Judgment in the Bible

Copyright 1998:
William A. Simpson

Every unsaved person fears the judgment of God.  Some fear Him so much that they remain bitterly angry toward Him all their lives.  Most people believe that there is a single judgment, wherein all mankind, saved and unsaved alike, will be judged in order to have their eternal estates determined.  Indeed, many saved people also believe this.  However, the Bible describes no such judgment.  Rather, the Scriptures delineate at least seven separate judgments, each of which we shall study in some detail in this article.

This fear of the judgment of God motivates the unsaved in one of two ways.  Either they stay far from church in order to avoid hearing about the judgment of God, or they go to church in the hope of having that judgment ameliorated somewhat by their attendance.  Churches that preach and teach the doctrine of salvation by grace apart from any works tend to draw the unsaved with the good news of the gospel.  Churches that preach and teach salvation by good works scare people away from God and make them more fearful.  It is important to understand which of the seven judgments apply to which persons or groups of persons if one is to be an effective witness to the unsaved or teacher to the saved.

     The seven judgments, in order of their appearance in this study are:
                                           (Click on a link below to jump to that topic.)

1.  The Judgment of the Cross 
2.  The Believer's Self-Judgment
3.  The Judgment Seat of Christ
4.  Gentiles Judged at the Second Coming of Christ
5.  Israel Judged at the Second Coming of Christ
6.  Angels Judged Following the Millennium
7.  The Judgment of the Unsaved Dead

(Note that there is no judgment of one Christian by another!)

The Judgment of the Cross  (Back to Top)

     First among the judgments is the judgment of the sins of the world on Calvary.  Speaking of His crucifixion, Jesus said,

"Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out" (Jn 12:31).

He had earlier said,

"...as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already..." (John 3:14-18).

The author of the letter to the Hebrews wrote:

"...we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  And every priest stands ministering daily offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.  But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.  For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (Heb 10:10-14).

Paul tells us that Jesus was raised from the dead because His death proved sufficient to meet the judgment of every sin, and that those who believe are saved and justified.  The result of the judgment of the cross was the death of Christ and the eternal justification of believers.  Jesus Christ personally became the propitiation (that which satisfies) of the Law (Rom 3:25), which demanded death for sin (Rom 6:23). 

By the death of Christ at Calvary, and by the judgment on all sin that ensued, there is no reason for any lost soul to be condemned.   Everyone may be saved, for everyone's sin debt has been paid already in full.   The only requirement in this Age for salvation is faith in the sufficiency of the death of the Son of God to pay for all of one's sins.  In order to prove this, let us understand Jesus' words as quoted above by the Apostle John in chapter 3, verses 14-18.

The words seem enigmatic to one who does not understand the history of the Jews in the wilderness.  But when the context of Jesus' declaration is understood, ah, then the meaning becomes crystal clear.  Here is the story of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness (see Num. 21:4-9).

In the words of Edgar Allen Poe, "It was many and many years ago in a kingdom by the sea..."  In this case, however, the kingdom was Egypt, and the sea was the Red Sea.  For four hundred and thirty years the Jews had been enslaved by the Egyptians, making bricks for the Pharoahs' palaces, and possibly helping in the construction of the pyramids.  Centuries before their arrival in Egypt, God had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, and there they settled.  But they fled that land in the face of a famine.  To Egypt they went, where they were at first received as guests, but where they later became beasts of burden, laboring night and day as slaves at Pharoah's whim.

God sent Moses back into Egypt after a self-imposed exile of forty years with a message for Pharaoh:  "Let My people go!"   It took some serious persuasion, even to the death of the first-born in all the land of Egypt, but Pharaoh finally relented and let the Jews go.  After they had left their camps and homes in Egypt, Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to go after them and bring them back to slavery.  Of course, this is when Moses parted the waters of the Red Sea and led the Jews across on dry land into the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula.   The waters closed on Pharoah's armies as they attempted to pursue the Jews across the sea, and the Jews escaped into the wilderness, where they were bound to wander for forty years.

In the desert wilderness, the Jews could not grow crops, and God provided "manna" for them to eat.  They soon began to grow tired of the manna (The word "manna" means "What is it?") which God provided for their nourishment.   It was  too arid a place to grow gardens adequate to feed the two million Jews.  After many days of eating nothing but manna, the Jews began to grumble against Moses and against God.  "We'd have been better off," they said, "to have remained in Egypt where we had onions and garlics and vegetables aplenty."  They grumbled and they groused, and their complaints reached unto heaven.

