Immediately after the resurrection shall follow the general and final judgment of angels and men; the day and hour whereof no man knoweth, that all may watch and pray, and be ever ready for the coming of the Lord. (Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism Question 88)
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
Heaven is our home but there are many in our world who either do not believe in heaven or are under the mistaken assumption that upon death God will accept them just the way they are. And if that doesn’t work they think that they will be able to bargain with God to gain entrance into heaven. They will offer God reasons as to why he should let them into heaven. They will say they sincerely followed their religion. They will offer flimsy rationalizations for their past sins. They will tell God that compared to tyrants like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong, they are pretty good and deserve to be let into heaven. After all, they never, with premeditation, murdered millions of people. When all else fails they will beg for a second chance or beg for mercy. But for those who have rejected Christ in this life, it will be too late because God has said:
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Hebrews 9:27
There will be no second chances. No do overs. While we are in this earthly life we must be diligent to take the steps necessary to plan for eternity.
When the Apostle Paul travelled to ancient Athens he warned the leading people of the day, the political leaders, the University professors, the philosophers, and all those gathered at the Areopagus that they needed to understand the reality of death and the judgment of God that would follow their deaths as they entered into the eternity of the afterlife. Paul said:
In the past God overlooked [your] ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. Acts 17:30
As ambassadors of our Savior, as representatives of Christ’s heavenly Kingdom, like Paul it is our duty to call everyone to repentance. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:20
And what is our appeal, what is our message?
Like Paul we are to let everyone know that [God] commands people everywhere to repent. Or as Paul warned the Corinthians:
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20
The fact is every culture and every religion since the beginning of time has had a moral code. Every culture has had laws and taboos defining right and wrong, The Apostle says that this demonstrates that God’s law is written on their hearts. Romans 2:15 But since our first parents, Adam and Eve, ignored, denied, and violated God’s universal Law, all of mankind has followed in their footsteps. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 To sin is to fall short of God’s glory.
Just like in Paul’s day we know atheists who need to hear God’s [command] to repent, Muslims need to hear God’s [command] to repent, college professors need to hear God’s [command] to repent, Hindus need to repent, as well as entertainers, politicians, husbands, wives, children, teachers, truckers, lawyers, and doctors, in other words, as Paul said, we must implore people everywhere to repent.
Like the Athenians, the people in our world, because of their ignorance, are in dire danger.
They either outright deny spiritual realities or they are ignorant about ultimate spiritual realities, the reality that they will face upon death.
After calling them ignorant Paul continued by informing the Athenians about four spiritual realities that they needed to understand and embrace.
For [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He gave proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:31
First, Paul warned the people in Athens that [God] has set a day when he will judge…
People like to hear about the love of God; God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. People can readily identify with Christ when he calls himself gentle and lowly in heart and offers rest for their weary souls. Matthew 11:29-30 It is absolutely true that Christ came to demonstrate his love to the world, but the love of God has Holy requirements.
People want a god who accepts them as they are and blesses any activity that they have imagined is necessary for their happiness and fulfillment. However, the fact that very few people want naturally to hear about the final judgment, did not stop Paul from speaking the hard truth.
There isn’t a doctrine of Scripture that men scorn more than the doctrine of a final judgment. It is dismissed by modern man and so preachers do not speak of it much anymore…To be faithful to the Biblical message judgment is one of the principal teachings of Scripture…Jesus preached [on judgment in] sixty-five verses. (The Collected Works of Robert S. Williamson, 4-9-89, Westminster Presbyterian Church, PCA)
God wants everyone to know: he will judge.
The identifying characteristic for all Christians should and must be love. We are to love and honor God and we are to love our neighbors. Matthew 22:37-40 We must befriend the friendless, care for the poor, defend the helpless; in other words, love and reach out to our neighbors in the same way that we care for ourselves. Christians are to be characterized by love, and, in fact, are told to not judge non-Christians for their behavior. 1 Corinthians 5:12
God alone, who gave the Law, is the judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. James 4:12
Notice Paul did not judge the Athenians; rather he explained to them that their Creator had already set a day when he [would] judge them. Paul was warning them about the true nature of reality.
It is not that we say Paul was uncompromising and loving. Or even that he was uncompromising but loving. Rather, we say Paul was uncompromising, therefore loving.
(John Gerstner, R.C. Sproul, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit)
Frequently Christians are characterized as judgmental simply because they love their neighbors enough to warn them about the coming certainty of God’s final judgment. Here are four examples of people who loved their neighbors enough to warn them of the coming judgment of God.
Noah was called a preacher of righteousness, 2 Peter 2:5, because he warned the people in his world of their coming [condemnation] in the form of a universal flood. Hebrews 11:7 But because the world refused to repent everyone faced God’s judgment.
