BIBLE TEACHINGS MADE PLAIN, part 14 – Gospel and Judgment

BIBLE TEACHINGS MADE PLAIN, part 14

Gospel and Judgment

As mentioned in lesson 13 the next subject is Gospel and Judgment. Some Christians maintain that believing the Gospel exempt them from judgment in any shape or form They believe that once they have accepted Jesus that excludes them falling under divine judgment. In this lesson we will explore the answer to this question.

First we will go through the Bible and find what the Bible has to say about the judgment and then we will discuss the various types of judgment. The Bible declares absolutely that there is a judgment for all including believers in the Gospel. Read to start Deut.32:36 “The Lord shall judge His people, and this is confirmed in Hebr.10:30. OT or NT does not make any difference, God’s people shall be judged. Next in Eccl. 12:14 God shall bring every work into judgment, good or evil. Rev.22:12 when Jesus comes He shall give every one according as his or her work shall be. Notice every one, no exemption for any body. The apostle Paul preached about the coming judgment standing before royalty in Acts 24:25. The judgment has been given to Jesus, John 5:22 & 27. All of us, no exemption, will be standing before the judgment seat of Christ, Rom.14:10; 2 Cor.5:10. Jesus has been given the authority to judge.

Jude 15 to execute judgment upon all. When we read this it may give the impression upon the ungodly only, but read then in 1 Peter 4:17 it will start with the house of God, that means the believers in Christ., they shall be judged first, followed by the ungodly unbelievers. We come to this later in the lesson.

Should we be afraid for the judgment when we believe in the Gospel? Read Psalm 96 The content of this Psalm is to be joyful and sing to the Lord for He comes to judge the earth and it will be done in righteousness 96:13 and 98:9. In Psalm 139:23 David asks the Lord to search Him, which means to investigate him or judge him. David had no fear for the judgment, because he knew God is a righteous judge and David was not a sinless man as we remember well from what he has done in his life.

We have mentioned the word investigation, that is what is needed, an investigation for all. Even in our human life and society nothing is done without an investigation. If awards have to be issued for what people have done it will not be issued without proper investigation. If a verdict needs to be given in a criminal court a proper investigation takes place The great difference is that all what happens in our society is not always right and correct, but God is a righteous Judge and of truth, read again Ps.96:13 and Rev.16:7.

As human judges are being watched what they do and decide, so are we being watched including God what He is doing, 1Cor.4:9 we are a spectacle unto the world, angels and men. Angels includes also the bad ones. World in this respect means cosmos that is our surroundings Read in Eph.6:12 what the cosmos contains, the powers of darkness where the bad angels are when they were thrown out of heaven, Rev.12:10-12 and Jude 6. These fallen angels under their leader the Devil are watching what happens here and how God is dealing with people. That’s why Paul writes we are a spectacle.

We know from scriptures that the believers, God’s people, the house of God will be given eternal life, they will not perish, John 3:16 But it needs to be decided beforehand if they deserve it and why, this needs to be done before Christ returns.
Read 1Thess.4:16, 17; John 14:1-3; Rev.22:12; Matth.25:31, 32. Before the harvest it must be decided who will be part of the good harvest which automatically decides on the ones who belong to the bad harvest. There will be only two classes of people, saved and not saved. Once it is decided who are saved the other part becomes clear as well and why they are not saved and this also will fall under an investigation, but later. In several parables of Jesus we learn about this two party idea, Matth.25:1-13 and 31-46, also in Matth.13:24-30 wheat and tares, and as it was shown to John in Rev.14:14-20, two different harvests.

Jesus spoke about two resurrections for life or death, John 5:28-29, and in Luke 17:35, 36 one is taken into safety and the other left behind. It is a pretty serious matter, no grey area and no sitting on the fence, its one or the other. The investigation idea before the end is made very clear in Christ’s parable of Matth.22:1-14. Before the marriage feast starts, the feast of Rev.19:9 the king comes in to see if all are right to be at the table. One person is found without a proper garment, 22:11
He sits there but in his own clothing. He has refused to accept what the king has provided. Salvation is on God’s terms not ours. Many people are afraid for the judgment and thus teach that there is no judgment for the believer. This may be for various reasons, they may feel not ready or don’t know how to get ready or they have no clue what it means to have the right garment for the marriage feast or have no saving relationship with Jesus on a daily basis. What ever the reason is they think the best to do is to ignore it or deny it. But the Bible is absolutely clear without a shadow of doubt we all fall under divine judgment. And we should not be afraid if we are right with Jesus. No human has the right to deny God to act as a judge for everybody.