Think about it now.  God had parted the Red Sea, and had done many miracles in their sight to relieve them from their terrible enslavement, and even then was leading them inexorably toward the promised land.  And they complained bitterly.  How like so many of us, whose promised land is the New Jerusalem, and yet who spend our lives complaining about how bad we have it here in this life of toil, travail and service.  This life is not supposed to be fun, but diligence in study and labor.  All the promise of reward hinges not on the parties we attend or the monuments we build to our names, but our crowns depend upon the fruit we bear.   But let us go back to the desert!

The Jews murmured against God.  After awhile, God had enough, and sent a plague of snakes into the Jewish camps.  The snakes began striking the Jews and killing them.  The poor, complaining Jews were dying in droves.  Moses fashioned a serpent out of bronze and fastened it to a pole.  He raised this bronze serpent high into the air on its pole, so that all could see it.   Every Jew who gazed on that serpent and trusted God found that his temporal life was spared.  He did not perish from the serpent's bite.

It ought to be noted that bronze is often associated in the Scriptures with judgment.  The bronze altar of burnt offering, the bronze laver, the sockets of bronze for the curtains of the court of the tabernacle -- all these are associated with the judgment of sin.  Of course, it should also be noted that the serpent is a frequent symbol of evil or sin in the Bible (see Gen. 3:1-15; Rev 12:9).  

It is impossible that the Jews understood the spiritual significance in the lifting up of the serpent.  But if they looked upon it, they lived.  That incident was necessary if Jesus were to use it in reference to His own crucifixion.  It had to happen in order to foreshadow Christ's death on the cross.  He, bearing all our sin -- indeed, becoming sin for us -- would be lifted up on the cross to die in our stead, so that those who believe in Him would be accounted righteous, and would be saved, given eternal life.  One of the reasons that God provided a desert wilderness in which to place the Jews was to make manna necessary, knowing that they would complain about it, so that He could use the snakes for their chastisement, so that Moses could foreshadow Christ's death on the cross in the bronze serpent, so that Jesus could use that incident as an illustration of the saving power of His death.  Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

The judgment of the cross was absolutely essential if anyone were to be saved.  There are none who are good enough on their own merit to get to heaven by their works.  If poor Mother Teresa were counting on all her good labors to get her past the pearly gates, not trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross, she will not make it.  Jesus is both the Way and the Door.  There is no other fountain of salvation found in the Bible except through the judgment of sin on the cross.  On the basis of the Judgment of the Cross, every believer is eternally secure, and need never worry about losing his salvation (Rom 4:7-8; 5:1; 8:1; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal 3:13; Heb 10:10, 14-17).  Having been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, every Christian can say with Paul "I have been crucified with Christ," so that the judgment executed upon our sin in Him was also executed upon us, freeing us from the Law and separating us to God.  Jesus was offered once for the sins of the world, and we were in Him when he was slain.  The judgment of the cross, then, is the altar upon which every sin of every human being who ever lived was judged.  Sins will be judged no more.  People do not go to hell for being sinners, but for being unbelievers.  (See also the church's sites on salvation, sin, and our doctrinal statement.)

The Believer's Self-Judgment  (Back to Top)

     The church at Corinth was arguably the most decadent church in the entire realm of Christendom;  saved people, but hedonistic and vulgar.  In their partaking of the Lord's Supper, they came with no consciousness of their own sin, so that they excused themselves of any wrongdoing.   They were feasting and their hearts were vile, both toward a right walk and in their attitudes toward the poor.  Sexual immoralities characterized them, and their observation of this ordinance of the Church was with every form of evil unrecognized among them.  It was as though they celebrated Christ's death without any personal application of the reasons for it.  As though their own sins had no part in causing such a great death as this.

In his first letter to this degenerate and divided church, Paul wrote that this attitude toward both sin and Christ's death had already been chastened most severely by God, in some cases with the physical death of the believer.   He uses this passage to show that we ought not observe the ordinances of the Church without the greatest reverence and solemnity, judging ourselves unworthy, but Christ as worthy, who died for us.  He said to those reveling lusters:

"For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged" (1 Cor 11:31).

He goes on to say:

"But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor 11:32).

He had previously said:

"But let a man examine himself..." (1 Cor 11:28).

