Trekson said:
Hi NC, I can't find myself agreeing with your conclusions. Your words: "
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” (2 Cor 5:10).
The two phrases, “the things done in the body” and “whether good or bad” can only refer to those who have received Christ and those who have not received Christ. Same as, “They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
I believe there will be a judgment that only believers go through. It's called the Bema Seat judgment. Here is an example of it: 1 Co. 3:12-15 - "
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."
The "bad" as referenced in 2 Co. 5:10 is not evil. It leans toward our motivation and whether or not we'll hear the words, "
Well done, my good and faithful servant." It's also a matter of the distribution of awards, or "crowns".
Your words: "
These are not as the “blessed and holy” who had their “part in the first resurrection” (v 6), but are solely those of the unsaved who “were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev 20:12). I believe the presence of the Book of Life at this time represents evidence to the fact of the absence of their names in it."
I believe at the GWTJ there will be people who are "saved". Not in the born again way but by their works. I believe God is a just and righteous judge and will not damn anyone who never had the possibility of achieving salvation because they never "heard." I also believe that everyone since Adam has the knowledge of "good and evil" within their hearts. Do you honestly believe some poor Chinese farmer or Nubian or Aborigine who never had the opportunity to hear the gospel but was a loving, caring father and husband, a good neighbor who helped those less fortunate than themselves, was honest and hard-working would be sent to hell just because they never had the opportunity to hear of another God, let alone the salvation offered through belief in Christ? I do not. On the reverse, it depends on how they lived. Not hearing of the gospel is no excuse for not abiding by the law of good and evil that is in all of us. There are also who will live and die during the millennial age. I believe the Book of Life is there because God knows all and there will be many listed in there who may receive eternal life. Their destiny is just achieved in a different way than ours, imho.
Hi! 'Trekson'
I very much appreciate your stated comments/insights to this Thread. I'm in full agreement with them.
Hades, (aka: the 'Realm of the Dead'), contains these categories of dead:
a The godless whose consciences are seared and who therefore are forever connected with the evil powers which they served.
b Those of the Old Covenant who were not transferred to the heavenly paradise when Jesus rose from the dead, although they had served God.
c Those who never had the opportunity to know the true God and never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, but who did righteousness and sought for good.
In Revelation 20:12 we read that books will be opened at the last judgment, and also that there is a Book of Life. The dead will then be judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. The Book of Life shows that not all will be sent to the lake of fire.
When at the end of the Millennium the devil is thrown into the Second Death, he leaves behind a legacy, namely his bookkeeping. Until his very end he kept a record of all who had worked for him during their life on earth. The devil has to pay the wages for every lawless act done for him on earth. The 'wages' paid by the devil will bring man into Death. It is not for nothing that the Bible plainly says: "The wages of sin is death", and "Sin when it is full grown brings forth death".
The heavenly Father does not keep these records of sin, for there is not a single reason for Him to do so. This is in keeping with the fact that God is only good, (1John 1:5).
Why would God keep the wage list of those people who did evil and therefore worked for His enemy? Job knew of the bookkeeping of the Evil One, but he also knew himself to be righteous, for which reason his works could not have been recorded on the wage list of the Evil One. He said confidently: "Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary. Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown. I would give him (the devil) account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him." (Job 31:35-37). The 'him' of these verses is not the Almighty, as some Bible translations seem to imply. After all, it would not be fit even for the righteous to approach God as princes.
What will happen with the categories of dead which I mentioned above?
The bible speaks of those who have consciously chosen the side of the Evil One, as it says for instance in John 3:19 "This is the judgment that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." In the day of judgment these godless people will flee away from the presence of the Lord, together with the spirits they are united with. They will throw themselves into the lake of fire, in the outer darkness of the concentration of all the powers of hell.
Then there are the righteous of the Old Covenant who did serve God, yet without paying attention to the unseen world. Their lack of knowledge is expressed by the Preacher when he said: "For the fate of the sons of man and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows (or: observes) that the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth?" (Eccl 3:19-21).
The Preacher was a man who believed only what he could observe with his senses. He served God for this life only, that he might prosper and have a long life, and his children might share in his blessing. He was not righteous as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets were righteous, for he was not interested in the things of heaven. For him there was no unseen world to focus his attention on. Those who lived and thought , as he did would not receive a place in the heavenly paradise. They are put in the same category with the last group.
In the vision of the last judgment we read of "the book of life" in which are recorded the names of those who will not be thrown into the lake of fire but will share in the life that is from God. Even before the birth of Jesus this Book was mentioned in the Old Testament. When Moses interceded for his disobedient people, he said: "Forgive their sin and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." (Ex 32:32). David prayed this prayer about his wicked enemies: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous." (Ps 69:2. So here we already have an indication that man is cut off by the sins he does and not by the condition he is in at the time of his birth. The New Testament follows the same line of thought where it says in Rev 3:5 that those who conquer evil will not be blotted out of the book of life.
The Book of Life therefore contains the names of those who have done deeds of righteousness. It should of course be clear that this is not the perfect righteousness as it is given by Jesus. The dead will be judged "according to what they have done". As for the perfectly righteous, they are in the New Jerusalem and will not come in Hades or in Death. About them the Bible says, that their names are written in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain, (Rev 13:8; 21:27), while to those who do see death it simply applies that a number from among them are recorded in the Book of Life.
