Judgment

[Prentis]

Hi everyone! :)

This is a study I thought I would do on judgment. The popular view today is that there is one judgment, and two possibilities; heaven and hell. A closer study of the scriptures reveals there's more to it!

The idea that there is a 'good' people, and a 'bad' people, in our case the Christians and the non-christians is a very human idea. The story of Israel shows forth how the people called of God can be rejected, and the story of, for example, Rahab, shows that anyone may be accounted righteous thought they be of the nations.

Firstly, we must understand there are two judgments, not one.

[sup]4[/sup] And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a[sup][a][/sup] thousand years. [sup]5[/sup] But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

This remains true to the fact that judgment comes to the house of God first. First the servants of God are judged, some to eternal glory, and some to eternal shame.

 

[Prentis]

[sup]7[/sup] Now when the thousand years have expired, [......][sup]11[/sup] 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. [sup]12[/sup] And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God,[sup][c][/sup] 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. [sup]13[/sup] 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. [sup]14[/sup] Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.[sup][d][/sup] [sup]15[/sup] And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

This then, is another book, that of life. And by it the nations are judged.

So first the saints are judged, some to glory and some to shame, and then the nations are judged. To what?

Life or the second death.

 

[Prentis]

This puts in perspective the parable of the sheep and the goats.

[sup]31[/sup] “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy[sup][c][/sup] angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. [sup]32[/sup] 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.

This parable speaks of the judgment that comes after the thousand year reign. Notice also that the sheep and the goats do no know when they did/didn't serve him.

So there is a judgment for the nations, and some receive life, some suffer the second death.

 

[Prentis]

So to conclude there are two judgments and four destinies.

For those who know Christ, either glory or shame, and for those who do not, life or death.

[sup]9[/sup] Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me[sup][f][/sup] and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”[sup][g][/sup] [sup]10[/sup] And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy[sup][h][/sup] Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, [sup]11[/sup] having the glory of God. [..................][sup]22[/sup] But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. [sup]23[/sup] The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it,[sup][j][/sup] for the glory[sup][k][/sup] of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. [sup]24[/sup] And the nations of those who are saved[sup][l][/sup] shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.[sup][m][/sup] [sup]25[/sup] Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). [sup]26[/sup] And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

As we see, the bride, the saints will live in the New Jerusalem with God, that is, those who overcome. But the nations who are saved, the sheep who did not know Christ, yet clothed him and fed him, will live in the nations, and walk in the light of the city, which is Christ!

God bless you all...