10. The Day of Judgement

What Will Happen On The Day Of Judgement?

There are five pivotal days in the history of the world:

• The day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens (Genesis 2:4)

• The day in which Jesus Christ died on the cross to make atonement for our sins

• The day in which He rose from the dead to secure our redemption

• The day on which He will return to establish His Kingdom on the earth (Matthew 24:30-31; Revelation 19:11-16)

• The day on which He will sit to judge the living and the dead (Romans 2:16; 1 Peter 4:5)

The Day of Judgement is often referred to simply as “the Day”, or “that Day”, or “the Day of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:11-12, 17, 20; 24:21; Isaiah 13:6-13; Joel 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Malach1 4:1; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:14; Philippians 1:10; 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; Hebrews 10:25; 2 Peter 3:10, 12).

It will be the Day of the Lord because on that day every intelligent being, whether angel, demon, or human being shall bow the knee before Him, whether willingly or unwillingly, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 14:10-12; Philippians 2:9-11).

No-one on that day will shrug their shoulders, shake their head, laugh, or wave a dismissive hand. There will be no atheists on that day.

Those who love the Lord will eagerly cast themselves to the ground before Him in rapturous worship. Those who have ignored Him or despised Him or opposed Him will find themselves on their faces by a power that is not their own – a power that they have no strength to resist.

The most graphic description of what we can expect on the Day of Judgement is found in Revelation 20:11-15:

• The present heavens and earth, the present creation, which has been corrupted by the sins of both men and angels, will be destroyed completely (see 2 Peter 3:10-13; Psalm 102:25-26).

• Those people who have not already received a new body in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; John 5:29-30) will be resurrected now, in order that they may stand before God “in the body”, because we are to be judged according to what we have done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Corinthians 5:10).

• Two sets of books will be opened before God to enable Him to judge with absolute justice, total fairness, and without the vaguest hint of bias.

• The first set is the books of works. John says, “The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” (Revelation 20:11).

• Secondly, there is the book of life, which contains the name of every human being who has the right of citizenship in the New Creation. Those whose names are written in this book will be received into that New Creation, “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).

• Anyone whose name is not written in that book will be “thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

In the passages of scripture that deal with the subject of final judgement we are confronted with the sobering prospect of being either accepted by God or rejected by Him. There is no middle way. There is no disputed territory, no compromise solution, no negotiated settlement. There is no court of appeal. The Judge’s decision is final.

After God’s sentence has been pronounced, you and I will be either in or out. And if we are out, there is no way back in. The door has been shut forever.

Before we look at the question of how God is going to judge us, let us remind ourselves again about the character of God:

• He is merciful, but He is also just.
• God is love (1 John 4:16-17), but He is a holy God (Habakkuk 1:12-13a).
• He is the God of grace (Romans 5:15-17,20-21), but He is also a God of vengeance (Hebrews 10:30-31).
• He eagerly pardons (2 Samuel 12:13), but there comes a time to punish (Exodus 32:34b).

These facts give us the confidence to know that when God passes sentence on anyone, they will be punished because they deserve to be punished, and the punishment will be appropriate for the degree of sin. Equally, if anyone escapes punishment it is because it is right and proper that this should be so.

God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). However, there are those who are in covenant relationship with Him, which brings its privileges – and its responsibilities.

It is also vitally important for us to resist the temptation to prejudge. It is too easy for us, in the comfort of our armchairs, to debate whether this one should be saved and that one should be condemned.

Judgement belongs to Jesus Christ alone (John 5:22), and He is not in need of any counsel from you or from me (Isaiah 11:2-4).

How Will Christ Judge Us?

As we have already seen in Matthew 22:36-40, the two aspects of the Great Command are to love God and love your neighbour. We can expect, therefore, that the basis of God’s judgement will be how we have treated God Himself and how we have treated our fellow man.

The things that are valued in the world’s eyes – achievement of whatever kind: intellectual, scientific, artistic, sporting, military, political – will count for little in that Day, unless they come under one of these two headings.

In Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Jesus tells four parables relating to the Day of Judgement, and all four deal either directly or indirectly with how people have treated Christ.

