to others.

Discipleship for the End Times

In His kindness, Jesus has given us details regarding His judgment ahead of time so that we can be forewarned and forearmed. Hebrews 5:12-14 describes the doctrine of eternal judgment as spiritual milk. It is foundational and extremely important, it is one of the basic doctrines and is equal importance to the doctrine of repentance, faith and baptism as it deals with man’s eternal destinations

Heb.6:1-2 – “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

 

The consequences of this life are eternal. Thus, one of our roles in discipling the nations is also to prepare them for the day of judgement, if not, then our discipleship is incomplete.

 

Let’s us be faithful and steadfast and continue to be diligent to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works…” (Heb.10:25), continue to go forth to disciple the nations and encourage one another to “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober…”(1Pet.1:13), and “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2Cor.7:1), to make ourselves ready to welcome the long-awaited coming of the our beloved Bridegroom Jesus Christ!