In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he 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.
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject” (Acts 17:29-32).
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Hebrews 9:27-28).
For we (Christian believers) 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 (II Corinthians 5:10).
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead (unbelievers), great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 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).
Our Western mentality is such today that most of our minds immediately throw out red flags against any biblical mention of divine judgment. Even when evangelical messengers include the divine attribute of grace along with our preaching on divine judgment, we are often tuned out, turned off, and rejected. Still, we who are called of God are not excused from our assignment to remind both Christians and unbelievers that we shall all appear before God to give an account of our lives on earth.
Christians—all who have repented of sin and trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord—will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We who have been saved by faith shall be judged by our works. Rewards will be given for faithful service and for hardships suffered for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s—the greater the suffering, the greater the rewards.
Unbelievers—those who have not believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God sent to atone for their sins by a traumatic death on the cross—will be judged justly for their rejection of their only hope of salvation and punished according to the sins they have committed over a lifetime. Not believing in Jesus Christ will turn out to be the greatest sin. Eternal punishment will be their judgment, and they’ll know it comes from a just God who loved them enough to pay off their debt of sin had they only believed.
The apostle Peter assures us that our God judges each man’s work impartially (I Peter 1:17), meaning that He is absolutely just in every individual’s case and shows, no favoritism. At the great white throne judgment, lost souls will at long last discover within themselves a fear of this absolutely Holy One, an amazement at His Presence, even a respect for this Glorious One who judges them. They’ll have no defense, no argument, only the realization that they’re getting what they deserve for their final unforgivable sin of rejecting the Almighty God’s one and only Son who paid for their sins so that they might believe in him and receive eternal life.
A Word to Believers
In 21st century America’s secular mindset, Christians are being tempted to lose their sense of the holiness of God and begin morphing into the worldly values and styles of a pagan world. But we are called to be light in a dark world and to be salt in a decadent society. God’s Word warns us that when our lights go out the darkness becomes great, and when the salt loses its strength and taste corruption is the result.
As we near the closing out of our year and the approach of 2015, I confess a foreboding that increases as I move deeper into intercession for our beloved America. I do believe that God raised up our nation to be a powerful witness to all the other nations on planet Earth. He brought about the American experiment to prove His great love, power, and grace. We were meant to be a people who would glorify Him by taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, by meeting the needs of suffering humanity at home and abroad, by experiencing the outpourings of the Holy Spirit in periodic spiritual awakenings, and by rekindling revival fires throughout the earth.
But who will deny that we have lost our way, our purpose, our vision, our message, our freedom? So much of our nation is in slavery today—in bondage to debt, having mortgaged our future and that of future generations; and enslaved by drugs, unbridled sexual passions, and materialism. And worse, we seem bent on dismissing God from the public square.
Our gracious and loving God has clearly marked out the only solution, but it has to begin with the millions of us who claim to be followers of His Son. He challenges us:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (II Chronicles 7:14).
A Word to Unbelievers
In love and concern for all who have not trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior, I beg you to hear a word from the inspired King Solomon: I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11). This wise man is referring to the awesome responsibility the Creator has placed upon mankind as free moral agents to choose their course in life. But when he writes that God has also set eternity in the hearts of men, he is referring to our God-given innate sense of life beyond death. Anthropologists report that in nearly all cultures there exists a haunting belief that death does not end human consciousness. Mexicans, Peruvians, and Polynesians believed they’d go to the moon when they died. Our native Americans believed they’d go to their happy hunting grounds. The sense that death is not the end has shaped nearly every civilization—that is, until recent times among Western civilizations. What the anthropologists have not told us about these civilizations is the various moral guidelines they followed to prepare them for life after death.
Please, my unbelieving friend, I beg you to not allow the invisible evil forces that have messed with your mind for so long to stifle, harden, deny, and murder that divinely-imparted instinct to exercise your freedom to place your trust in Jesus Christ alone as your Savior. Recognize and acknowledge that the gracious Holy Spirit is calling you to trust and confess Christ as your Savior.
You are not only missing out on an eternity with a glorified body, mind, and spirit to enjoy a life of endless joy with your Heavenly Father and redeemed loved ones; you are also missing out on the glory of God in your earthly existence. Repentance and faith in Jesus Christ brings the Spirit of God into our lives with power for daily living—peace with God, strength to cope with our own selfishness, inspiration for prayer and worship, wisdom to make good decisions, an inner grasp of God’s will for family, business, and relationships.
We are closer to our Holy God’s set day when he will judge the world (Acts 17:31) than any of us realize! Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts (Hebrews 3:15).
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