The first parable is in Matthew 24:45-51

This parable concerns a servant who has been given pastoral responsibility (v45). If he is faithful and wise and fulfils his duties in a righteous, loving, and God-fearing way, he will be rewarded when Christ returns (v46-47). However, should he lose sight of his mission and revert to self-indulgence and bullying (v48-49) his end will be “with the hypocrites” where “men will weep and gnash their teeth”.

The second parable is in Matthew 25:14-30

This parable has a similar message to the first one. In this case it is the parable of the talents, where three servants are given a certain amount of money “each according to his ability” (v15) and expected to use the money to make a profit for their master. Two of the servants succeed in doing so, and are commended and rewarded for it (v20-23).

The third servant, however, does nothing with the money, resenting the fact that he is expected to do the hard work while the master reaps the benefits (v24-25). The fate of this servant is similar to that of the ungodly servant in the first parable – “Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth” (v30).

The servant in the first parable behaved wickedly and clearly deserved to be punished. The servant in the second parable did not do anything that was obviously sinful or wicked. In fact, he did nothing. Why, then, was he punished with the same harshness as the first one?

In the Great Command we are told to, “love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, mind, and strength”. If this means anything, it means employing all of our being in His service, “each according to his ability”. The problem with both of these two servants was the same – they did not love their master, and they did not trust him.

The first servant says, “My master is delayed (24:48); he said he was coming back at a certain time, but he has not come; he’s long overdue; maybe he’s not coming at all; if he’s not coming back, why should I serve him any more? Why should I not just eat, drink, and be merry?”

The second servant says, “I’ll do all the work, and he’ll take all the benefit. Why should I? And if I get it wrong he’ll punish me. Why run the risk? I’ll play safe, I’ll do nothing, and he can have back what he gave me, and we’ll both be happy.”

Our attitude toward God will determine how we treat Him. If we love Him, we will want to please Him, to bless Him, to make Him happy. If we trust Him, we will go by what He has said rather than looking at circumstances or listening to what other people have to say.

Paul commends the saints at Thessalonica for their “work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3 RSV).

Often in our Christian walk we ask ourselves, “am I actually achieving anything by what I’m doing?” And whereas there are times when we have to review and take stock and rethink and change tack, there are other times when we must simply keep on keeping on and commit ourselves to our faithful Creator and continue to do good (1 Peter 4:19).

Our words and our actions are the outward expressions of our inner thoughts and attitudes. Jesus makes this point to the Pharisees, who were outwardly righteous but inwardly corrupt:

Similarly, the writer to the Hebrews cautions us to watch what is on the inside, as this is what God is examining:

Through force of will and self-discipline we may be able to present a good front to the world, and even fool ourselves into believing that we’re doing well, but we need to remember that the sin that provoked Christ’s fury more than any other was not prostitution, adultery, embezzlement, or even murder, but hypocrisy!

The fate of the servant in the first of these two parables was to be assigned a place “with the hypocrites”.

Religious people tend not to sin outwardly, but when the pressure is on or the opportunity is present, what’s inside will find its way out. This is why, on many occasions, God allows our lives to go pear-shaped – so that both He and we can see what’s really in there (compare Abraham in Genesis 22:1-2, 11-12 with King Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 32:31 and 2 Kings 20:12-13).

The third parable is in Matthew 25:1-13.

Again, this parable is of particular concern to Christians who may be tempted to become complacent.

There were ten virgins, each had a lamp, and each had oil. They were holy and pure, they had the light of truth, the word of God, and they had the Holy Spirit. While they were waiting for the bridegroom to arrive, they all fell asleep.

The difference between the five wise and the five foolish virgins does not come to light until they wake from sleep. At this point, the five wise ones have enough oil to keep their lamps burning, while the five foolish ones suddenly realise that they are running short and have to go away to try and find more. By the time they get back, the door is shut and they are unable to get in to the feast.

However, the sobering point in this parable is the bridegroom’s response to their plea for admittance: “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you” (v12 RSV).

The problem for the five foolish virgins was not that they did not know Jesus, but that He did not know them.

In Genesis 18:19, God says that He knows Abraham – He has a relationship with him – and Abraham capitalises on that relationship by interceding with God for Sodom and Gomorrah in order to save his nephew Lot from the impending judgement (Genesis 18:22-33).

