The Gospel of Peace, The Judgment of God

The Gospel of Peace

The Judgment of God

One of the foundations of faith for the New Testament church is the doctrine of judgment.

Now, apart from knowing the truth about judgment, we could find ourselves in any one of many different types of error.

But make no mistake; there will be a Day of Judgment.

And that judgment will be far worse than anything being pronounced by the prophets of doom.

It will be fierce, and it will be eternal.

The book of Revelation describes with vivid detail that time when the wrath of God will be poured out on the world.

Even then we, the church, will be delivered from His wrath.

John wrote:

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

“The Lord’s Day” refers to that great and terrible Day (period of time) when the judgment of God will come upon the earth.

All events in the book of Revelation take place at that time.

It is worthy to note, however, that even this fierce judgment does not bring repentance.

Rev 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Judgment, regardless of how severe, does not bring repentance.

When unredeemed man stands before God, it will be in the Great White Throne Judgment.

Those who have not accepted Jesus as their righteousness will appear before God to be judged according to their works.

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

They will be judged according to their works because that is the only righteousness they will have.

They will have rejected the free gift of righteousness in Jesus.

But, unfortunately:

Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

To stand before God, having rejected the righteousness of Jesus, will always mean an eternal hell.

The Bible says God will judge in righteousness.

It is righteous to judge a world that has rejected the free gift of righteousness.

Jesus suffered sin, the curse, hell, and torment for all the world.

No man needs to suffer hell.

It is total and absolute defiance for a man to reject such a great and merciful salvation.

Righteousness demands the judgment of these people.

These people will not be judged as to salvation; they already had that opportunity.

They will be judged by their works in which they trusted.

With the absolute certainty of this future judgment, we should proclaim that God’s mercy is available now.

Pointing out a future judgment is not bad, if you give people the Good News as well.

The Good News is this:

You do not have to be judged.

You do not have to go to hell.

Jesus has paid the price.

You can have the free gift of righteousness.

The believer will never come into the White Throne Judgment.

The believer will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Does this mean, as some say, that we will all stand before Jesus and have our every sin exposed?

I think not.

Most of the Scriptures used to support that view are taken out of context.

I am not sure how this will happen, but all our works will pass through the fire before appearing before the Lord.

1Co 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

The fire will test our works to determine if they are wood, hay, stubble, or precious metals.

Works that are based on the foundation of faith-righteousness are good works.

We are called to good works in Christ Jesus.

We have a purpose in this life:               We should bear fruit.

Dead works, on the other hand, are those things we do to make ourselves righteous and acceptable before God.

Those dead works will be burned.

They are a testimony to our unbelief in the finished work of Jesus.

But even if all our works are burned, we will be saved.

1Co 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

The real purpose for our standing before the Lord is to receive rewards.

1Co 3:14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

There will be wonderful rewards for what we have done in this life in response to the goodness of God.

There is much I do not understand about this time of rewards.

I dare not even speculate, but I know it will be glorious.

Although people should know about the eternal judgments of the Great White Throne Judgment, they also should know about the judgment seat of Christ, where our works will be judged and we will be given rewards.

Since there will be these judgments, let us judge our own motives.

Let us live, walk and minister in the love of God so we will receive our reward.

Let us minister in a way that glorifies Jesus instead of man.

Because there will be a Day of Judgment, let us preach, teach, an warn men everywhere to turn from wickedness.

But let’s do it in love and goodness, which bring men to repentance.

Let us not despise the lost and the backslidden, but let us, with mercy and kindness, restore them to the Lord.

Let us have the same value for the human race as God did when He sacrificed His Son to reconcile the world to Himself.

Let them taste and see that the Lord is good when they experience (taste) God through us.

If God is at peace with the world through Jesus, then we, as His ambassadors, should be at peace.

Let us refrain from breeding fear and living in fear.

Fear is not from God.

Fear causes people to run from a loving Father into an eternal destruction.

Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Of all the sins that would enslave a man, fear and unbelief are at the top of the list.

Fear prevents you from believing and trusting the God who loves you and freely gives you the gift of righteousness in Jesus.

We should understand the reality of the judgment that Jesus received in our place when He went to the cross.

We should be confident that we do not have to fear judgment in this life.