There is a day coming when the world will be judged. Every human being will stand before God. Believers will do so with peace and courage from the Holy Spirit knowing that it is their Abba who judges them tenderly and lovingly, while unbelievers will stand in fear as they are condemned. Revelation 20 paints the picture vividly.
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15
This judgment is synonymous with the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25:32, and the Judgment Seat of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:10. All of these descriptions are simply different perspectives on the same judgment. God gathers everyone together once and takes care of judgment for all eternity.
You may be thinking, “This all sounds great, but what about our bad works that get burned up? Won’t God be upset at us for those?” Most people base this question, and questions like it, on 1 Corinthians 3:10-15:
“According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
While the passage is often taken to mean that our bad works are burned up, it is actually talking about doctrinal foundations. Paul is making the case in this section, and the preceding verses, that any doctrinal foundation not founded on Jesus Christ will be destroyed. This passage is for teachers of the gospel more than anyone. If we lay a foundation in our ministry other than the New Covenant, it will be burnt up. This means that all of our fleshly teaching, teaching that focuses on performance before God in all of its manifestations, will not survive into eternity. What good news this is! I don’t want a single fleshly teaching of mine to follow me into eternity. I only want the amazing gospel of grace with me there. Nothing else will do.
It is also important to see that even in this situation there is no disapproving God. Remember, our sins are gone. There is no condemnation in Christ! Period! This is a description of something that happens naturally as we pass into heaven. Believers truly are free from condemnation before God. He accepts us as we are and where we are because of Jesus. Now, that is good news.
- Andy Nelson
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