Monday, September 2, 2013

The Judgment Seat of Christ

The apostle Paul described this Judgment in his second letter to the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 5:10-13). This future Judgment involves only believers. It is described in Scripture very differently than the Great White Throne Judgment that John wrote about in Revelation 10:11-15. In another “Thought for the Day” we will have more to say about that Judgment.

It appears that all who will be raptured and meet the Lord in the air will stand before Christ that day. They will be there to give an account of how they lived their life as believers. This will be a time of either receiving or losing rewards for all who appear at this Judgment. This will not involve those who never trusted Christ as their Savior. Rather, only those who have accepted Him as the One who paid for their sin will be there. This will be in striking contrast to those who appear at the Great White Throne Judgment. There, all who have rejected Christ will comprise the total number present.

Not all evangelicals believe these two future Judgments are distinctly different in who appears before each and when each Judgment occurs. The contrasts between these two future Judgments argue very strongly that the two Judgments are very different from each other.

One thing is certain, God is not only a God of love, mercy, and grace, all of which He certainly is. But He is also absolutely holy and just. He hates sin but does love the sinner. In His Word, God has set forth how to get to heaven and avoid hell, the place of eternal torment and separation from God. Which will it be for you?