Are You Prepared For Judgment

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:

and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:7-8

The Bible indicates there is a past, present, and future judgment:

®     Past Judgment:  

The Bible is a history of God's past judgment.   From the time of Adam and Eve, it records God's judgment of nations and individuals.  The Bible records two special past judgments that are important to believers. These are the judgments of Satan and the world. God has already passed judgment and set the penalties for both.

>    Satan And His Angels:  

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God passed final judgment on Satan:

Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.   John 16:11

And having spoiled principalities and powers [the forces of Satan] He [Jesus] made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it.    Colossians 2:15

Satan has already been judged by God. He is allowed limited activity until he is cast into the lake of fire at the end of the world but he is already condemned as guilty.  Satan's angels; who left their original position in Heaven as angels of God, to join him in rebellion, are also already condemned:  

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 6)

     >    The World:  Jesus said:  

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.  John 12:31

Because it is ruined by the presence of sin, the physical world is already condemned by God's judgment. The Bible says the world will be destroyed by fire:  

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.   2 Peter 3:10

®     Present Judgment:  

There is a present judgment that goes on continuously. All men are presently judged as sinful or righteous before God. The present judgment of man is on the basis of whether or not he has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior:  

He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.   John 3:18

God's present judgment on unbelievers is by showing His wrath because they hinder the truth:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;   Romans 1:18

God's present judgment of believers is in love. He corrects us when we do wrong:  

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.   Hebrews 12:5-6, 8

Just as a natural father corrects his children, God judges the behavior of His children.  If they sin, God corrects them in love just as a father does his son. God's chastisement [correction] of His children is for a specific purpose:  

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.    Hebrew 12:11

John lets us know that we will be changed:

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.   1 John 3:2

®     Future Judgment:  

It is the future judgment to which Paul refers in Hebrews 6 when he speaks of "eternal judgment.” Eternal judgment happens after death:  

It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.   Hebrews 9:27

After a person dies it is immediately determined whether or not he enters the presence of God. The destinies of the righteous and the unrighteous are different after death. But the final judgment confirming their eternal destinies occurs after the end of the world and the resurrection: 

I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom.   2 Timothy 4:1

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Jude 14,15

There are three locations where final judgment will occur:

              >    The Judgment Seat Of Christ:  Those judged here will be all true believers:  


But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.   Romans 14:10

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.   2 Corinthians 5:10

             >    The Throne Of His Glory:  

              The second place of judgment is called "the throne of Christ's glory.” Those judged 
              here will be those who remained on the earth during the tribulation period. The 
              righteous will be resurrected and judged prior to Jesus setting up the Millennial 
              Kingdom on earth:  

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:4-5a)

             >    The Great White Throne:  

The final place of judgment is called the "great white throne.” Those judged here are the  remaining dead who will be resurrected at the close of the Millennium. (This is the second resurrection called the resurrection of the unjust.)  The unrighteous will be judged and because of their sin cast into the lake of fire along with Satan and his angels.

 The Great White Throne judgment is recorded as:

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:11-15

The wonderous thing about God the father is the infusion of hope that we have in Him:

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.  Revelation 3:10-11

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