Chapter Five
“The Judgment of God”
The church of Laodicea in which Jesus addresses in the book of Revelation may be the closet representation of the modern church.
Jesus said the Laodicean church was neither hot nor cold; instead, members were lukewarm, falsely believing they had everything. But Jesus quickly quashed this sort of thinking.
In Revelation 3:17 Jesus said, “You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’–and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”
Using strong visual language Jesus goes on to say that if they didn’t get their act together, if they didn’t repent, if they continued to stay lukewarm being no good to God or the community, He was going to vomit them out of His mouth, Revelation 3:16.
Jonathan Edwards shook the American church to its core when he gave his sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” He spoke of a sinner’s judgment and the eternity they can expect in hell. This sermon was instrumental in the revival known as the Great Awakening.
Today’s church, however, lacks this same healthy fear of God. We have lots of teaching on God’s love, mercy and grace, which is good and necessary, but precious little is said about God being holy, righteous, and just.
Until we truly understand the meaning of God’s judgment, we’ll never fully understand the meaning of His grace.
We also hear a lot about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and are looking forward with great expectation to that day. But crouched in this teaching is a truth that has been ignored. When finally understood it should shake the church out of its lethargic condition. That truth is the coming judgment of God.
God’s judgment may be the one truth that will awaken the church so it can shake the world.
All humanity will one day stand in judgment before God. There will be no support from anyone, not family or friends, not even an attorney. Everyone must stand before the justice and judgment of God.
This is why the truth of God’s judgment lays forgotten and ignored. It reveals the severity of God that most people, even those within the church, want to avoid. The teaching about God’s judgment has become distasteful. Just as the love, grace, and mercy of God cannot be overstated, however, so the holiness, righteousness, and justice of God cannot be understated.
The fact that everyone is judgment-bound is probably the most sobering thought that can be presented in today’s church and that’s because it’s been appointed for everyone to die and be judged afterward, Hebrews 9:27.
The only problem is that everyone thinks they’re going to heaven. They don’t think they’ll ever face God’s judgment, because judgment is for evil people like Hitler and Osama Ben Laden, and they’re nowhere near like them.
It’s like the story of the little boy who told his teacher, “My daddy says that if I don’t get better grades, someone’s going to get a spanking.”
The little boy didn’t think he deserved to get punished but he was pretty sure the teacher did.
When it comes to judgment most people think they’re going to get a pass from God. While they’ve done bad things, these are nothing compared to the things done by really “bad people.”
This is not the way God’s sees it. God says there is no one who is righteous. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standards, Romans 3:10, 23.
King David understood this and asked God not to enter into judgment against him because no one living was ever going to be righteous enough, Psalm 143:2.
Bildad, one of Job’s counselors, said, “How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?” (Job 25:4)
Our problem is that we like to compare ourselves to others, but we commit a great error when we do. The Apostle Paul says comparing ourselves to others isn’t wise.
“For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12)
Look at Isaiah’s response when He found himself in the presence of God.
“My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race.” (Isaiah 6:5a NLT)
The prophet Isaiah is someone we consider to be as righteous as they come. When he looked at himself in the light of God holy presence and purity, however, he saw himself for who he truly was, a sinner.
But judgment isn’t just for the wicked; everyone will face judgment in the end. The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)
If we’re all going to face God’s judgment, the question becomes, “At which judgment will we appear?”
There are actually two judgments, one for the wicked, and another judgment for the righteous, and each has their own judgment seat and outcome.
In Matthew 25:46 Jesus said, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
In Genesis 18:25 Abraham said to God, “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
To judge is to evaluate and to make an informed decision based upon an established law of what is right and good, which is what the Lord bases His judgment on. God evaluates our lives and decides our eternal fate based upon the law He established.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:7)
The Book of Life
God’s judgment is based upon who is written in the Book of Life, also called the “Lamb’s Book of Life,” Revelation 13:8, 21:27. This is the book Jesus will use when He judges everyone in the end, because God the Father has given the final say to His Son, Jesus.
“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. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:22-24)
The Book of Life contains the names of those who are righteous, and they’ll have eternal life. But the ending of the wicked, those whose names are not contained within this book, will be everlasting death.
“And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15)
The names written in the Book of Life are believers in Jesus Christ whom God considers righteous, not based upon their own righteousness, but rather the righteousness of Jesus.
Jesus refers to them as overcomers, and their white apparel is an indication of their righteousness.
“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)
The ending for those written in the Book of Life will be an eternity in the presence of God in heaven.