Similarly, Moses in Exodus chapter 33 engages in a conversation with God in which we are told that God spoke to him face to face as a man speaks to his friend (v11), that God knew him by name (v 12 and 17), and that God’s presence would go with him (v14).

Jesus tells us that this type of relationship with God is open not only to special people such as Abraham and Moses, but to all who elect to follow Him (Matthew 11:25-30; John 10:2-5, 14-16). Paul also reminds us of the importance of being known by God (1 Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:19).

Just as a fire that is not stoked will eventually burn out, so a relationship that is not nurtured is doomed to perish. This is true of our relationship with God every bit as much as our relationships with other people. The five foolish virgins had once had a relationship with the bridegroom, but they had allowed it to lapse and wither. He may have known them once upon a time, but He did not know them any more.

A similar message is given by Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 and Luke 13:22-29.

When you have a problem, who do you turn to first? Do you go to God, or, like the foolish virgins, to “those who sell oil” – the pastor, a counsellor, a family member, a friend, or even – God help you – social media?

Related to being known by God is having ones name written in His book. In his intercession for Israel, Moses asks God to forgive them but blot his name out of the book instead (Exodus 32:32-33). David prays that the names of his persecutors be blotted out of the book of the living (Psalm 69:28). Daniel is told that everyone whose name is found written in the book will be delivered on the Day of Judgement (Daniel 12:1).

During one of Israel’s many periods of apostasy, a scroll of remembrance is written before God, containing the names of “those who feared the Lord and thought on His name” (Malachi 3:16). Jesus tells his disciples to rejoice not in the power that they have over devils and diseases, but that their names are written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). He reassured the saints in Sardis that those who overcome will not have their names blotted out of the book (Revelation 3:5).

And when it comes to the Day of Judgement, whoever has their name written in the Book of Life will be welcomed into the New Creation, but anyone whose name is missing will have no place there (Revelation 20:12, 15).

We can see from this that God is not interested in any sort of superficial or polite relationship with us. He wants the real thing. He wants our hearts, not just our hands or our heads.

After all, if our hearts are right, our heads and our hands will follow.

The fourth parable is in Matthew 25:31-46

This parable is quite different from the other three in that it is dealing not with those who know the Lord but have a wrong heart, but with those who do not know the Lord at all. Jesus refers to them in verse 32 as “all the nations”.

As Matthew’s Gospel is aimed primarily at a Jewish readership, the term “the nations” means those who are outside of God’s covenant, those who are not a part of Israel, the chosen people. The Greek word used here is ’ethnos’ (from which comes our English word ‘ethnic’), which is number G1484 in Strong’s concordance, and is elsewhere translated as 'gentile' (e.g. Acts 4:27) or 'heathen' (e.g. Galatians 2:9 KJV).

We know that they are not Christians because they have no concept of the Body of Christ (v37-39, 44).

Saul of Tarsus did not understand that to persecute Christ’s church was to persecute Christ Himself (Acts 9:4-5), but later, as the Apostle Paul, he taught the central importance of the Body of Christ (Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 12:12-27; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:14-16; 3:6; 4:4-6; 4:11-16; 5:23, 30; Colossians 1:18; 2:18-19; 3:15).

And finally, Christ commends the sheep for taking care of His brethren (v40). So, who are Christ’s brethren?

Jesus only used the term on a couple of occasions. In Matthew 12:50, Mark 3:35, and Luke 8:21 He says that anyone who does the will of His Father is His brother or sister or mother. After His resurrection, He told the women who met Him at the tomb to go and give instructions to His brethren – i.e. His disciples (Matthew 28:10; John 20:17; see also Hebrews 2:11,12,17).

How can it be that the saints of God are hungry, thirsty, naked, excluded, sick or in prison and relying on the help of people who do not even know God?

The Church of Jesus Christ is undergoing more persecution today than it has done in its entire history. There are many countries in the world today where to be in possession of a Bible is a criminal offence. There are many countries where Christian leaders are assassinated by adherents of another religion, and the authorities turn a blind eye. There are many countries where to be a Christian makes you a second or third class citizen, because of which you will not receive a decent education and will never have a well-paid job.

(For more information, go to the Open Doors website.)

