The Final Judgment
By Matthew Barrett
The Scriptural Affirmation of a Final Judgment
In many respects, the world we live in today is very much like Sodom and Gomorrah, both of which were destroyed by sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven (Gen 19:24). Sinners do not take the threat of coming judgment seriously. When two angels came to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family, Lot told his sons-in-law, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” What was their response? “But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting” (Gen 19:14). To the unbeliever, the final judgment is a joke. It is not taken seriously and many in our own day deny it altogether.
However, Scripture everywhere affirms that a final judgment is coming. In Revelation 20:11-15 John has a vision in which he sees the dead standing before the great white throne and the books are opened for judgment. The dead are judged according to what they have done (Rev 20:12-13; cf. Rom 2:6-11). John tells his readers that those names not written in the “book of life” are to be thrown into the lake of fire, along with Death and Hades. The point of John’s vision is striking: unbelievers will be condemned for their sins (cf. Rom 3:23), but those whose names are written in the book of life will enter into the new heaven and earth (Rev 21:1), not because of their own works but only because they have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb who was slain (Rev 13:8; 21:27).
Other New Testament passages also affirm a final judgment to come. For example, we read in Acts 17:30-31 that while God overlooked the “times of ignorance” (i.e., God did not execute immediate judgment), he now commands all people everywhere to repent. Why? Because “he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed” (Acts 17:21). Or consider Romans 2:5 where the apostle Paul says, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Paul goes on to say that God will render each one according to his works. Those who “by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Rom 2:7-8). Paul concludes that God shows no partiality, both Jew and Greek will come under his judgment, once again proving that the whole world is subject to the judgment of God.
And not only the apostle Paul but Peter also speaks of a judgment to come. In 2 Peter 2 we are told that false prophets will secretly bring in destructive heresies and many will follow them in their sensuality, resulting in the truth being blasphemed (2 Peter 2:2). Peter warns of the condemnation and judgment yet to come. God certainly knows how “to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:10). Many other passages could be enlisted in defense of the final judgment to come (Matt 10:15; 11:22, 24; 12:36; 25:31-46; 1 Cor 4:5; Heb 6:2; Jude 6), but what is important to recognize here is that every last person must appear “before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor 5:10).
Christ Jesus is Judge
Too often Christians think of Jesus as meek and mild. Certainly we cannot read the gospels without noticing the mercy, grace, and compassion Jesus had on sinners. However, if this is all we see then we have not seen all that encompasses who Jesus is. In other words, while Jesus is the one who saves, we are also told in Scripture that he is the judge who executes justice and eternal judgment.
Several times in the gospel narratives we read of Jesus promising judgment for the wicked (Matt 10:15; 11:22, 24; 12:36; 25:31-46). Matthew 11 is a case in point. Usually we tend to highlight the compassionate words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Jesus shows himself full of grace and mercy for those who trust in him. However, we cannot neglect to observe that in the passage before this Jesus pronounced woe upon unrepentant cities. Jesus denounced those cities (Chorazin and Bethsaida) where his mighty works had been done, but the people did not repent. He promised that on the Day of Judgment it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon. Jesus goes on to condemn Capernaum, promising that it will be brought down to Hades. It will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for Sodom than for Capernaum! Here we see Jesus judging those who rejected him and promising a day of judgment and wrath to come.
Jesus even refers to a day to come when he, as the Son of Man, will return in all his glory, surrounded by his angels, and sit on his glorious throne in order to judge the nations (Matt 25:31). When the nations gather before him he will separate the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous. With the sheep on his right and the goats on his left, the former will enter into the kingdom prepared for them since the foundation of the world. However, to the latter he will say, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt 25:41, 46).
In other passages we are explicitly told that Jesus is the judge. In Acts 17:31 Paul says God has fixed a day “on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.” Clearly Paul has Jesus in mind for he then says this appointed man God raised from the dead. Likewise, Paul in 2 Timothy 4:1 calls Christ Jesus the judge of the living and the dead. Similarly, Peter, after explaining the gospel to the Gentiles, says Jesus himself “commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42; cf. Jude 6). Finally, in John 5:26-27 we have one of the clearest passages on Jesus acting as judge. Jesus says, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” The Son has been given all authority from the Father and he will executive judgment as the judge of both the living and the dead.
The Wicked will be Judged
Now that we have established on biblical grounds that (1) there is a final judgment to come and (2) Christ will act as judge, it is necessary to answer the question, “Who will be judged?” The answer has already been hinted at thus far, namely, all people will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. However, it is important to qualify such an assertion by adding the important truth that while unbelievers and believers alike will stand before God, the former do so with the fear of eternal condemnation while the latter do so with the confidence of eternal life. Each group – unbelievers and believers – must be addressed in turn.