“But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Revelation 12:27)
To find your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life you need to become born again, to have a new spiritual birth through faith in Jesus Christ.
In John 3:3 Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
The Two Judgments
The White Throne Judgment: The judgment of the wicked
“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.” (Revelation 20:11-15)
The White Throne Judgment is God’s final judgment for those who have died outside a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It will be the final judgment for those who tried to get right with God based upon their own righteousness and made up religions.
This will be a terrible day, a day where the eternal destinies of the wicked are forever sealed.
What we see is the face of Jesus Christ. So fierce and terrible is His countenance that both the earth and heaven flee and are completely destroyed. This is the picture of Jesus given to us in Revelation chapter one.
“One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.” (Revelation 1:13-16)
Today Jesus is our advocate, taking up our case with the Father in heaven’s courtroom, where the Father declares us not guilty, not based upon our own righteousness, but upon the righteousness of Christ.
In 1 John 2:1 the Apostle John said, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
But at the White Throne Judgment Jesus is no longer an advocate. He is the judge of everyone whose fate has already been decided and sealed through unbelief. And the verdict is “guilty” and the sentence is the Lake of Fire.
Take a moment and consider everlasting torment.
“When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)
“If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:9-11)
But it doesn’t have to be like this. God never intended hell and the lake of fire for humanity; instead it was created for Satan and his demons.
Jesus said in Matthew 25:41, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Later in Matthew 25:46 Jesus said, “These will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Wicked humanity, those who refused to believe in Jesus Christ, will be judged and sent into the everlasting punishment of the Lake of Fire along with Satan and his demons.
But that will not be the judgment and ending for those who believe, for the righteous.
The Judgment Seat of Christ: The judgment of believers
“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ … So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:10, 12)
“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)
This judgment doesn’t determine whether or not we make it into heaven, heaven is already our home. We’re already citizens of heaven when we become born again by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.
In Philippians 3:20 Paul said, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The judgment that takes place isn’t judgment for our sins, because God has already judged our sins through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and God’s wrath was satisfied.
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:8-10)
Psalms 103:12 says that God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. In other words, they will never come back around.
But if our sins are no longer judged, then what is the judgment seat of Christ. Some have identified it as God’s rewards seat, that is, we’ll receive rewards based upon what we do for God and His kingdom upon this earth.
“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” (Matthew 16:27 cf. Revelation 22:12)
Paul talks about our works and how they will be judged. However, if it is burned with nothing remaining but ashes, heaven will still be the outcome.
“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 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.” (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)
Concerning then the Judgment Seat of Christ, James Denney, Scottish theologian and preacher, said, “It is Christians only who are in view here. All that we have hidden shall be revealed. The things we have done in the body will come back to us, whether good or bad. Every pious thought, and every thought of sin; every secret prayer, and every secret curse; every unknown deed of charity, and every hidden deed of selfishness; we will see them all again, and though we have not remembered them for years, and perhaps have forgotten them altogether, we shall have to acknowledge that they are our own. Is not that a solemn thing to stand at the end of life?”
Let’s ensure, however, that we understand it isn’t just outward acts and words that Jesus will judge, but the inward intent of our heart.
“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.” (1 Corinthians 4:5)
What rewards will we receive?
In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 Paul talks about rewards as being those works that hold up and remains under God’s holy fire of judgment. Paul describes them as gold, silver, and precious stones, as compared to those works that will be burned to ash, or the wood, hay, and straw.
These are things we do for God, seeing how Paul describes them as being built upon the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.
The gold, silver, and precious stones are those things we do, not for our own glory, but for the glory of God. They are founded upon God’s Word and not the opinion of man. They comprise the right use of our money, possessions, and time. It also includes our treating others as greatly valued by God, and our witness for Jesus Christ.
It’s doing the stuff that counts for God’s kingdom and not for our own.
But even if we miss and strike out on doing what is right, our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, believing in what He did for us upon the cross, taking our place and dying in our stead, and His rising from the dead is reward enough, because even if all our works burn up as wood, hay, and straw we’ll still make it into heaven.
The Bible also talks about additional rewards that will be given, five in all, and they are crowns that wait in heaven.
Conclusion
Solomon probably concludes this topic best stating a profound truth that needs be understood as we ready ourselves to face the judgment of God.
“Here is my final conclusion: fear God and obey his commandments, for this is the entire duty of man. For God will judge us for everything we do, including every hidden thing, good or bad.” (Ecclesiastes12: 13-14 The Living Bible or TLB)
Reflection and Discussion