God does not condemn His children.  He loves us.  But like every loving father, our heavenly Father chastens His children.   If we respond to the chastisement by turning our hearts and thoughts back to Him, we are immediately restored to all the blessings of full fellowship with Him.  If we do not, the pressure is gradually increased.  If God, who can see the future much more perfectly than we can see even the present, determines that we will not again be fruitful on the earth, He takes us to Himself through physical death.  This is true at least where the Lord's Supper is concerned, and it is congruous to understand that this is the norm for all the sins of the believer.

However, no Christian can ever be condemned on account of his sin.  If he could be condemned, it would mean that Jesus had not paid the penalty for those sins.  Rather, chastisement is a corrective measure, providing opportunity for the fleshly Christian to examine himself and to judge himself, looking again to God for restoration, sustenance and blessing.  The way to avoid chastisement altogether is to constantly examine ourselves to judge whether we are in the spirit or the flesh.

The believer's self-judgment has not to do with condemnation, but with usefulness to God.  It has to do with the measure of the believer's reward, the fruitfulness of his ministry, the blessings that he receives in this life, and the gold, silver and precious stones he lays up in heaven.  It is not so much a judgment of individual sins as it is an examination of the state in which one finds himself.  The believer inevitably finds himself a sinner, but looks immediately to the cross, and to the Author and Finisher of our faith, whom he also begins again to serve.  The saved person who does not judge himself and find himself wanting is not a fruitful Christian, nor one whose understanding can possibly lend itself to spirituality or faith.  It is not a judgment whereby we avoid condemnation, but chastisement, and applies only to children of God.  The unsaved need not bother.

The Judgment Seat of Christ  (Back to Top)

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.  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.

     It would be better for the saved person to go ahead and die early than to live out a long and fruitless life, doing only those works that will burn up in the fires of testing.  At death the Christian goes immediately into the presence of God, where he knows full well the great love of God that he did not contemplate on earth.  For the unsaved, death is the beginning of torment, but for the believer, it is the beginning of eternal bliss.  However, for the Christian who studies and worships and testifies to the goodness and grace of God, it is far better to stay alive on the earth for as long as possible, that he might have more time to lay up gold, silver and precious stones in heaven.

The Church Age began in the moment that the Jews rejected Jesus (see Mt 12), although the Church itself was not actually formed until the day of Pentecost, following Jesus' death and resurrection.  From the formation of the Church until the end of the Age, every saved person who dies goes consciously to heaven, though his body remains behind.  At the end of the Age, he will be reunited with his resurrected and glorified body, joined together with living Christians (who have been suddenly changed), and will leave the earth to meet the Lord in the air.

The event described in the preceding sentence, the removal of the Church, living and dead, from the earth, is commonly called the rapture of the Church.   It is really the second phase of the first resurrection, and pertains only to those believers who have lived during this special mystery age, the Church Age.  No Old Testament saints are raised at that time, and certainly no unbelievers, whose resurrection is yet future.  The resurrection and translation at the rapture of the Church applies only to Christians.  So also does the ensuing judgment, the Judgment Seat of Christ, or "Bema," apply only to those who are Christians.

Whether this judgment occurs in the air immediately prior to our ascent into heaven, or whether it occurs once we get to heaven is unclear.   However, it is the first event scheduled for the Church Age saints once the Age ends.  We know that it occurs at the beginning of our eternal estate because of the following Scriptures:

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. Then each one's praise will come from God.  (1 Cor 4:5)

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Tim 4:8) 

And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.  (Rev 22:12)

Neither do we know how long a time is occupied by this judgment of the believers' works.  With God, all things are possible.  It may be that it will occur instantaneously, or it may also be a grand event that unfolds with a great sense of drama.  In either case, the issue is not the salvation of the believer, but his works, the things done in the body for the sake of Christ and in His name.  The result of this judgment will be either reward or the loss of reward.  Paul addresses the issue again in his second letter to Corinth:

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.  Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.  (2 Cor 5:10-11)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.   Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  (2 Cor 5:17-21)

Notice in the first reference that Paul says, "Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men."  It could fairly be argued that this means that Paul persuaded men of the terror of the Lord.  However, the succeeding passage makes clear just what Paul is saying that we persuade men of.  It is nothing less than the word of reconciliation.  It is easily understood that every Christian has a ministry, and that everyone's ministry revolves around the word of reconciliation.  That is, we are all on this earth for a particular reason, to be ambassadors for Christ.  The judgment seat of Christ determines how well one has performed his or her own particular ministry in this life.  It is not about how good we have been, but how steadfast we have been in our ministries.

