“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor.5:10)

Is it fear or joy? It may depend on how you were raised and what emphasis churches that you have attended or books that you have read about the subject treated it. Those of you who endured a diet of hellfire and brimstone preaching may well react against such memories. Those of you who never heard a message on the Last Judgment may think the topic unsuitable for polite company, a hangover from medieval times and question whether it is truly Christian or helpful.

The belief that Jesus will come again as Judge of the world is an integral part of the Gospel in the New Testament. It is an article of the Christian Creeds: “He shall come to judge the living and the dead.” Everyone must appear – no one is exempt. No one cannot escape the summons. We shall all be there. How does that affect you?

Peter testified that Jesus “Commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:42) Paul told the Athenians that God “has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) C.S. Lewis maintained that the Last Judgment gives life value, for who we are and what we have done will be evaluated, nothing that we have done will be wasted, everything will be appreciated for what it is worth and given its true weight. Nothing will be overlooked. God knows us totally. “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me” (Psalm.139:1).

So the Last Judgment need not be anticipated with fear. “It may well be a moment when illusion is swept aside, and we experience freedom and deliverance from error and fear…Christians may look forward with joyful anticipation, although never with complacency or presumption (Anthony C. Thistleton, Life After Death, p.172f.).

Psalm 96 assures us that “God will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice…Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord; for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness… and truth.”

“Three reasons for joy in the face of judgment can be detected. First, the disclosure of God’s righteousness and truth puts an end to all deception, seduction and illusion. We shall come to see whether self-proclaimed achievers and so-called celebrities are what they claim to be, and just what ‘worldly success’ really amounts to. Second, God will publicly and definitively vindicate the oppressed….Third, God publicly reveals himself as universal King of all creation, one of whose roles is to defend the wronged, and to put things right.” Anthony C. Thistleton, p.166)

We should not think of appearing before the judgment seat of Christ in terms of this world. Before the trial commences the guilt or innocence of the accused person is a matter of doubt. The case is judicially investigated, evidence produced, and after the verdict of the jury, sentence is pronounced. The accused is assumed innocent until proved guilty and cannot be acquitted before his innocence is established. A human trial is strictly a process of investigation. The judge and jury are fallible who do not know all the facts of the case until they are presented. But the judgment of Christ is different. The Judge knows everything to be known about us and has no need of evidence to convince him. Everything done by us in the body (during our lifetime) will be known by him with whom we have to do. “Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36,37) He presides with a perfect knowledge of the character and history of everyone who stands before him. He has already pronounced a judgment from which there is no appeal, and respecting which there can be no mistake.

The great day of judgment will be rather one of publication and execution than a trial. A human judge would never open his proceedings as we are told Christ will open them – “Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”; “Depart from me, you who are cursed,” etc. – because the business of a human judge is to investigate the case, not to anticipate the sentence. The Savior will be perfectly acquainted with all our works and labors of love on the one hand, which he rewards, and with the neglect of Christian duty on the other, which he condemns; and the judgment will be merely public proof that he had taken note of this diversity, unknown to the parties concerned. The judgment only publishes a foregone conclusion. For neither believers or unbelievers is the last day one of judicial enquiry, but of disclosure and separation. The believers will have already, in this life, judged themselves; they will have repented of their sins and accepted Christ as Savior, and therefore will not be judged eternally of the Lord.

They cannot come into condemnation. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”(Romans 8:1). He transfers them at death to paradise; and at the last day pronounces them publicly (what, perhaps, was not known before) the blessed of his Father. But for those on the right hand and the left hand of the Son of Man, the day will be one of public attestation. There will be an eternal separation between the sheep and the goats, the former to eternal life and the latter to eternal punishment. (E.A.Litton, Introduction to Dogmatic Theology, p.591)

If there is a final reckoning in the life to come, what is the basis for that judgment? Jesus tells us that we will be judged according to how we respond to his coming into our lives: do we welcome his coming to us, or are we indifferent to his coming. We are accepted by our trust in Jesus and our willingness to follow him in his way, but we will still be judged by our behavior.

John Stott writes about the parable of the sheep and the goats.

“The whole New Testament teaches this; although we sinners can be ‘justified’ only by faith in Christ, yet we shall be ‘judged’ by our works. This is not a contradiction. It is because good works of love are the only available public evidence of our faith. Our faith in Jesus Christ is secret, hidden in our hearts. But if it is genuine, it will manifest itself visibly in good works. As James put it, ‘I will show you my faith by what I do… faith without deeds is useless.’ (James 2:18,20) “The dead were judged by what they had done as recorded in the books.” (Revelation 20:12) Since the judgment day will be a public occasion, it will be necessary for public evidence to be produced, namely the outworking of our faith in compassionate action. Jesus himself taught this many times. For example, ‘The Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.’ (Matt.16:27) It is not our salvation, but our judgment, which will be according to our works.” (Life in Christ, p.82)

If you have lived your life accountable to God as you know him in Jesus, you need not fear the judgment seat of Christ. This life is the admissions office of the life to come. We come with our credentials: what we have done with our lives, what we have done with Jesus. We either trust in Christ’s judgment or we don’t. If we have found grace at the Cross we will find grace at the Last Judgment. In the mean time we live each day making our goal to please him - our Savior and our Judge.

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