Many Christians believe that all who do not believe in Christ will perish forever. Clearly, this view can hardly be maintained of those who were born before the coming of our Lord. And about those who did believe 'in Jesus' we immediately have to ask the question: to what extent did the teachings of Jesus which were preached to them conform to the Christ of Scripture? What kind of Jesus did the people believe in during the Dark Ages? And what of the vast differences between Roman Catholics, Reformed, Methodists, and Full Gospel Christians, not to mention the Jehovah Witnesses, Adventists, and Mormons? Surely, we are not dealing with a magic denominational name by which we are saved, but rather with meaningful faith in the Name of Jesus! How many people really know Jesus the Savior, the Healer, the Restorer and the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit?
The last Judgment is for this third category of people who never heard the pure "Word of God" preached to them. Yet they did what the law of God commanded, and their conscience often functioned quite adequately despite its shortcomings. In this context Paul mentioned the Gentiles who do by nature what the law requires, (Rom 2:14). These Gentiles show a great difference with those mentioned in Romans 1, about whom he said that God had given them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity and a base mind. These people had been surrendered and become a prey of the unclean demons. John 3:36 says: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him." This verse is about the people who hear the true gospel and accept or reject it, as the case may be. I can understand that a rational person rejects a certain way of representation of the gospel, simply because it is contrary to tile most basic rules of justice. A case in point is the doctrine of predestination which relegates certain people to eternal perdition even before they have done either good or evil. The people who teach this doctrine have twisted to their own destruction certain things which Paul said, as Peter knew it would happen.
In the last paragraph of Matthew 25 we read about the people who share in the blessings of the heavenly Father, even though they knew little or nothing of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In their lives these people showed divine qualities, namely compassion and loving kindness. When the Book of Life is opened, judgment is passed upon those in whom the image of God has not completely vanished. Their mind had functioned correctly and their conscience had not been seared. Their hearts were full of love of their fellow men, and they sought for the things God seeks for: salvation and restoration. They were not connected with the pitiless demons, and in the judgment they are therefore not surrendered to the lake of fire. James the apostle-said about them: "Mercy triumphs over judgment", or as the Amplified Bible puts it: "Mercy full of glad confidence exults victoriously over judgment", (James 2:13). Mercy shown to the least of men is regarded by the Lord as having been shown to Himself. His Gospel is founded on the love and mercy of God, and Paul said that God will judge the secrets of men according to His gospel, (Rom 2:16). An example of this type of person is Ebed Melech the Ethiopian who showed mercy to Jeremiah by carefully lifting him out of the pit he had been thrown in. Another is the Samaritan who showed mercy to his 'fellow man', 'one of the least of these', and helped him on his way.' His compassion was not an outward compulsion but an inner need which was part of his inner make-up.
Why did the rich man lift up his eyes in Hades being in torment? Simply because he had failed to comfort and feed Lazarus; he had not paid attention to 'one of the least' among the children of man. Those who show compassion and mercy live in, the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus is preached that the followers of the Master should show mercy in the visible as well as in the heavenlies. True compassion and mercy can only be shown by those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, for the love of God and the gifts of the Spirit enable them to have compassion on their fellow men in the natural as well as in the spiritual natural world. When the book of life is opened, the people recorded there are unable to see a connection between their good works and Jesus Christ. They ask: "Why did we see you?" The 'blessed of the Father' as well as the 'cursed' ask this question. Here we therefore have the separation among those who lived before the coming of the Lord and among those who never heard the true gospel.
There have always been good people among the 'Gentiles' who did not know Jesus. Before he had been converted, the following, testimony was given of a certain Roman soldier: "Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, giving alms liberally to the people, and prayed constantly to God", (Acts 10:1-2). He was a good example of a 'blessed of the Father', a man of good repute among those who knew him. A 'pious' Jew was allowed to remove with his finger a dirty fly from his cup of wine, but had the cup been held by this Roman, he would not have been allowed to drink it, for that meant real contamination! There also was the centurion at Capernaum, of whom the people said that he was worthy to have Jesus do something for him and the Lord was able to do a great work of salvation there!
The last verse of Matthew 25 clearly refers to the final destination of those who were merciful and just in the natural world. They received eternal life. This salvation is possible for them because Jesus, the Lamb of God, died for the sins of the whole world. At the last judgment we see the far horizons of the limitless mercy of our God, who does not wish a single man to perish if he is hungry and thirsty for righteousness.
Does this mean that man has a second chance of salvation? No, for the people who stand before God here have never had a single chance, because the true gospel had never been preached to them. What did our parents know of the glory of the full gospel, seeking for truth and righteousness though they were? If they had heard the real true gospel of Jesus they would have accepted it wholeheartedly, for, this message would have offered them the opportunity to do well not only in the natural world but also in the spiritual realm. Thus they would have been set free from their unseen enemies themselves, and would also have delivered others from their sins, sicknesses and bondages.
After the last judgment those who are written in the book of life and judged according to their works will find their destination on a new earth. With the little children who were unable to distinguish good from evil they form the great category of which the bible says that the glory of the nations has to be brought into the gates of the new Jerusalem.