The reward one receives at the judgment seat of Christ is based upon the measure of his fulfillment of his role as an ambassador for Christ.  That being so, we ought to seek to understand what that role entails.  It is simple, really.  Paul told the church at Corinth that we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.  That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.  Our responsibility in this life revolves around the message of the cross.  It entails our telling others about the saving grace of God, pleading with them to be reconciled to God, not through any goodness on their parts, but on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf at Calvary.  The judgment seat of Christ does not deal with the sins of the believer, not with his salvation, but with his work, his own ministry.

Some will say, "But I'm not confident enough in my knowledge of the Scriptures to witness to other people."   Why not?  What did Paul say to Timothy? "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" (2 Tim 2:15 KJV).

Others may say, "But I don't have time to study like that."  Really?  What a dangerous statement.  It won't land you in hell, but it will certainly cost you a measure of reward.

Others will say, "I'm too shy to talk to other people about Jesus."  The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews said, "Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward" (Heb 10:35).

The bottom line is that the devil will give us nine million excuses for not fulfilling our ministries, but when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, the single issue will be:  "What have you done with the talents I gave you?" 

Having put the terror of the Lord in you, now let us ease the blow a bit.  There are many types and forms of ministry.  Not everyone is Billy Graham or Billy Sunday.  Not everyone is Charles Stanley.  Not everyone writes with the clarity of a John Walvoord or a Dwight Pentecost.  Relatively few Christians have the theological understanding of Cyrus Scofield or the drive of Lewis Sperry Chafer.  There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.  We are not responsible to fulfill the ministries of other men, but only our own.  Every Christian receives spiritual gifts whereby he may fulfill his ministry.  And every Christian is responsible to exercise and use those gifts for the furtherance of the gospel in this life.  The issue of spiritual gifts is covered in a separate article in this web site, and will only be touched upon here as it relates to rewards at the judgment seat of Christ.

Some have the gift of teaching.  By preparing others and equipping them for their own ministries, he shares in their ministries and their rewards.  But he ought to be careful what he teaches, lest his students are fruitless themselves (see Jas 3:1).  Others have gifts of administration, which they use to make the outreach of the church more fruitfully efficient.  Still others have the gift of giving, whose work is to provide the resources to the church to make the corporate work of the whole assembly possible.  Yet again, others have the office of pastor, whose job is to shepherd the flock he oversees, to ensure that each member is prepared and equipped to utilize his own gifts to the fullest.  To Timothy, Paul wrote, "But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Tim 4:5).  Based upon what we know of the judgment seat of Christ, Paul might have written that to every Christian, for we have all been given the ministry of reconciliation.

It should be pointed out that the exhortation to study is among the most important instructions to the Christian.   If one works diligently to support his church, serving as deacon and teaching Sunday School, and playing on the softball team and giving all his income to the church, and that church does not teach sound doctrine, what has it all been worth?  Nothing.   It will all go up in smoke.  And how shall a man know what sound doctrine is unless he himself is a serious student of the Bible?  Shall he make such an important determination on the basis of whether people in the church are pleasant to him?  Does the eloquence of the preacher factor into his decision?  Should a man choose a church on the basis of political correctness?  My friends, the single issue in determining where a person should attend and serve must be the quality of the doctrine.  Does the church teach a social gospel, or does it adhere to its sole purpose of equipping saints for the work of the ministry? (see EPH 4:12)  The devil has many more churches than Christ does, and they are all pleasant.  They all pay lip service to God.  They all exhort the believer to goodness and morality.  They all leave out the blood of the cross, the word of reconciliation.  Dear ones, if the focus of your church is on the believer and not on the Head, then you need to rethink your allegiance and find a church whose doctrine glorifies God and not man.

There are those who will hear their Savior say, "Well done, good and faithful servant," at the judgment seat of Christ.  It will be those who have attended to their own ministries in spite of their responsibilities in the world.  We need not sell all our possessions and sit on a mountaintop somewhere waiting for the coming of the Lord, but we simply must attend to the responsibilities given to us as ministers of the word of reconciliation.  If you are supporting a church whose function is to improve the lives of its members, then you are supporting the work of the devil.  Study, study, study, that you may know sound doctrine and find a church that teaches it, for therein will you find ministry that will allow you to lay up treasure in heaven, which you will receive at the judgment seat of Christ.

