The Goal is Whole: Hope Unshakeable H3: Safe in Judgments

FULL STUDY:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17).

One huge element of eternal destiny is being clear about how we stand with God’s judgments. We have touched a little on this already, but today will look in detail at this topic. Knowing what is coming, what to expect, and how to prepare is a vital part of us living in confidence in the new creation life.

One essential, fundamental truth that we need to grasp clearly at the beginning is that Jesus did not come to judge the world. This is very clear from the above passage. And this one:

 “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” (John 12:46-48).

In a very real sense, judgment is happening right now. As Jesus made clear here:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24).

Faith allows us to enter into the new creation, taking us out of death into life. This is so awesome!

We need to be ready to urge everyone to choose life, to choose Jesus, to align with His word, and escape judgment! We will be looking at ways we can do that in unit 4.

Jesus said more on this:

“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:17-18)

So if judgment is already happening, does that mean there will be no “judgment day” as such, with God on His throne, etc? Not so, because this ongoing judgment described above is not in people’s awareness. It is being outworked, but they do not know it. At the end of the age, God’s righteousness and justice demand that all is dealt with openly and uprightly. There is detailed information on the judgments in Revelation, and we will look at this now.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

(Revelation 20:1-15)

Here we see a 2 stage resurrection and judgment. The first resurrection (verses 4-5 above) is for those who had “died in Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 15:23). This also includes those who were physically martyred for Christ during the tribulation period (post-rapture). These combined are the “saints” and are resurrected to become priests and reign with Christ through the 1,000 year millennial rule.

The second resurrection is when all of the rest of mankind is bodily raised to face judgment. This is “the dead”, meaning those who have remained “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-2). This is everyone who has died outside of the new creation. At this point, they face the “great white throne judgment”. The judgment happens from two “books”. One is the record of deeds everyone has done, and the other is the book of life, which contains the names of those who have entered into life in the new creation. In God’s justice here, the record of deeds is combed through (as if to make sure no-one’s confession of Christ has been missed). Every other deed is irrelevant now, and so the judgment is based on whether or not they are in the “book of life”. If not, tragically they are thrown into the lake of fire.

Today, let us be so, so, grateful for the secure new life we have received in Christ. And let us prepare ourselves to help convince as many as possible to receive Christ, be made new, and escape the judgment that is to come. We will be looking much more at that later, in units 4 and 6.

There is one further judgment that we need to look at which is specifically for those of us in the new creation, and significantly impacts our eternity.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)

This is not the great white throne judgment we read about in Revelation. This is the judgment seat of Christ. Which seems odd at first, because we read clearly how Jesus said He did not come to judge. But this is a different judgment, actually more like a “rewards ceremony”. This is specifically to allow each one to be rewarded for what they did during this life in His body. This is a judgment of rewards, not condemnation. There is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1).

Paul explained to the Corinthians how this works:

“According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

This is such a manifestation of the Father’s love! Every act of faithfulness, every bit of Christ-fruit that we were able to produce, is rewarded. It doesn’t tell us what the rewards are, but we can be sure they will be awesome! God is so kind and generous. And, the other part of this Christ-judgment is the merciful removal by fire of all things built on the foundation of Christ that were not authentic fruit of His. Our work is subjected to the test of fire, so that all corruption, bad living, mixed-motives, and bad choices can be removed from us, so that we enter the sinless, devil-free zone of the reign of Christ and the new heaven and new earth, absolutely pure and clean. Amazing love!

Tomorrow we will look more specifically at various passages that tell us what God is looking for in our lives, and the things He has already told us will get rewarded on that day.