The Final Judgment
From my desk, I can look out my window and see the county courthouse clock tower. Many county offices are inside the courthouse, but the entire second floor is the court area. Sometimes people plead guilty; sometimes they plead not guilty. Trials, plea deals, and civil and criminal cases are handled inside those walls. I’ve been called to jury duty twice; the prosecution rejected me once, and the defense once. No one seems to want a minister and a law enforcement officer. Even though I’ve never been sued or charged with a crime, I have sat in the witness chair of both criminal and civil cases. My twenty-two years in law enforcement have made me somewhat familiar with the court system.
Next year will be my fortieth year as a Pastor, and this December will mark the fifty-first anniversary of my first sermon. This has given me a long time to study God’s courtroom.
God’s courtroom has several judgments.
The judgment seat of Christ judges the saved who lived at any time during the church age (from Jesus’ resurrection until the rapture). This judgment is not to determine where these people will spend eternity; that was settled at the day of salvation. This judgment is for rewards based on how they lived for Christ after salvation.
Another judgment held in God’s courtroom is the judgment of the sheep and goats. The sheep are those saved during the tribulation period and survive to the end. The goats are those who also survived the tribulation period but rejected Christ. This judgment takes place at Christ’s second coming at the end of the seven-year tribulation. The sheep are welcomed into the millennium, when Christ reigns on earth for a thousand years, and the goats are cast into everlasting fire because they rejected the gospel (Matthew 25:31-46).
Three more groups of the saved are resurrected at specific times, but Scripture does not tell us when their judgments take place. However, to remain consistent with other judgments, it appears their judgment would be soon after their resurrections. Those groups are the Old Testament saints, resurrected at the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 27:52-53; Isaiah 26:19), the tribulation saints who did not survive the tribulation, and those saved during Christ’s thousand-year reign (Revelation 20:4-6).
This brings us to one last judgment, the final judgment. Many believe that every human being from Adam to the last person ever to be born will be under the hand of God’s judgment there, but that is not the case.
We can read about this judgment in Revelation 20:11-15. The Bible tells us who will be judged there. Revelation 20:12: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God…” This would make it seem that all of us will be there, since by the time this day rolls around, we will all have died. But by the time this judgment comes, not everyone is still dead.
All believers, since Christ’s resurrection, alive or dead, are raptured out at the end of the church age. They are all alive. The Old Testament saints, those saved during the tribulation and millennium, have all been resurrected before this judgment starts. Long story short, the only people still dead by the time Revelation 20:11 rolls around in real time are those who never placed their faith in the blood of Christ to save them. Salvation for the entire human race has always been under the same condition: faith in Christ. The Old Testament saints were saved by believing that the Messiah was coming; we are saved by believing that He has come.
When the “dead” stand before God at this final judgment, they have already decided their eternal home.
Revelation 20:11-15: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that 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, 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. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
You may be thinking, “It’s okay, preacher. I’ll be judged by my works, and I haven’t been that bad. I’ve done some good things in my life. I’ve given to the poor, I got baptized, and so on and so on.”
They are judged according to their works, but notice, their works were not the determining factor. The determining factor was whether or not their name is in the book of life. Sadly, everyone at this judgment is cast into the lake of fire.
Salvation only comes by faith in Christ. Daniel 12:1 tells us that those whose names are in the book are God’s people who will be delivered.
Meditate on 1 John 5:13 and answer a couple of questions.
1 John 5:13: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Is your name in the book of life? Do you know?
Preacher Tim Johnson is Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County, Indiana. His weekly column “Preacher’s Point” may be found at: www.preacherspoint.wordpress.com