Jesus said:

On the Day of Judgement, Jesus will stand by His word and will reward those who have shown some justice and some mercy to those who have put their faith and their hope in Him.

The major lesson that we learn from these four parables is this: judgement belongs to God, and He will judge everyone according to justice and mercy, and it is wrong for us to try to predict what sentence He might pass upon any person or group of people.

There is only One Person who is in full possession of all the facts, and we can be absolutely certain that His decision will be the one that is perfect in every individual case.

Will There Be Opportunity For Repentance On Judgement Day?

A few years before I became a Christian, a friend and I were in conversation with a travelling evangelist, who was trying to convert us. I was not open to being convinced at that time, and one of my obstructive questions to him was, “What about all those people who’ve never heard the gospel? What’s going to happen to them?”

His brief answer was, “I wouldn’t want to be one of them!”

I found that answer totally unsatisfactory, and since that day I have never heard an answer from anyone which seems to me to adequately address what, in my view, is a very serious and important question.

In order to answer this question we must consider two things:

1. God’s attitude toward sinners
2. What God will take into account when passing sentence

It is often said that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. This may be true, but we should not allow it to distort our understanding of God’s attitude toward the sinner. For example, in Ephesians 2:1-3 we read that unrepentant sinners are “by nature children of wrath”. (See also John 3:36; Romans 2:5-10; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 11:18.) Sin makes God angry, and God is angry with anyone who commits sin, just as any reasonable parent would be angry with a child who misbehaves.

Is God’s anger towards those who know His law or have received His grace and yet continue in sin any different from His anger towards those who do not know His ways? What did Jesus say about this?

Paul echoes this, in different words, in his letter to the Roman church:

He takes up the same theme in his speech to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens:

There are many people today who are still living in ‘times of ignorance’ and have not yet heard the call to repentance. However, since man is made in the image of God and therefore possesses many of the attributes of God, Paul is able to say this:

As we have already seen, God is going to judge us according to what we have done in the body (2 Corinthians 5:10). The overwhelming majority of people appearing before God on the Day of Judgement will have spent a protracted period in Hades, where, because they have no body, they will not have been able to do anything.

However, in order for us all to stand before God as human beings, and not disembodied spirits, all of mankind is to be resurrected – given a new body – at the beginning of that Day (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5, 11-15).

The experience of Hades will no doubt have hardened some hearts even more than when they walked the earth; for others the experience may well have had the opposite effect.

As we are to be judged according to what we have done in the body, and on that Day we will all have a body again, there may well be opportunity for repentance to take place.

The scripture does not tell us whether on that Day men will cast themselves upon the mercy of God. However, one thing we do know for sure is that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, 32), and should someone who has never before heard the call to repentance cast themselves upon His mercy on that day, could any human being find fault with the God of grace for showing such mercy?

What About the “Unforgivable Sin”?

Every now and then the Devil will whisper into someone’s ear that they have committed the unforgiveable sin and will tell them that they are lost forever and that God has turned His back upon them. As always, the Devil is a liar (John 8:44) and a destroyer (John 10:10).

If you are afraid that you might have committed such a sin and are concerned that God may have rejected you, then in all probability you have not.

If your heart is hard and cold against God or against His children and you have a pompous, self-righteous attitude, then it is possible that you may have done.

Jesus warns us very clearly that no matter what else may happen there is, indeed, one sin that will never be forgiven, either in this age or in the next. That sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which means knowingly and deliberately attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil: Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-30; Luke 12:8-10.

If you have never done such a thing, then you have nothing to fear. God is as ready to forgive you today as He always has been.

If you have done such a thing, then you probably have no interest in being forgiven, and are unlikely to be reading this article!

What Will Become of Those Who Are Condemned?

The city of Jerusalem sits on a rocky outcrop and is surrounded by gorges or valleys. One of these valleys is known as the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, or ‘Ge Hinnom’ in Hebrew.

During the dark days of the kingdom of Judah, when ungodly kings were on the throne in Jerusalem, this valley was the site of an idol called Topheth, which was the object of pagan worship involving human sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 8:23; 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31-32; 32:35).