First, the wicked will be judged and sentenced to eternal torment under the wrath of God. In many of the biblical passages already discussed we discovered that the wicked await a day of judgment. They are the goats who will hear the words, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt 25:41). They are the ones who stand before the throne and when the book of life is opened their names are not written in it, and so they are thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:12, 15). They are the ones who have hard, impenitent hearts, and have stored up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment is revealed (Rom 2:5). They are the ones who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, so that there is nothing but wrath and fury reserved for them (Rom 2:7).
Lest the wicked think they can hide their sin from the Lord on that day they should be reminded that every single deed they have committed will be judged by the Lord (Matt 12:36; Eccl 12:14). No secret of the heart will remain hidden (Rom 2:16; Luke 8:17; Luke 12:2-3; 1 Cor 4:5).
The Righteous will be Judged
We would be in error to think that only unbelievers stand before God’s judgment. In reality, believers also will stand before God the judge, though with a much different hope. For the unbeliever, there is no hope on that final Day of Judgment. However, for the believer, while he does stand before God’s judgment, he does so as one clothed in the righteousness of Christ and justified by the death and resurrection of God’s Son. Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).
Nevertheless, even the believer must give an account for his deeds as a follower of Christ in this life. Such a point is made clear by the apostle Paul when he warns the church, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom 14:10-12). Paul is speaking to Christians in this passage and evidently no Christian is an exception to the rule.
Other passages indicate the same. Speaking of our heavenly dwelling to come, Paul writes to the Corinthians that it must be our aim while in the body to please the Lord for “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor 5:10). It is crucial to keep in mind at this point that while we, as believers, will face judgment we need not fear condemnation, but rather our judgment as believers is to determine our reward. As Wayne Grudem states, “It is important to realize that this judgment of believers will be a judgment to evaluate and bestow various degrees of reward, but the fact that they will face such a judgment should never cause believers to fear that they will be eternally condemned” (Systematic Theology, 1143). Paul demonstrates that there will be degrees of reward when writing in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15,
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Besides Paul, Jesus also, in parabolic fashion, demonstrates that we, as servants of the Lord, will receive varying degrees of reward on the basis of our faithfulness with what God has given to us. Jesus says in Luke 19:17-19,
And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities’ (cf. Matt 6:20; 1 Tim 6:17-19).
However, though there will be degrees of reward, we should not think that the joy of some believers will lack fulfillment and completeness in eternity if they have less than others. To the contrary, each believer will find his joy complete in light of the surpassing glory of Christ. Grudem insightfully explains, “If we ask how this can be when there are different degrees of reward, it simply shows that our perception of happiness is based on the assumption that happiness depends on what we possess or the status or power that we have. In actuality, however, our true happiness consists in delighting in God and rejoicing in the status and recognition that he has given us” (Systematic Theology, 1144).
Our Response in Light of the Final Judgment
In light of the biblical reality of the final judgment to come, what should be our response? If you are an unbeliever, God’s final judgment should strike fear and trembling into your heart. God is holy and just, and the penalty for your sin is eternal death. But there is great hope to be found in the gospel of Christ. Do not wait until tomorrow for today is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2). Repent and turn to Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and the hope of eternal life. Take heed the words of Christ, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).
For believers, there are several lessons to learn from the doctrine of final judgment. First, as those who have been saved not because of anything in us but purely because of God’s grace and mercy (Eph 2:4-9), we should take great joy and confidence in the fact that we will not face God’s judgment unto eternal punishment but rather are safe in the arms of Christ and no longer face condemnation (Rom 8:1). Second, the fact that one day we will stand before God to give an account of our faithfulness for what he entrusted to us (1 Cor 3:12-15; Luke 19:17-19), should only motivate us to godly living and good works. Third, the final judgment should remind us of the urgency in evangelizing to those who are lost and in danger of eternal condemnation. We cannot hesitate to boldly preach the final judgment. Unless sinners understand the gravity of their sin and the wrath of God against them, they will not truly see their need for a Savior.
Finally, may we cry out with the great multitude in heaven, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God for his judgments are true and just” (Rev 19:1-2).
Matthew Barrett (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the founder and executive editor of Credo Magazine. Barrett has contributed book reviews and articles to various academic journals and he also writes at Blogmatics. He is married to Elizabeth and they have two daughters, Cassandra and Georgia. He is a member of Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville, KY.
Advertisment
