The final stage of eternal judgment

The Scripture tells us about the final judgment

The final judgment will take place at the return of Christ on the last day. All people will stand before the judgment seat of Christ in resurrected bodies and hear his verdict on their eternal destiny.

God overlooked people’s former ignorance about these things, but now he commands everyone everywhere to turn away from idols and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead (Acts 17:30-31)

For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies. (2 Cor.5:9-10)

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.Then the King will say to those on the right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,you were doing it to me!’

“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his demons! For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me anything to drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me no clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’And he will answer, ‘I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:31-26:1)

And I saw a great white throne, and I saw the one who was sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done.The sea gave up the dead in it, and death and the gravegave up the dead in them. They were all judged according to their deeds.And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:11-21:1)

Jesus Christ will be the judge

The apostle Paul speaks of “Christ Jesus—who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:1). Likewise the apostle Peter is saying that Jesus Christ Jesus is ordained of God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead(Acts 10:42). It is the Father who has given this right to judge the whole universe to his Son (John 5:26-27).

All unbelievers will be judged

It is clear from the Scripture quotations above that all unbelievers, great and small, will stand before the Christ in judgment.

For there is going to come a day of judgment when God, the just judge of all the world, will judge all people according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who persist in doing what is good, seeking after the glory and honour and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds. (Rom. 2:5-8)

This judgment of unbelievers will include degrees of punishment because people will be judged according to what they have done. The judge will evaluate their entire lives and all their works and Jesus clearly tells us that some will receive a greater condemnation than others (see Luke 12:47-47; 20:47; Matthew 11:22, 24). In fact, every word spoken and deed done will be remembered and taken into account of in the punishment meted out on that day (Matthew 12:36; Ecclesiastes 12:14). On the day of judgment, the secrets of people’s hearts will be revealed and made public, for God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ (Romans 2:6; Luke 8:17; 12:2-3).

All believers will be judged

In writing to the believers in Rome the apostle Paul says:

“Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God. Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God.” (Rom. 14:10-12)

It is important to realise that this judgment of the believers will be a judgment to evaluate and give various degrees of reward, but the fact that we will face such a judgment should never cause us to fear because we know there will be no condemnation for who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). Those who believe in Christ have already passed from death to life and do not come to a judgment of condemnation (John 5:24).

However, the word of God tells us that our life and work will be tested and that we are even in danger of losing our reward:

Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw.But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value.If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames. (1 Cor.3:11-15)

Many passages in the Scripture imply degrees of reward for what we have done in this life (2 Corinthians 5:10; Luke 19:17, 19; Matthew 6:20-21; Galatians 6:9-10; Revelation 11:18 and many others). It is difficult to understand what the varying degrees of reward will be like, but Daniel 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 seem to say that one way it will be seen is in the degree of radiating glory given to our resurrection bodies.

One thing must be clear: Even though there will be degrees of reward in heaven, the joy of each person will be full and complete for eternity. However, it would be morally and spiritual beneficial for us to have a greater consciousness of the clear teaching of Jesus and the apostles on degrees of heavenly reward. Rather than making us competitive with each other, it should cause us to help and encourage each other in order that we may all increase our heavenly reward (Hebrew 10:24-25). If we have a right attitude in the seeking of future heavenly reward it will motivate us to work wholeheartedly for the Lord at whatever task he calls us to, whether great or small, paid or unpaid. It will motivate us to build the church according to the desire of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

Angels will be judged

The apostle Peter tells us that the rebellious angels have been thrown into gloomy caves of darkness until the judgment day (2 Peter 2:4), and Jude says that the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged have been kept chained in prisons of darkness by God, waiting for the day of judgment (Jude 6).

All the rebellious angels will be brought to judgment on the last day. Even though the Scripture does not clearly indicate whether righteous angles will undergo some kind of evaluation of their service as well, it is very plausible that it will happen. The apostle Paul says that we will help in the work of judging angels (1 Corinthians 6:3) and it is probable that this includes the good angels of God as well.

The judgment will be absolutely fair and righteous

The Scripture is very clear that God will be entirely just in his judgment and no one will be able to complain against him on that day. God has no favourites and shows no partiality when he judges, he will judge or reward everyone according to what one has done (1 Peter 1:17; Romans 2:11). Therefore, on the last day of judgment every mouth will be stopped and no one will have any excuses and the entire world will be held accountable before God (Romans 3:19). In fact, one of the greatest blessings of the final judgment will be that the believers and angels will see the absolutely pure justice of God demonstrated in millions of lives and this will be a source of praise to him for all eternity.

I heard the sound of a vast crowd in heaven shouting, “Hallelujah! Salvation is from our God. Glory and power belong to him alone.His judgments are just and true.” (Rev. 19:1-2)

Exercise:

What has been the most sobering thing you have learnt today?

How does the teaching on varying degrees of reward in heaven affect you?

Have you been comforted by today’s teaching? In what way?

Continue to memorise the previous Bible verses, and add this one to your list:

For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies (2 Corinthians 5:10)