But we must never try to be ready for the judgment in our own strength, power or doing things on our terms. Accept God’s invitation. We know we are sinners, all of us, Rom.3:23 and also 2Chron.6:36. God knows that very well and therefore He extends an invitation to us to come to Him with our sins, read Isa.1:18, 19 He will clean us and change us from red to white. Then when we are made white He expects us to be willing to obey and do His will. We cannot obey nor do His will in order to be made white. Let God do first what He offers as a free gift and then what we do is out of thanks and love to God. Also read in Matth.11:28-30 come to Jesus with your burden of sin and He will take it and give you rest. He takes what we cannot care for, our sins, our guilt and He takes it upon Himself as we have learned from Isa 53, 2Cor.5:21. He will cleanse from all sins, 1John 1:9. Look to Jesus, our salvation, Isa.45:22. When we do that we will be in Christ not in our own and there will be no condemnation, Rom.8:1. There is no fear in love, 1John 4:18 be sure to read this. If we have to come to love God and Jesus we should not fear His judgment, we love Him and He loves us. Those who are afraid for the judgment or don’t believe in it may lack the love of God needed in their hearts

We need to explore a little more the concept of “investigative judgment”. As we have noticed before we are a spectacle, so everything God does needs to be transparent. The Devil as the accuser is watching carefully. The OT sanctuary is our model to understand what is happening today. Christ is our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, Hebr.8:1, 2. Everything that took place in the OT sanctuary is now replaced by Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Each day there was a general morning and evening sacrifice for sin atonement and then people could also come privately with a lamb and sacrifice it for their sins. The sins of the sinner were transferred to the lamb that became the sin bearer and was killed by the sinner. The priest would take the blood for atonement into the sanctuary. You can all read it in Lev.1:4, 5 and 4:4-7 in this manner the sanctuary by way of the blood of the lamb became unclean or contaminated and thus needed annually ritual cleansing. Read Hebr.9:22 and 23.
But animal blood cannot really cleanse us it needs the blood of Christ, 1Petr.1:18, 19; Eph.1:7; 1John 1:9. Jesus takes our sins He died for us on the cross, 2Cor.5:21; Isa.53.
This is offered to us free, but it was costly for God who gave us His son, John 3:16. By confessing our sins daily to God in the name of Jesus our sins are removed from us into the heavenly sanctuary and thus the heavenly sanctuary needs cleansing, not we. We are clean and atoned for., but we must remain clean by dying daily as Paul writes in 1Cor.15:31, which mean daily surrender to Jesus. We don’t have to be afraid in case we sin again as long as we take it to Jesus and grow in grace. In a later lesson we will discuss this further, growing in grace.
Only saying I believe in Jesus after we have come to Him is not sufficient, read Matth.7:21-23. We are not saved in sin but from sin, from iniquity, Matth.1:21.

Now back to the investigative judgment. In the OT sanctuary cycle there was the day called YOM KIPPUR or Day of Atonement. The Jew looked upon this as the Day of Judgment. On that day the sanctuary was ritually cleansed from all the confessed sins. The Jew was judged clean if all his sins were removed from him/her into the sanctuary. For us it means the final end time day of judgment and we have to be sure that our sins are not with us, but with Jesus. Our good works will not save us at that time, Jesus and He alone will. If we have unconfessed sins and bad works on our record we will be lost, if we have good works done, we will not be saved because of our good works, they have no saving power, we are saved because of Jesus. But our good works will only give evidence that we have been saved by Jesus, and as evidence that Jesus lived in us and we did not live our own lives. Remember again Hebr.9:23 as the earthly needed cleansing so the heavenly needs it, but not with animal blood but with the blood of Jesus, and our salvation is secured after we have accepted the heavenly invitation of Isa.1:18, 19;Matth.11:28-30 and 1John 1:9

The last day end time judgment is for:
a. Judging those who have accepted Jesus if their sins are in heavenly sanctuary or not
b. Judging or vindicating God that He has done the right thing and is righteous and true. It means the Devil has nothing to accuse God about or accuse God about His people, as he did with Job, Job 1:9, 10; Rev.12:10
c. Restoring the sanctuary and eradicating the world, the cosmos from sin.

Because this is so important that God has a last day message going around the world to warn the world for this important and crucial event. Rev.14:6, 7. It announces this judgment; it preaches the everlasting Gospel for salvation and challenges people to fear God, to worship Him alone as the Creator and to give Him glory. This worldwide preaching takes place since 1844. Now you will understand why in the NKJV it reads that the judgment is in favor of the saints. Dan.9:22, because it has been found through judgment that the saints have accepted Jesus. In 1Cor.1:2 we read who are saints those who have accepted Jesus.

But now comes the other part of the investigative judgment in regard to those who are not saved. Old KJV reads the judgment given to the saints. After the saints have been judged in their favour they qualify to judge others who are not saved.
We read in 1Cor.6:1-3 that the saints are called to judge those who are lost even angels who lost their place in heaven, Jude 9. Books will be opened and it can be investigated why they became lost. Rev.20:12. Investigation of the lost ones also, all will be transparent and put in the open, with no questions left. That process will take about a thousand years and is revealed in Rev.20.

When that investigation is completed then the third judgment can takes place which is called the executive judgment the punishing of the lost ones. Rev.20:13-15. They will suffer the heavenly fire which will do them away for ever and ever and turn them into ashes. Mal.4:1-3. After that heaven and earth is clean, sin and sinners will be no more and a new earth and heaven will be created as promised in Isa.66:22, 24; Rev.21:1-7.

Commitment: In view of the fact that there will be a judgment I commit myself to Jesus and accept Him as my personal Saviour and will affirm that every day the rest of my life.