(I Peter 2:24). “There is now no con demnation,” Paul tells us, “ to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). But as to the works of the Christian, “We must all appear before the judg ment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, wheth er it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). This will take place after the saints have been caught up to be with Christ, and before He comes again with His saints to set up His kingdom. Various awards and crowns will be given at this time. The unrighteous do not appear at this judgment, as they are in the grave, except those still alive upon the earth. After the thousand years’ reign of Christ on the earth, at the second res urrection from the dead, the great white throne judgment, described by John in Revelation 20, will take place. There the unrighteous will be judged according to their works. The books are opened. John tells us the result of this judgment in Rev. 20:15. The language of judgment against the ungodly in the New Testament is fearful language: as to the nature of it: “wrath,” “vengeance,” “gnashing of teeth,” “ fire and brimstone,” et cetera. And finally, the duration of it: “ for ever.” These are not the words of men. They are the words of Jesus Christ, un to whom all judgment has been com mitted. In addition to all of these ter rible phenomena which we might call positive aspects of judgment, there are also the negative: separation and loss, words like “depart from rrfe,” “ them that are least.” These suggest to us the other side of the coin, so to speak, and we shall now turn our attention brief ly to the future destiny of the right eous. One of the most prominent aspects of the gospel message is the promise of the things laid up for those who love the Lord. They are far beyond hu man words to describe. Basic to this is the fact of relationship with God: “ I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people’.’ (continued on next page) 31
ment of God has to do with His people. We are not going to explore this as pect, but press on to His judgment upon those who are not His people, ‘the wicked,’ as the-Old Testament so often speaks of them. The Psalmist de clared, “God is angry with the wicked every day,” (Ps. 7:11) and “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Ps. 9:17). We have laid this foundation rather carefully because there are many peo ple who say that they do not believe that God would punish any of His crea tures forever, rather that He will pun ish only for purposes of correction or restoration, or that all the punishment a person will receive is in this life. The chief error in this is that it runs counter to the whole revelation of God. God has a purpose; He has a plan; He has a program which imple ments His purpose; and He is going somewhere. Good and evil are seen su perficially if they are seen only as principles, and not in connection with persons. This is a conflict between God and the devil! “ . . . Judgment protects the idea of the triumph of God and of good. It is unthinkable that the present conflict between good and evil should last throughout eternity. Judgment means that evil will be disposed of authori tatively, decisively, finally. Judgment means that in the end God’s will will be perfectly done” (Leon Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment, Grand Rapids, 1960, p. 72). The corollary of this is that he who opposes God and His will is doomed to judgment. In the N6w Testament we are struck first of all with the fact that “all judg ment is given unto the Son” (John 5:22). Peter explains that it was Jesus who “was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead” (Acts 10:42). Thus the great creed of the church de clares, “From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Thank God, the judgment on sin in general is past. The sin question was forever settled when Jesus Christ “bare our sins in his own body on the tree”
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