Angels were set to Sodom and Gomorrah to rescue Lot and his family. The town’s people, disregarding Lot, were so debased that they actually tried to rape the messenger angels. Genesis 19 Many, finding it hard to speak to family members about the truth, choose to remain silent. However, when Lot spoke up warning his sons-in-law about the judgment of God they refused to heed Lot’s warning. They refused to believe that God would rain fire and brimstone down on the cities. When Lot left Sodom, his sons-in-law stayed behind.
When the Prophet Jeremiah warned the people that God was sending Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem and destroy the Temple, instead of listening, Jeremiah was arrested and thrown into a muddy dungeon pit. Jeremiah 38:6
When Christ told the religious leaders of his day that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Roman army he was mocked and accused of blasphemy. Matthew 26:61 But as Josephus and other Roman historians reported, the Temple was, in fact, destroyed by Rome in 70AD.
As you read through the Bible you will realize that all of the predictions of God’s judgment so far in history were fulfilled. The certainty of God’s judgments within history serves as markers and signs of the certainty of God’s final judgment.
[God] has not only set a day when he will judge… but:
Second: he will judge the world…
God will judge every son of Adam and daughter of Eve who has ever lived. In other words God’s judgment is universal. Paul explained it like this to the Romans of his day:
We will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “Every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.” So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:10-12
Every Roman, but also every Egyptian, every Greek, every Ethiopian, every Brazilian, every Canadian, indeed every member of every nationality that has ever existed will stand before the bench of God’s judgment. That means that as they come into God’s celestial courtroom no matter who they worshipped or who they served in their earthly life, every Hindu, every Buddhist, every Christian, every Muslim, every Jew, every atheist, every Pantheist, every satanist, will bow before the Creator God. And not only will they bow, but as they stand in judgment, they will all confess to God. Eachindividual will give an account of himself to God.
In the book of Ezekiel the people scoffed, “The Lord does not see us.” Ezekiel 8:12. But God points out, “My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.” Jeremiah 16:17
Many people lust after wealth, power and control. For political or monetary advantage they devise ways to coerce, control, cheat, and ultimately, one way or another, enslave and murder people. It is easy to think of military, political, religious, and even corporate or industrial despots who, with the use of force, lies, and manipulation are responsible for the overthrow of governments, the dissolution of the civil order, or the murder of millions upon millions of people. Muhammad, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Sanger, or the present-day purveyors of premeditated genocide will all stand before God.
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Matthew 10:26
But it is not only the easily recognizable people who must answer to God when their sins are finally revealed. We are all people living our lives, doing whatever evil we want, as if God doesn’t see us. But the reality is God does see each of us, remembers our lies, disrespect, anger, curses, immoralities, all the behaviors we make excuses for, for which he will demand an accounting. Because we have all sinned this should be a sobering thought.
But, at the same time, for those who follow Christ, judgment should be a comforting thought. All of us have been sinned against and mistreated. We sometimes wonder if the guilty will ever face judgment. When the guilty are not punished, society breaks down into crimes, resulting in increased lawlessness, with the unpunished doing what is right in their own eyes. Deuteronomy 12:8
John Lennon sang “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky.” If there is no heaven it means that there is no final accounting. If we are, as Darwinists teach, the random products of blind chance coughed up by an impersonal, indifferent universe, then there is no transcendent basis for any morality. All of the evil that has been done or will be done in the world and all the evil actors will never be called to account because above them there is only sky. Above the mass murderer, Hitler, only sky. Above the serial killer, Dahmer, only sky. Above the death camp, Auschwitz, only sky.
But even as evil men attempt to justify their actions by rationalizing “the Lord does not see us”, we can take great comfort in knowing that guilt is not concealed from [God’s] eyes.
The reality is, we live in a moral universe because our universe was created by a perfect, moral, loving God. The Creator God has revealed that there will be a final accounting.
Not only has God set a day to judge the world but…
Third, God has set a day when he will judge the world with justice.
The Creator God is a God of justice, but what, exactly does justice mean?
Please listen, you…rulers of the house of Israel:
Isn’t it for you to know justice? Micah 3:1
The prophet Micah admonished the political leaders saying that were responsible for understanding God’s law and ruling with justice. Genesis 18:19 So that they could understand and rule with justice, the kings of Israel were required to read from God’s law every day. Deuteronomy 17:18-20 But because they neglected God’s Word, the rulers of the house of Israel had actually inverted the system of justice, turning it on its head. They should have loved the good and hated the evil but because evil men do not understand justice, Proverbs 28:5, they instead loved evil and hated the good. Micah 3:2
Nothing ever changes. Like Israel of old, our world today needs to know justice. Here is what God’s Word teaches about justice:
It is wrong to show favoritism when passing judgment; when attempting to right wrongs. Proverbs 24:23
Do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to the poor in a lawsuit. Exodus 23:2-3
Judge carefully… no injustice or partiality or bribery. 2 Chronicles 19:6-7
Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Leviticus 19:15
God wants everyone to understand that justice is rooted in God’s perfect character.
