Apocalypse Rising: 25b The Fact of Coming Judgement

The fact of coming judgement

Eternal judgement was seen as a foundational truth in early Christianity, and the apostles preached and taught it clearly:

‘…but now [God] commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.’ (Acts 17:30-31)

‘Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of… eternal judgment.’ (Heb. 6:1-2)

‘Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement…’ (Heb. 9:27)

‘The Lord knows how… to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement.’ (2 Peter 2:9)

However, eternal judgement is something that many preachers rarely seem to touch on these days. Unpalatable and uncomfortable truths such as repentance from hidden sins and coming judgement are sometimes skimmed over or even avoided altogether. And yet they are integral and essential to a biblically sound faith and walk with God. To err on points like these has detrimental consequences both for our experience of the Christian life and for people’s understanding of eternity. A faithful ministry will always give a clear exposition of such truths. The carnal and cowardly desire to avoid uncomfortable truths does not mean that they are not true, any more than the proverbial ostrich burying its head in the sand means that the approaching danger has somehow gone away. We avoid or disempower specific teachings from God’s word to our own and others’ loss. The judgement to come is a fact and everyone will face it, whether it comes in the form of the bema seat of Christ after the rapture, or of the great white throne judgement later on at the end of the millennium.

As we saw in chapter 11, the apostle Paul taught believers that they would one day stand before the judgement seat of Christ, and that they should live their daily life in the light of this:

‘You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat… So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.’ (Rom. 14:10,12)

‘For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.’ (2 Cor. 5:10, cf. 1 Cor. 3:13-15)

Furthermore, Jesus made it clear that at the final judgement, the truth about what people were and what they said or did, will be exposed openly. A complete record of our life and everything that we have ever done has been made in a book in heaven, and it is out of this record of their life that people will be judged (Rev. 20:12-13). On that day they will finally be known for exactly what they were, and the secrets and motivations of their heart and life will be laid bare:

‘There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.’ (Luke 12:2-3, cf. Rom. 2:16, 1 Cor. 4:5)

‘But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.’ (Matt. 12:36-37)

So the day of judgement will be a day of facing up to the truth, a day of divine reckoning and accountability. People will not be able to escape from or avoid it, neither will they be able to excuse themselves or squirm their way out of it. It will be the fearful day when God, in his righteous justice, renders his eternal verdict on those who stand before him. And in particular, this will mean that all the evil people in history, who did so many wicked things and seemed to get away with it, will finally get what their acts deserved.

The sinful corruption of inward human nature takes people to Gehenna

Until a person sees for themself the deep corruption of their own inward nature, they will never think that they will end up eternally in the lake of fire. S/he will always tend to lean on the self-deception that there is something ‘good’ enough or ‘worthy’ enough in their life or character that will justify them before God and therefore open up the way to heaven for them, or, conversely, that they could never go to hell because they are not a ‘bad’ person.

The result of our separation from the life of God in the Fall is that our inward nature has been infected by sin and death at its very root. Our nature is spiritually dead, and it is therefore corrupt from the root upwards (Rom. 7:18, cf. Mark 7:20-23, Gal. 5:19-21). We are incapable of not sinning in one way or another.

God makes no attempt to reform, change or improve our old nature. It is beyond cure (Jer. 17:9). He does only one thing with it: he cuts it down, roots it up, does away with it, gets rid of it, and destroys it. This is the kind of everyday language we use ourselves when we deal with something that we know is corrupt, defiled, poisoned, dead, going bad, dirty beyond being able to be cleaned, useless, broken or ruined beyond repair, etc. And it is this kind of language that the New Testament also uses to describe what God will ultimately do with our old nature (cf. Matt. 3:10, 10:28, 25:30; John 15:6).

Being thrown into the lake of fire is not simply the consequence of God’s justice, or the condemnation resulting from any particular acts of sin which were not repented of. Yes, there are the elements of God’s justice (Rev. 20:12-15) and of punishment for sins committed (Matt. 25:46), but it goes much deeper than just these. It is not any given act of sin which takes a person to hell. Acts of sin which are not confessed and repented of simply compound our dilemma. It is our fallen nature in Adam (which gives rise to our acts of sin) that takes us to hell. Just that, and that alone. Our old nature is not fit for anything except to be thrown out and got rid of. Outside Christ, we are condemned already. The lake of fire is simply eternity’s garbage dump where all the rubbish is thrown, burned and got rid of once and for all.[1]

Jesus put his finger precisely on this problem at the root of human nature, and its eternal consequence, when he made his scathing attack on the Pharisees of his own day. What we are in Adam cannot escape being sent to the lake of fire, so in his mercy God raises up prophets, wise men, teachers and evangelists to bring the gospel of Christ to us, so that, instead of being condemned, we might be saved eternally:

‘You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell [gehenna]? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers.’ (Matt. 23:33-34)

Facing sin now and being willing to deal with it

Fallen human nature invariably tries to cover up the fact, the guilt, and the shame of its sin. Even though we are inwardly conscious of our sin, we suppress it and try to hide it, just as Adam and Eve did (Gen. 3:8-10). We do not want our sin to be exposed openly, because of the guilt and shame it engenders within us. We do not want to face it. So we cover it up, we live in denial of it, and we run away from dealing with it:

‘This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.’ (John 3:19-20)

However, much as we might prefer to hide the sin in our life, God himself sees it just as plainly as the daylight. Darkness is as light to him, so our sin is laid bare, and we cannot hide it from him:

‘Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’ (Heb. 4:12, cf. Ps. 139:11-12)

‘You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.’ (Ps. 90:8)

Therefore, dealing with our old nature is an intrinsic and fundamental part of the gospel message and of walking daily with the Lord. God wants to set us inwardly free from our sin. He wants to break its chains, to cleanse it away, and to set us free from it, so that it is no longer our master and no longer controls our life. Therefore, he exposes it to us in love and grace, in order that we might confess it to him and repent from it. When we see sin for what it truly is in God’s sight, we realise just how terrible and deeply unclean it is. We will then run to him for mercy and cleansing, rather than running away from him. Uncomfortable as facing up to our sin may be, the fruit of being willing to do this, is a clean, free and inwardly pure life. The blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from all sin! Though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow! (1 John 1:9, Isa. 1:18). It is better by far for a person to acknowledge and face up to dealing with their sin now in this present life, than to one day face the eternal consequence of sins which have never been confessed and repented of!

