Steve Reeves has been working with the brethren at the Benton church of Christ in Benton, IL, for the last three years. He can be reached at SEReeves@aol.com.
At various times in history, God has brought judgments upon mankind. He judged the world of Noah’s day and brought judgments on Israel and Judah for their idolatry. However, apart from these and others, Jesus and the apostles spoke of “the judgment,” “the last day,” and the “day of judgment” that would be a day of reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked.
This event is closely associated in Scripture with three other events (discussed in depth in articles elsewhere in this issue). The second coming of Jesus, the resurrection of all the dead, and the destruction of the earth immediately precede the judgment day. Paul taught that the coming of the Lord would usher in the resurrection day. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16). Though Paul was only addressing what happens to Christians in this passage, Jesus said, “the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28, 29). Thus the resurrection is a one-time event including all the dead, both evil and good. Peter said that the “day of the Lord” (2 Pet. 3:10) which was “his coming” (v. 4) would usher in the destruction of the heavens and the earth which, “being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements … melt with fervent heat” (v. 12). Jesus said His coming was also to bring the final judgment of all mankind, the judgment day. He said, “when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” (Matt. 25:31-33). This “separation,” or judgment, results in the wicked going away “into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life” (v. 46). The close proximity of these events leaves no room for the multiple bodily resurrections of premillennialism, nor is there time for a thousand year earthly reign between the coming of the Lord and the judgment day.
Who Judges?
Paul stated that “we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Rom. 14:10, ASV) and told the Corinthians that, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10). There is no contradiction or confusion on the matter as he explains to the Romans that “God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (2:16). When exhorting the Athenians to repent in light of the judgment day, he said that God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).
Who is Judged?
In John’s vision of the great white throne, he “saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne” (Rev. 20:12). As seen above, when the Son of Man comes and sits on his throne, all nations will be gathered before Him. Jude reveals to us that the “angels that kept not their own principality … he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (1:6). No one will be missing from that day!
The Basis of Judgment
The judgment day will be a “revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life: but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil … but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good … for there is no respect of persons with God” (Rom. 2:5-11). God will not judge prejudicially but will judge according to whether or not we obeyed the truth. We will be judged individually not by families, race, or culture, “that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). While God has spoken to man in different times (dispensations), He now has spoken to us in His Son Jesus (Heb. 1:1, 2). Therefore Jesus says, “the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Only the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to save men’s souls today. If we choose not to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, we will suffer punishment (2 Thess. 1:7-9)!
The Destiny of the Judged
The Scriptures speak of only two destinies or results of the judgment day: heaven or hell. Jesus said that the resurrection would bring forth “those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:29). In Matthew 25:31-46, He said that the cursed “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” The church at Thessalonica was told they would receive “rest” for their afflictions and persecutions in Christ, while those afflicting them would “suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord” at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Upon judgment we will either rest in heaven with eternal life or suffer eternally the anguish of hell.
Jesus spoke of hell as being a place of “eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41), “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48), and where workers of iniquity will endure, “the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28). In Revelation, it is described as “the lake of fire and brimstone” into which the devil and any not found written in the book of life are cast (20:10, 15). In Revelation 14:10-11, we read how the wicked “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 goeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day and night….” This is “the second death” (20:8). There is no annihilation of the wicked soul, only eternal punishment and destruction from the face of the Lord!
The night before Jesus died for the sins of the world he told the disciples, “if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). He was speaking of His ascension into heaven to be with the Father (v. 28). It was there that He would prepare a place for the righteous, not somewhere on a renovated earth. It was there that He wanted them to be also. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God awaiting the time when He will “descend from heaven with a shout … the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (2 Thess. 4:16, 17). He will not come to set up heaven on earth, but rather to gather together unto him the faithful (2 Thess. 2:1). Heaven is the home of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the angels, and it will be the eternal home of the righteous, too!
The judgment day is a serious and sobering event. It is called the last day because it ushers in eternity and when it comes there will be no second chances. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus admonishes us to “watch … for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh … be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh” (24:42-44). He followed this warning with the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins. When the bridegroom came, “they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour” (25:1-13). Once the door is shut (judgment day) there is no second chance! There is a great day coming! Are you watching? Are you ready?