In Jesus’s time, ‘Ge Hinnom’, which in Greek is pronounced ‘Gehenna’, was used as the municipal dump. Fires burned there continually, fuelled by the rubbish that the inhabitants of the city discarded there every day. That which escaped the fire and was left to rot was eaten by worms. No-one wanted to go there.

Jesus uses Gehenna as a metaphor for the final destination of those who are condemned on the Day of Judgement (Matthew 5:22, 29; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9: 43-48; Luke 12:5).

Please note that in many of the English versions of the Bible, the English word ‘Hell’ is used to translate both ‘Hades’ and ‘Gehenna’, making no distinction between them. As we have already seen, Hades is where the disembodied souls of the dead are held as they wait for the Day of Judgement, whereas Gehenna is the final destination of those who are condemned on that day.

Jesus also uses the term ‘outer darkness’ (Matthew 8:11-12; 22:12-14; 25:30) and the refrains “there men will weep and gnash their teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12; 13:41-43, 49-50; 22:12-14; 24:50-51; 25:30; Luke 13:23-29) and “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48), quoting from Isaiah 66:24.

In the Book of Revelation it is referred to simply as “the lake of fire” (Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15). Jesus uses similar terminology in Matthew 25:41 – “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” and Matthew 13:42, 50 – “the furnace of fire”.

As regards the duration of the sentence, there are only two of these cases where Jesus says anything about that: in Matthew 25:41 the fire is “eternal”, and in Mark 9:43-48 “the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched”. But there are other scriptures which make the matter perfectly clear (all of these quotes being from the King James version):

When we try to understand these scriptures we ask questions such as:

• How can ‘destruction’ be ‘everlasting’, for at some point there must be nothing left to destroy? (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
• How can someone burn, or be eaten by worms, for ever and never be fully consumed?
• How can a raging furnace also be ‘outer darkness’?

I would suggest the following in response to this:

Our understanding of the universe is limited by two things: (a) our natural ability, and (b) our experience.

In the matter of heaven and hell, which are totally different from the earth on which we live, there is no way that God could describe to us accurately what either of them is like, any more than you could describe a rainbow to a man born blind. Instead, God gives us hints by using terminology with which we are familiar in order to give us a sense of the horror of hell and the glory of heaven.

In describing the rainbow, you might say that the seven colours are like the seven notes of the musical scale. This would give the blind man a vague idea of what a rainbow might be like, but he could still never imagine it.

In the same way, we could never imagine what Gehenna is like. Nor could we ever imagine what ‘eternal’, ‘everlasting’ or ‘for ever’ are like. Because we are creatures of time, we think in terms of never-ending time. That is the best that we can do.

Until we leave behind the limitations of our earth-bound bodies, we will never be able properly to understand these things.

What Will Become of Those Who Are Saved?

The term that is used most often in the New Testament to describe what those who are saved can look forward to is ETERNAL, or EVERLASTING, LIFE. Jesus gives a definition of this in what is commonly known as His high-priestly prayer, recorded in John chapter 17:

Getting to know someone well takes a long time. Married couples spend a lifetime at it. Getting to know God, who is infinite and eternal, is going to take a little bit longer!

In fact, we will spend eternity finding out more and more about Him and drawing closer and closer to Him, and we will never come to the end, because there is no end to God. Our relationship with Him will become ever deeper and more satisfying. Our love for Him will grow and grow. Our wisdom and understanding will increase continually as we learn from Him.

As we surrender ourselves more and more fully to Him, so our personal power, authority, and glory will rise in proportion to our humility.

The present heavens and earth are to be destroyed by fire and replaced with new heavens and a new earth “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:7, 10-13; Revelation 20:11; 21:1). Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:27) will have their home in that new creation.

The final two chapters of Revelation give us a picture, in prophetic imagery, of what that new earth will be like. The most glorious part of it is this – that God Himself is going to come and dwell with us (Revelation 21:3-4).

Everything that we do here and now is a preparation for this – our prayer-life, our study, our sanctification, our witness, our service, our waiting upon God. Everything that we are in Christ today we will be then (Revelation 22:11), and everything that we have that is of no value we will lose (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

Things are going to be very different – so different that we could never imagine them.

But we do not need to try to imagine them. All that we need to do is remember this one thing, which Jesus said in His high-priestly prayer just hours before His crucifixion:

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3 NIV)