Judgment Is Coming.

Writing to the believers in the "eternal city" of Rome, Paul makes this statement: "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." (14:12).

Centuries later, American statesman Benjamin Franklin wrote: "Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." However, there is only one thing that is absolutely certain, and it is neither death, nor taxes. It is that every single one of us will have to face Almighty God for an accounting of our individual lives!

 

So, we would be wise to take heed of the warning given to the Children of Israel, by the prophet Amos, some 500 years before Paul: "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel" (4:12); and the words of the anonymous wrote of the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." (9:27).

Of course, the disciple of Jesus has no need to fear, for "There is therefore now no condemnation (judgment) for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Rom.8:1). How can this be? It is so because the Lord Jesus has paid for our sins and purchased our redemption with His shed blood. He "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom.4:25).

Nevertheless, even as His disciples, we still "must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (II Cor. 5:10), where "the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." (I Cor. 3:13-15). In other words, we need have no fear when we appear before the Father, because the Son will be beside us saying "This one, Father, is mine"! However, we will then appear before the Saviour, Who will judge all that we did "in the body" (II Cor. 5:10). Now that could refer to our fleshly, mortal, bodies. However, the same Greek word is used to refer to the church, as the body of the Christ, and so I believe that this is how Paul is using it here. It is our Christian life that will be judged by the Lord Jesus, because all that went before our conversion was dealt with at our conversion.

Those who die in unbelief, however, not having trusted Christ as their Saviour, will face a different meeting with God. The apostle John describes the awesome scene as he saw it in the Revelation he was given of the Lord Jesus. "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done." (Rev. 20:12). But no one can ever be saved by his works (Eph. 2:9). Therefore, "if any one’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20:15). 

I commented, at the beginning of this post, that not even death is certain! That may have raised a few eyebrows. However, God's Word teaches that there will be a rapture - a snatching up - of true disciples of Jesus before the final time of tribulation. Paul writes: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord." (I Thess.4:16-17).

So, those who are "raptured" will include both believers who have already tasted physical death, and those who are still physically alive at that moment. They are those who will never die! 

I am one of many who are utterly convinced that we are in the very last days, leading up to that rapture. Are you ready for it? If not, then I urge you to act, and to do so quickly. If I may be of any further help, please feel free to contact me using the e-mail address at the top of the blog.