Ought we to serve God for the purpose of laying up treasure in heaven?  Shouldn't our reason for serving be to somehow repay God for all that He has done for us?  And what shall we give Him?   What do we own, that we may give gifts to God?  We have nothing to give.   The Bible is very clear on this.  We are to seek that heavenly treasure.   We are to desire it and to work hard in order to receive as much of it as possible.   What did Jesus say?

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mt 6:19-21).

And what was Paul's motivation for his service?

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:14).

Crowns are uniformly held out as the reason for our labors and the motivation for our service:

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown (1 Cor 9:25).

Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved  (Phil 4:1).

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?  (1 Th 2:19)

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing  (2 Tim 4:8).

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;  nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away  (1 Pet 5:2-4).

As with the spiritual gifts, rewards are dealt with elsewhere in this web site, but enough is shown here to suggest that our reason for service is to receive the rewards for our labors.

Finally, it should be noted that many will suffer the loss of reward at the judgment seat of Christ.  Note that the Bible does not say that we will enjoy the loss of this reward.  Even though this judgment takes place in heaven, there will be suffering.  Oh, the deep shame of standing before Christ, who died for us, and having no works that will pass through the fires of His judgment.  We shall still be saved.  Our eternal estates will still be heaven and not hell, but in that moment of judgment, there will be anguish and sorrow.   We shall see the heaps of gold, silver and precious stones that were reserved for us, which we shall not receive.  We shall review the many opportunities that God gave us to serve Him in this life, and see our failure to do so.  Those souls to whom we ought to have ministered and did not will be the witness against us.  If they were to be saved through our ministry, they will be saved anyway, for their salvation does not depend upon us but upon God, who will simply use someone else to minister to them.   But the reward that would have been ours will go to someone else, and we will know assuredly that we ought to have done our jobs while we were on the earth.

The key to the Christian walk and responsibility lies in having as the goal of our lives to hear our Lord and Savior say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  The good servant is the one who does the work assigned to him, and that work is the work of the ministry of the word of reconciliation.  As Paul said to Timothy, "Fulfill your ministry.  Do the work of an evangelist."  There is a judgment day coming, and for the Church, it does not involve the sin question, but the service issue.

Gentiles Judged at the Second Coming of Christ
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This judgment does not include anyone who was saved during the Church Age, but it involves those Gentiles who lived on the earth during that time, who also lived at the end of the Age and through the Tribulation.  Those unsaved Gentiles who died before or during the Tribulation will not be judged until the last judgment, the judgment of the great white throne.  The judgment of the Gentiles at the Second Coming of Christ involves those Gentiles who have survived the Tribulation and are about to enter the Kingdom Age.   Let us read the Scriptures.

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.   All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' 

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?   'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 

And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' 

Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;  'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' 

Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 

Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Mat 25:31-46)

The prophet Joel tells us (3:2) that this judgment takes place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.  There are several views as to where this valley will actually be found, but the consensus seems to be that it cannot be positively identified today.   Perhaps the most plausible explanation is that it will be the valley that is formed by the splitting of the Mount of Olives when Jesus descends to the earth (see Zech 14:4).  But it is also possible that this judgment will occur in the plains of Megiddo, where the armies of the earth are assembled for the final assault on Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation.  Ultimately, it is not as important to understand where the judgment takes place as it is to understand who is judged and the basis for their judgment.

It seems clear that there is no resurrection associated with this judgment, for none is mentioned.  Furthermore, those Gentiles who have died unsaved previously are not to be resurrected until the Great White Throne judgment at the end of the millennial kingdom.  The Old Testament saints are to be raised following the Tribulation, but they are not Gentiles.  And the Tribulation saints are to be raised at the beginning of the Kingdom Age, but their salvation is already assured by their faith, as demonstrated in not receiving the mark of the beast.  Therefore, it seems that this judgment involves those Gentiles who have survived the Tribulation and are alive at the Second Coming of the Jewish Messiah.

The passage itself makes clear that this judgment is to be based on the treatment by the "nations" (GK: ethnos, or peoples, races) of the brethren of the Lord, the Jews.   Hitler will not be present at this judgment, but that greater persecutor of the Jews, the Antichrist, will certainly be.  In addition, all those Gentiles who lived during the Tribulation will be there, and will be judged on the basis of whether they assisted Israel during the time of persecution or were numbered among the persecutors.