Justice is the pillar of society and truth is the necessary foundation. A society that fails to be a just society will soon become a society where injustice prevails giving way to chaos… Without grounding in the Transcendent justice becomes relative where right is measured by conflicting social constructs.
(Bruce Little PhD, Professor of Philosophy, Wake Forest, Can Justice Exist Apart From Truth?)
We have all become very good at rationalizing and making excuses for our wicked behavior. But we, our world, our friends, our family, our coworkers need to understand that when standing in judgment, and everyone will stand in judgment, God will show no partiality or favoritism to either the poor or the wealthy, the famous or the obscure, the rulers or the ruled. He will not accept any excuses, bribes, or be swayed by the crowd’s opinion. His justice will judge all people individually and not by the group, race, gender, nationality, or the economic class that they identify with.
The judgment of God will be decisive, eternal, irrevocable. All who have sinned against His Holy Law will get exactly what they deserve without question. The atheist who had spurned the law of God will get what he deserves. The careless unbelieving who spurned the Gospel invitations to trust in Jesus Christ will get what they deserve. And the faithful Christian who had demonstrated his faith by his good works will get what God has Promised him.
(The Collected Works of Robert S. Williamson, Westminster Presbyterian Church, PCA)
Thus far we have seen that God has set a day when he will
1. judge
2. the world
3. with justice.
Fourth, God reveals that the Just Judge of the world will be Jesus Christ:
The man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.
Every human being will be held personally accountable by the judge, appointed by God the Father. The judge will be Jesus Christ the One who rose from the dead. As we saw back in chapter one, because the first man Adam sinned, failing at his assigned task of guarding God’s creation, death became the fate of all mankind.
Sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned – just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [Jesus] the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:12, 18-19
Christ came to earth as the second Adam and succeeded where the first Adam failed. He restored balance on earth by defeating the dragon, Satan. Like Adam, Jesus was tempted by Lucifer, but he did not succumb to the temptations. Matthew 4:1-11
Christ was tempted at all points just like we are yet he was without sin. Hebrews 4:15
Having resisted all temptation, though he did not deserve death like Adam and Adam’s race, Christ voluntarily went to his death to reverse the curse of death. Christ, the Redeemer came to earth, in fulfillment of the Promise, born of woman, so that eternal life could be offered to all of mankind.
By virtue of his obedience unto death, Philippians 2:8, to redeem mankind, and his resurrection from the dead, Christ offers life to everyone. This offer of eternal life is a gift offered freely, without cost, to everyone.
If you trust me, you are really trusting God. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a Light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer wander in the darkness. John 12:44-46
However, to those who reject the free gift that Christ bought with his death on the cross, Christ says:
But all who reject me and my message will be judged at the Day of Judgment by the truths I have spoken. John 12:48
In other words, to those who acknowledge that Christ was the sacrifice offered in their place so that they could enter into eternity with God, Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:36 Christ is the long- awaited sacrifice, promised to Adam and Eve.
You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. Revelation 5:9
However, to those who reject Christ and his offer of eternity, Christ is the fierce Lion of the Tribe of Judah, handing down righteous judgments to all who have disobeyed God’s commandments in this life. Revelation 5:5
If you have made Christ your Savior, if, confessing your sins, you have called on the Name of the Lord, Romans 10:13, he will stand with you at the time of judgment as your Advocate. 1 John 2:1 Christ will tell the Father that he claims you as his own because be bore the punishment that you rightly deserved for your sins. Christ will tell the Father that you are his friend. John 15:15
The tremendous truth of the New Testament is that when we stand before the tribunal of God, the presiding judge at our trial will be Jesus. At the same time our court-appointed defense attorney will also be Jesus. It is not a frightening thought to go to trial when one is secure in the knowledge that our judge is also our defense attorney. (R.C.Sproul, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit)
If you have refused Christ’s offer you will stand alone, on your own, in judgment, answering for all of your sins.
Thomas Payne, a leading atheistic writer in the American colonies, on his death bed said: “Stay with me, for God’s sake; I cannot bear to be left alone, O Lord, help me! O God, what have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me hereafter?
“I would give worlds if I had them, that ‘The Age of Reason’ had never been published. O Lord, help me! Christ, help me! …No, don’t leave; stay with me! Send even a child to stay with me; for I am on the edge of Hell here alone. If ever the Devil had an agent, I have been that one.” (Charles Biggs, Tulsa Beacon)
The One who has been appointed to judge and defend you is the same one who left the glory of Heaven to rescue you from your sin and rebellion. Philippians 2:7 He voluntarily died for you, nailed to a Roman cross, so that you could be forgiven, acquitted, and declared justified on the day of judgment.
As Jesus said:
“I tell you the truth whoever hears my Word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24
It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior of His Church, the Heir of all things, and the Judge of the world: unto whom He did from all eternity give a people, to be His seed, and to be by Him in time, redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, has fully satisfied the justice of His Father, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven, for all those whom the Father has given unto Him.
(Westminster Confession of Faith, Of Christ the Mediator)