There are three inescapable appointments in life. We can not escape death, we can not escape resurrection, and we can not escape judgment.
The scriptures is very clear about death. The Scripture teaches that while death is sure (Ecclesiastes 7:2; Hebrews 9:27), it is to the believer great gain (Philippians 1:21). Death, even, cannot separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). As death is considered the last enemy of humans (1 Corinthians 15:26), the death of believers is a reunion with the Lord (Thessalonians 4:13-18; John 5:25-27; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8).
Everyone also has an appointment with resurrection and judgement. No one can escape these, as no one can, morbid as may seem, escape death. As our faith is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and as we believe in His resurrection (Philippians 3:10-11; 1 Corinthians 15:13-19), we have our hope for eternal life. Resurrection is a promise of Jesus Christ Himself (John 11:23-26). Beacuse resurrection is considered as an ultimate total transformation of the believer’s life (Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44), it becomes the believer’s yardstick or guiding principle of life (Acts 24:15-16).
The certainty of the God’s judgment was proclaimed by Paul when he wrote the believers about our standing before God’s judgment seat (Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:8-10).
There was a story written about a young couple who just moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the washed laundry outside.'That laundry is not very clean', she said. 'She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap'. Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: 'Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this? The husband said, 'Well, honey, I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.'
The way we live our life is mirrored by this story. What we usually see when we watch others depends on the purity of the window through which we look. As believers, we tend to look through impure windows of our lives when we too quickly judge others.
As humans have the tendency to quickly judge each other. Too painful in fact, to see that we do so even when we do not have the right to judge other. In judging our neighbor, our brother, our sister, or even our enemy, we are actually making ourselves as gods. But there is another kind of judgment that we all need to understand in life. There is a far more essential form of judgment by Jesus, and our form of our personal judgment and not even our incapacity to judge, all fall short of the judgment that Jesus Christ will administer. We call this the White Throne judgment, where the Righteous One, who is Jesus Christ, will judge both the righteous and the wicked with the justice of His holiness.
The judgement seat of Jesus Christ is both for those who believed in Him and those who rejected
Him.
As believers, we believe that we will all die (Hebrews 9:27-28). And we have realized that some of us already did. After this once-in-a-lifetime experience, the dead shall face the judgment of God. For those who have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10), this is even more of a promise of salvation from judgment. For the judgment of the believers is not the punishment of torment, but the commendation of an eternal reward (Matthew 25:46). The believers will be judged separately, or differently from those who did not believe (Matthew 7:21-23).
There are two destinations for the souls of humans after they pass through the judgment seat of
Jesus Christ.
When Jesus Christ judges humans, He will separate the righteous and the redeem from the wicked and the disobedient (Matthew 25: 31-32).
After the souls of humans pass through the judgement seat of Jesus Christ, the souls go to their eternal destiny: heaven (John 14:2; John 3:5) or hell (Revelation 21:8: Matthew 25:46).
It has been told that one day, when then Vice President Calvin Coolidge was presiding over the Senate, one senator was so mad at another senator that he cursed at him saying "go straight to hell". The offended Senator complained to Coolidge, who as presiding officer, immediately looked up from the book that he had been reading through while listening to the heated debate. Slowly and confidently, Vice President Coolidge said, "I've been looking through the rule book,and you don't have to go to hell." (Crossroads, Issue No. 7, p. 16).
What does this story teach us? There is an eternal lesson in life that we can glean from the response of Vice President Calvin Coolidge. We can actually decide not to go to hell at all! Inversely, we can decide to go to heaven instead! Our eternal destiny is either reaped in heaven or spent in hell. We have the choice not to go to hell. We have the choice to go to Heaven.
It is heaven or hell (Matthew 25:46). There is no in-betweens. There is no scripture in the Bible that say that humans can stay in a temporary place to wait for heaven. There is no scripture in the Bible that say that humans can stay in a temporary place while their family members appeal for them on Earth in order to get to Heaven. Indeed, the Bible does not say something about the purgatory. But the Bible is clear in telling us that there is Heaven waiting for those who have faith in Jesus Christ and those who obey the will of God (John 3:36; Acts 4:12).
While heaven is prepared for those who believe in Jesus Christ (Luke 23:43; John 14:3), hell is prepare for those who (Mark 9:43: Revelation 21:8).
Hell is real as heaven is. Scriptures describe for us what hell is.
Hell is a blazing furnace, a furnace of fire (Matthew 13:41-42). The experience in hell is described as accompanied by “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. It is an eternal torment. To speak about hell is not to create a morbid, scary or bizarre feeling among us. This is the time for us to realize its reality as a warning, rather than experience its reality in hell itself.
Hell is an eternal fire, and everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41). It is prepared for the Devil and his angels. We can look at hell in an inspiring perspective. Hell was created not for us but for the Devil and his cohorts. But because of sin, we have become the children of the Devil. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. If Jesus Christ destroyed the work of the Devil then we should be redeemed from the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8).