One of the purposes of the Tribulation is to punish the Gentiles for partitioning the land that God gave to Israel (see Joel 3:2).  While the United Nations has already been involved in the partitioning of the holy land, the partitioning that is spoken of here is that which is a part of a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement to be brokered by the nation of the beast between Israel and her contiguous neighbors.  This treaty will guarantee the security of Israel, and will deal with the division of the land -- probably into a Palestinian state, and possibly even to the point of dividing Jerusalem again in accordance with U.N. mandate 242 (the original partitioning, which took place in 1948).  Whatever the case, though Israel is now partitioned, there will be a further revision of this partition into that which is brokered by the Antichrist.  The ratification of this agreement will mark the beginning of the Tribulation, and will culminate in the Second Coming of the Lord to reestablish Israel's proper borders and to reign as King over, not only a reconstituted Israel, but over the entire earth.

At the end of the Tribulation, the living Gentiles will be gathered together in one place for judgment.   Those who sought Israel's deliverance from persecution will be saved and enter the Kingdom Age as the sheep.  Those who were numbered among Israel's persecutors will be cast into everlasting punishment as the goats.

However, lest it be thought that these Gentiles are saved by their works, let it also be noted that the Jews (at least some of them) will be preaching the gospel during the Tribulation (also called "The Time of Jacob's Trouble").  Their message will be twofold, both to the Jews and to the Gentiles:  They will be announcing the coming Kingdom of their Messiah, and they will be teaching that His death on the cross has opened the way of salvation to all men.  Jews and Gentiles alike during the Tribulation will be saved on the basis of their faith in the gospel as presented by the witnesses who preach in their day.  Salvation is ever by God's grace, through faith in the message preached, not only in this present dispensation, but in every age.  During the Tribulation, those who accept the message brought to them by the Jews will also accept the Jews themselves, and will seek to assist them as they might against an evil persecutor and a wicked world.

Israel Judged at the Second Coming of Christ  (Back to Top)

Perhaps a bit of history would be appropriate in the beginning of this section.  Since approximately 600 B.C., Israel has been in dispersion throughout the world.  Many times in many places has God promised to restore them to the land one day.  We know that this restoration will take place at the beginning of Messiah's kingdom, when every living Jew will be returned to the land, and will dwell there for the entire term of Christ's reign of one thousand years.  But since Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, invaded Israel nearly 2,600 years ago, the Jews have been settled all over the world.  

Men have attempted to bring this restoration about early, most notably through U.N. mandate 242 in 1948, which established a nation called Israel again, but there remain Jews in every nation on earth.   During Messiah's kingdom, every living Jew will again be in the land which God promised to Abraham millennia ago.  At the beginning of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will attempt to fulfill God's promises to Israel himself, thereby thwarting God's purposes and gaining the glory for himself.  However, even then, many Jews will remain settled among the nations of the earth.

Roughly three and a half years after the Antichrist makes a covenant guaranteeing the security of the Jews in the land, he will break the treaty and begin a terrible persecution of the Jews.  Almost every Jew who then lives in Israel will be killed.  In addition, many who live among the nations will be killed.  But not every Jew will be killed.  There will remain a remnant of Jews around the world and in the holy land.  These will be judged at the Second Coming of Christ, probably just prior to the judgment of the Gentiles.   The prophecy of this judgment is found in Ezekiel.

I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 

And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face.   Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you, says the Lord GOD. 

I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;  I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezek 20:34-38)

Those rebels which the prophet spoke of will be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 25:30).  Those Jews who heeded the words of the witnesses will be saved, and will enter into the land to serve during the Kingdom Age.  The estate of the faithful Jews is described more eloquently by the Scriptures than any mortal editor could pen them:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.  Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.

Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this, says the Lord GOD, let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!  'Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, 'This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.' Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.

Thus says the Lord GOD: I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock. Like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.  (Ezek 36:26-38)

There are many passages of Scripture which deal with the restoration of Israel to the land that God promised Abraham, and all of them speak of a glory unparalleled in Israel's history.  At that time, not a single Jew will be found living anywhere in the world except in Israel, and all of the covenant blessings will be theirs thenceforth.  Consider these words from the Prophet Isaiah:

Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.  For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.

The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.  Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side.  Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,

The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.  The multitude of camels shall cover your land, The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD.  All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; They shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, And I will glorify the house of My glory.