So the apostle Paul exhorted the believers in Corinth to examine their heart and to judge themselves, and then they would not be judged by God for their sins:

‘A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup… But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgement. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.’ (1 Cor. 11:28,31-32; cf. Jas. 5:9)

This means that as believers we need to learn to keep short accounts with God regarding any sin in our life. We should not make the mistake of thinking that so-called ‘small’ sins are not important to God. They are, and in fact it is often these that prevent believers from growing in Christ as they should. We should deal daily with sin: we should confess it when we become consciously aware of it in our life, so that God can cleanse us from it and forgive us (1 John 1:9). In order to live consistently in inward spiritual freedom and purity, we should develop an attitude of zero tolerance towards sin. We should get rid of it as soon as we can, refusing to tolerate within ourself the presence of any undealt-with sin of which we become consciously aware (Eph. 4:31). The person who confesses, renounces and forsakes their sins, rather than covering them up, will prosper in their spiritual life (Prov. 28:13).

Is your name in the Lamb’s book of life?

So on the day of the final judgement, the sea, and death and Hades will give up all the dead who are in them, and these people will stand before the throne of God, together with those who lived during the millennium:

‘And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne… The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them…’ (Rev. 20:12-13)

As they stand before God, the books containing the records of their lives will be opened, and they will be judged according to what they have done. On that day there will be no favouritism. No-one will have any advantage over another. Each person will be judged objectively and righteously before God according to the record of their own life:

‘…and books were opened… The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books… each person was judged according to what he had done.’ (Rev. 20:12-13)

However, another book will also be opened, the Lamb’s book of life:

‘Another book was opened, which is the book of life.’ (Rev. 20:12)

What is this ‘book of life’? It is referred to several times in the Old Testament, and it was essentially a register of the names of the people who lived in Jerusalem. So the nearest equivalent of the book of life would be a burgher roll or an electoral register:

‘The Lord will write in the register of the peoples: “This one was born in Zion.”’ (Ps. 87:6)

‘May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.’ (Ps. 69:28; cf. Neh. 7:5, 12:22-23; Ps. 139:16)

The Lamb’s book of life which is referred to in the book of Revelation is therefore a register of the names of all people who are truly saved, and who will therefore participate in the blessings of eternal life:

‘But at that time your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered.’ (Dan. 12:1)

‘He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life…’ (Rev. 3:5)

So the book of life will be opened on the day of judgement, and it will be checked through for the name of every person being judged, one by one, to see if they are saved or not. If a person’s name is written in the book of life, then they will be admitted into the eternal kingdom of God. This will be true of believers who lived during the millennium.

However, and conversely, the names of all those who are not in Christ will not be found in this book, and this will correspond with the record contained in the book of their life. So they will be condemned at this judgement, and they will be thrown into the eternal lake of fire:

‘All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.’ (Rev. 13:8)

‘If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.’ (Rev. 20:15)

Eternal judgement in the lake of fire is a reality that is ahead for many people, regardless of whether or not they know about it or live in denial of it. This reality, and the finality of it, is the most fearsome and sobering truth in the word of God. It is inescapable, it is final, and it is eternal:

‘Nothing impure will ever enter [the New Jerusalem] nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.’ (Rev. 21:27)

After the final judgement has been completed, death and Hades will also be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14).

The only way to be saved from the lake of fire, and to enter heaven for eternity, is through repenting from sin and having living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb of God who died on the cross for our sins and rose again for our justification. He is the way, the truth and the life, and it is through him that we can gain eternal life:

‘And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.’ (1 John 2:2 AV)[2]

‘Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!’ (Rom 5:9)

‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…’ (Rom. 8:1)

So you who are reading this chapter, is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life? Have you repented from and renounced your sins, and have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb? Have you received Jesus as your own personal Saviour? This is the only way to gain eternal life and to have the right to enter heaven, rather than being consigned for eternity to the same dreadful place into which sin and Satan will be thrown:

‘…they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ (Rev. 7:14)

‘Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.’ (Rev. 22:14)

The wheat and the weeds will be separated eternally

Jesus himself was repeatedly clear and specific about the fact that believers and unbelievers, the righteous and the wicked, will be separated permanently and eternally. He will separate the wheat from the weeds, and the weeds will be thrown into eternal fire. Similarly, he will separate the sheep from the goats, and the goats will go into the punishment of eternal fire:

‘As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matt. 13:40-42)

‘This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matt. 13:49-50)

‘Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”… Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’ (Matt. 25:41,46)

However, the wheat will be gathered into God’s barn, as it were, and the sheep will inherit the kingdom of the Father:

‘…then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ (Matt. 13:30)

‘Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.’ (Matt. 13:43)

‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of this world.”’ (Matt. 25:34)

Copyright Notice

Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

[1] See “Old Nature or New Nature?”, chapter 10 in my book Living on the Rock, available from www.lulu.com/shop.

[2] The word ‘propitiation’ means that Jesus turned away the wrath of God towards sin through his death on the cross, and we can now be reconciled to God and become his children through living faith in Jesus.

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25b The Fact of Coming Judgement

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