Hell is an unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43). The fire in hell is unquenchable. The fire in hell is ablaze for eternity. This is the biblical description of hell as a consequence of the disobedience of the will of God. Other religions teach that the body of humans will be eradicated or annihilated upon death. Since they believe that after death is the ultimate end of humankind, these religions teach the world that there is no hell at all.
Hell is a tormenting fire (Luke 16:23-24). The fire of hell is not only and eternal, unquenchable fire, it is in fact tormenting (Matthew 13:40-42). Hell is a tormenting fire, but it is unquenchable. What the unbeliever can do in hell is merely weep and gnash their teeth. The unbeliever can not afford to do anymore than these.
Hell is an everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9). It is an eternal punishment. It is an eternal destruction of man, since man will be shut off from the merciful presence of God.
Scriptures are very clear in identifying who will be judged for hell.
Scriptures tell us that the hypocrites and spiritual pretenders are bound for hell (Matthew 23:29-33). Jesus Christ denounced the hypocrisy of the people who worship God through teaching and observing the law of God but in reality they do not worship God but themselves. Extracted from the Moody’s Anecdotes is a feature that would illustrate the Biblical description of hypocrisy: Some years ago a remarkable picture was exhibited in London. As you looked at it from a distance, you seemed to see a monk engaged in prayer, his hands clasped, his head bowed. As you came nearer, however, and examined the painting more closely, you saw that in reality he was squeezing a lemon into a punch bowl! What a picture that is of the human heart! Superficially examined, it is thought to be the seat of all that is good and noble and pleasing in a man; whereas in reality, until regenerated by the Holy Ghost, it is the seat of all corruption (John 3:19).
Those who rejected Jesus Christ are bound for hell (John 3:36). The Bible tells of the plan of God for humankind. The plan is simple. God will send His only Son to redeem the world from sin. God planned that Jesus Christ will die for the sins of the world. Jesus Christ knows that the shedding of His blood will bring the world remission from sin. But the heart of humans is basically wicked that it can not received Jesus Christ. The heart of humans is outright depraved that it can not believe in the worthiest plan of God. The heart of humans is a heart of stone; it can not recognize the love of Jesus (Psalm 14:1). The judgment of God will come upon those who are selfish, indignant and disobedient, the doers of evil (Romans 2:8).
The sad thing is upon death, whether it brings fear or not, the judgment is inescapable
(Revelation 20:15). If we are without salvation, if we are without Jesus Christ in one’s life, if we are without the real experience of redemption, our entity can never be found in the book of life. If we do not belong to the book of life, the we belong to the book of death. The judgement of hell awaits us if we miss this great offer of salvation (Revelation 21:8).
The judgement of the unrighteous is the result of the rejection of Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.
Jesus Christ offered His life as a sacrifice for salvation. Jesus Christ would not offer relief for rejection. When He returns, he will judge both the righteous and the unrighteous. When will Jesus Christ receive His investment for salvation (1 Corinthians 6:1-2)? But mankind always finds excuse in putting off for tomorrow the salvation timely for the day.
There is a fable shared by William Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew published in 1975. This fable tells of three apprentice devils who were coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils, about their plans to tempt and to ruin humans. The first said, "I will tell them that there is no God." Satan said, "That will not delude many, for they know that there is a God." The second said, "I will tell men that there is no hell." Satan answered, "You will deceive no one that way; men know even now that there is a hell for sin." The third said, "I will tell men that there is no hurry." "Go," said Satan, "and you will ruin men by the thousands."
The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time.
The only hope for unrighteous is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus came into the world, He came as a Savior (John 3:17). When Jesus Christ resurrected into Heaven, He resurrected as the Son of God (John 11:25-26). When Jesus Christ returns into the world for the second time, He will no longer be a merciful Savior, but a righteous Judge (Revelations 19:11). Jesus Christ will be a righteous judge and rewarder of the faithful and believers. He will be a righteous judge and punisher of the unrighteous and unbelievers.
Who is Jesus Christ to you? Is He your Savior? Or is He your judge? Is Jesus Christ your personal Savior and Lord? Or is Jesus Christ your Judge and your Punisher?
The Lord reminds us that in Judgment nothing else beside our righteousness in Jesus will matter. It is only our salvation and righteousness in Jesus Christ that will determine our eternal destination.
Non-Christians often ask Christians, "But how can the God of love allow any of his creatures to suffer unending misery in hell?" The question actually should be, “How can He not? The fact that God is love makes hell necessary. "Hell," as E.L. Mascall once said, "is not compatible with God's love; it is a direct consequence of God’s love."E.L. Mascall stresses the fact that the very God who loves us is the one who respects our decisions. God loves us, but He does not force His love on us. To force love is to commit assault. God allows us to decide. God loves us, He encourages our response, He woos us, He pursues us, He urges us, but He does not force us, because He respects us. Going to Hell is not about God’s hatred, it is about our own choice to spend our life in eternity there. It is not God’s choice at all.
To end, I wish to paraphrase John Hanna’s words when he said: “No one who is ever in hell will be able to say to God in anger, "God, You put me here!" No one who is in heaven will ever be able to proudly say, "God, I put myself here!"
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