Who are these who fly like a cloud, And like doves to their roosts?  Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; And the ships of Tarshish will come first, To bring your sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, To the name of the LORD your God, And to the Holy One of Israel, Because He has glorified you. 

The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, And their kings shall minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, But in My favor I have had mercy on you.

Therefore your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night, That men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, And their kings in procession.  For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined. 

The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, The cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I will make the place of My feet glorious.

Also the sons of those who afflicted you Shall come bowing to you, And all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; And they shall call you The City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, So that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, A joy of many generations.  You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, And milk the breast of kings; You shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, Instead of iron I will bring silver, Instead of wood, bronze, And instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, And your magistrates righteousness.  Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation, And your gates Praise. 

The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory.  Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the LORD will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended.  Also your people shall all be righteous; They shall inherit the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.  A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.  (Isa 60)

It is amazing that the holders of such great and wonderful promises could turn as one against the God who made them.  Yet, the heart of fallen man is hard, deceiving the mind in its iniquity.   Having slain the Messiah that God sent to them, they have been in rebellion for many generations.  Much chastisement has befallen them, but they have not hearkened to the Word of God.  It does not speak to the glory of the Jews that God will yet restore them to favor and great blessing, but to the goodness and the mercy of a longsuffering God.  He will bring them low during the Tribulation, the Time of Jacob's Trouble, but He will restore them to a special relationship with Himself wherein God will again be their King.  Those who do not respond to the chastisement of the the Tribulation will be cast into outer darkness to suffer forever, but those who repent and acknowledge the One whom their forefathers slew, ah, these will inherit blessings that no other nation on earth has ever known.

Angels Judged Following the Millennium   (Back to Top)

And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;  (Jude 1:6)

God created the angels before He created the earth.  That, at least, seems to be the consensus of opinion among conservative theologians, though the Bible does not really say when they were created.   The theory does make sense.  Among the countless heavenly hosts, one angel stands out, Lucifer, a cherub, the highest of the angels in rank and power and wisdom and authority.  Lucifer, whose name means brightness, was just beneath God Himself in the heavenly hierarchy, and controlled all of the created realm.  The glory of God shone through him in all its brightness and splendor. 

Lucifer rebelled against God, determining that, since he was running the whole show anyway, he may as well receive the glory for it.  We read of this in two key passages, Ezek 28:12-19, and Isa 14:12-17.   Let us turn to the Scriptures.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,   Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?  (Isa 14:12-17)

Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord GOD:

You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.  You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.

You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.  You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.

By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. 

You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.  All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.  (Ezek 28:12-19)

His heart lifted up with pride, Lucifer decided that he would supplant the Creator in glory and authority.   What arrogance to think that the created might overpower the Creator.  Yet, this is what happened.   Angels beyond number followed this wicked rebel, turning against that One who had made them and placed them in such an exalted position.   These are the angels to whom Jude referred in his epistle.

It is often proposed that Lucifer (Satan) will rule in hell, that he will calmly feed coals into the furnace as the suffering throngs scream.  Not so.  His place will not be the highest in the heavens, as he supposed, but the lowest in the tooth-gnashing regions of hell.  His punishment will be severe and eternal.  He will be held in the vilest contempt by all who see him, and his followers amongst the angels will not be far above him.

This judgment takes place at the end of the millennial kingdom, just before the setting up of the great white throne in the heavens preparatory to the judgment of fallen and unsaved men.  Since we are told that we shall judge the angels (1 Cor 6:3), it stands to reason that we shall be seated beside the Judge on that day, and will see the deposit of those villains into the fiery chasm.  What wonders await the children of God;   what horrors, the children of the evil one.  It is to the glory of God that not all of the angels followed the deceiver.  Many countless hosts remained true to their God, knowing that Lucifer could not succeed.  Surely, these will join us in watching the destruction of Satan and his minions.

The Judgment of the Unsaved Dead  (Back to Top)

Doomsday.  The world little understands the prophetic scheme of things.  Whenever a Christian begins to speak of prophecy, the mind of the unsaved jumps immediately to the final judgment, and the heart begins to recoil with fear and revulsion.  Indeed, it well ought to be so.   For, though there are many prophetic utterances which will affect the unsaved in their unfolding, none has the permanent and eternal effect that the final judgment shall have upon those who share the distinct misfortune of having died without accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.  This is the last of the seven judgments, and the only one which pertains to the unsaved and their eternal estate.  Let us set the stage.

Time will have reached its terminus.  All that will be done on this old earth will have been done.  Mankind will have run through all its generations.  Gentile world dominion will have ended a thousand years previously, and Jesus will have Himself ruled in perfect righteousness and peace for that last thousand years.  Satan will have been bound in the abyss during that millennial kingdom, but will have been released to lead a great rebellion.  That rebellion will have been put down summarily with fire from heaven, so that every unsaved person from Adam's day until the last moments of human history will have died.  Every single, solitary lost soul will be dead, and every saved person will have already been resurrected or translated, so that there will no longer be any mortals on the earth who remain alive.  Surely, heaven and earth will hold its collective breath as it awaits this climactic moment when God shall execute judgment upon those who rejected the free salvation that has been offered to all for lo these many centuries.

The only souls who will be in their graves at that time will be the souls of the lost.  There will surely be countless bodies littering the land around Jerusalem, casualties of Satan's final rebellion against the sovereignty of God over His creation.  If the hearts of the lost recoil today when they hear the name of God, how they will squirm and wail in horror when He calls them forth from their graves to face the awful reality of that great Day.

A great white throne will be set up in the heavens.  We are not told whether this throne will be in the atmospheric heavens, the starry heavens, or in the third heaven, the dwelling place of God.  It seems unlikely that it will be the third heaven, for then the unsaved would appear there, and there will no place be found for the lost in that, our wondrous home(see Rev 21:27).  Wherever in the heavens it does appear, God Himself has declared that it will be a great throne.  What God calls great must far surpass the imaginations of mortals, so that we can only know that it will be great indeed.  All of the saved from every generation of men will be gathered around this throne to watch in silent awe as God calls forth from their graves the unsaved dead to stand before Him in abject despair and be judged.  Let the Scriptures speak:  

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. {12} 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. {13} 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.   (Rev 20:11-13)

Books were opened.  How very dreadful to have the books of one's works opened in the Hand of God.  There will be written all their thoughts and deeds and intents.  Each individually will stand before the great God and review every moment of their lives.  No one's book will be missing; there will be no escape.  But before those books are reviewed, there will one other book be opened, the Book of Life. 

Every soul born to man will have been written in that great book, that everlasting volume.  Those who remain in the Book of Life will be with God to take part in this judgment.  But as we scan down the long list of the names of those born to women, we will encounter many, many blank lines.  If the lines are empty, what shall be the condition of the hearts of those whose names had once been there?

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. (Rev 3:5)

Those whose names have been blotted out shall not hear the confession of their names by our Lord before His Father.   In the instant in which they observe that their names have been blotted out of the Book of Life, they shall see the slain Lamb of God take up the books of their works, to judge them.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  (Rev 13:8)

Remarkable.  Here the lost are, standing before God awaiting judgment and eternal condemnation.  In the instant between their realization that their names have been blotted out of the Book of Life and the time of their judgment; ah, in that instant, they will see God and worship Him.  Despite the certainty of their damnation, they will be unable to evade the compulsion to worship the great God.  Their hearts and lips shall shout His praises until He silences them that they might be judged.  It is now too late.

Having failed in their earthly lives to believe the Word of God, they must be judged for their works.  From Adam and Eve's day forward, atonement for sin has been made through the shedding of innocent blood.  From whence came those coats of skin in the garden of Eden?   Animals were slain.  It was because Cain offered a bloodless sacrifice that his offering was rejected.  It took the killing of an unblemished lamb in the land of Egypt for the Jews to avoid the judgment of the killing of the first-born in Egypt.   Under the Law, all down through the centuries from Moses to Christ, the Jews sacrificed countless animals in order to atone for their sins.  And then the Lamb of God was sacrificed, and all the sins of the world were paid for.

If their sins were paid for at Calvary, why are the books of the works of the lost being used for their judgment before the Great White Throne?  Because, my friend, they rejected the one and only payment for their sins that would have allowed their escape from condemnation.  Jesus did indeed pay for their sins, but they rejected that payment in favor of their own good deeds, seeking to save themselves without reference to the cross.  The books of their works are opened to show them that they were indeed sinners.  Having rejected the provision that God had made to atone for their sins, they must now face the judgment for them themselves.  God, glorifying Himself, made salvation a free gift.  These, seeking to glorify themselves and not God, determined not to accept this free gift, but rather to stand on their own merit.  How very arrogant.  That arrogance condemns them.

And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:15)