Fundamental Truths of Salvation

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 12

THE JUDGMENT.

Much confusion exists in the minds both of believers and unbelievers as to the judgment. The general idea is that at the end of the world there will be a judgment-day, when all alike, whether saved or unsaved, will stand before God, and receive according to their works. Hence it is often contended that we cannot know whether we are saved before that time. We therefore propose to examine this subject by the light of the Scriptures.

1. It is very certain that believers will never be judged — will never stand before the judgment seat on account of sin. Our Lord teaches this doctrine most distinctly. He says, “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. ” (John v. 24.) Now this word “ condemnation " should be translated judgment, and is so translated in verses 22, 27, and 29; and we have therefore a distinct assertion that believers will not come into judgment. Indeed, this is only a simple consequence of having eternal life; for if the question of our state before God were left unsettled, how could we be possessors of everlasting life? And yet we are taught that we have this now: “ He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath ” (not shall have) " everlasting life. " (See also John iii. 36; vi. 47; 1 John v. 13, etc.)

This truth was shadowed forth in the distinction which God made between Israel and Egypt on the Passover night, when He smote the first -born. Israel, as we have seen, was completely sheltered from the power of the destroying angel, by the blood of the Lamb. In like manner every believer is secured from judgment as to guilt, by the blood of Christ; for Christ has borne the judgment for him in His death on the cross, so that he can say, He bare my sins in His own body on the tree.” (1 Peter ii. 24.)

“ Yes,” you may perhaps reply, “ my past sins. ” “ No, ” we answer, “ your sins; all your sins if you are a believer. For not one of them had been committed when the Saviour died; and so He took the burden of all of them, entered into and exhausted the judgment due to all of them, so that the whole of your guilt might for ever be swept away. Blessed truth! ”

“ If thou hast my discharge procured,
And freely in my place endured
     The whole of wrath divine,
Payment He will not twice demand,
First at my bleeding surety's hand,
     And then again at mine. ”

Thus it is that we have not only died, but have also been raised together with Christ (Eph. ii.; Col. iii.), and therefore have been brought through the judgment, in the death of Christ, so that we stand on the other, the resurrection side, where in perfect confidence we can cry, “ Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? " (Rom. viii. 33, 34.)

2. Though believers will never be judged on account of sin, all must appear before the judgment- seat of Christ. Thus the apostle writes: " We are confident [ I say ] and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour (or, it is our earnest desire), that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him (or, acceptable to Him). For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad. ” (2 Cor. v. 8–10.) No statement could be plainer to the effect that all, “ we all, " and therefore believers, must also appear before the judgment- seat of Christ. We ask them these two questions: first, When will this be for believers? and secondly, For what purpose will they be there?

(α) When will believers appear before the judgment- seat of Christ? It has been seen in the previous chapter that the hope of the believer is the coming of Christ; and that at His coming the dead in Christ will be raised, that those who are living will be changed, and that both will be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thess. iv. 16–18.) This applies to believers alone, and is “ the resurrection of life ” of which our Lord speaks in the gospel of John. If we cite the whole passage the reference will be better understood. He says, “The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation ” (judgment, κρίσεως). (John v. 28, 29.) In verse 24, He proclaims everlasting life to every one that heareth His word, and believeth on Him that sent Him; and declares that all such shall not come into judgment, but are passed from death unto life. He then proceeds, “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” He grounds this assurance upon the fact that was the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. ” (vv. 25–27.) Then comes our passage, “ Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming," etc. (v. 28.)

The two things here contrasted are life and judgment, in connection with Christ as the source of one, and the depositary of the other. As the Son of God He communicates life; as the Son of man He is invested with the authority to execute judgment. Accordingly He offers life in the hour that now is; and will execute judgment in the hour that is coming. The hour that “now is " has lasted therefore from the time when these words were spoken, and will last until the close of the present dispensation. Thus the dead in verse 25 are the spiritually dead; and hence we have the words " they that hear shall live; " for it is only they that hear the voice of the Son of God in the gospel who pass from death unto life. But in the coming hour (v. 28) we are told that all that are in the graves shall come forth; "the hour" in this case, as in verse 25, marking ' a period or dispensation, and therefore in no way indicating a simultaneous resurrection. On the other hand, as we know from other Scriptures (1 Cor. xv. 23; 1 Thess. iv. 15–18; Rev. xx. 4-6, etc.), the resurrection of life will take place at the Lord's return, while the resurrection of judgment will not be until the close of the millennium, being the closing event of earthly dispensations preparatory to the eternal state. What we get then from this passage is, that the resurrection of life of those who have heard the word of the Son of God, and believed on Him that sent Him, and have received ever lasting life, is an entirely distinct thing from the resurrection of judgment; that believers have no part in the resurrection of judgment, and hence that they will not appear before the judgment seat together with the wicked. There is also the other solemn instruction which we note and leave, as outside our present purpose, that all men must honour the Son of God, if not now by bowing before Him in self - judgment to receive everlasting life, then by- and -by when He executes judgment as the Son of man upon every one according to their works. Now He acts in grace; then in righteous judgment.

Having then seen that believers have no part in the resurrection of judgment, we have still to enquire, When will they appear before the judgment - seat of Christ? The answer is clear from many passages that it is on His return, and there fore consequent upon the first resurrection. This is the distinct teaching of the parables in Matthew xxv. 14, etc.; Luke xix. 11, etc. In the former, we have the words, “ After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them " (Matt. xxv. 19); in the latter, the charge on departure is, “ Occupy till I come.” (Luke xix. 13.) In all the exhortations, too, addressed to the disciples, under responsibilty as servants, the coming of Christ is the goal to which they are directed to look; so also in the epistles (as, for example, 1 Cor. i. 7, 8; 1 Thess. i. 9, 10; iii. 12, 13; 2 Thess. i.; 1 Timothy vi. 13-16; Titus ii. 11-14, etc.)

(β) We may, then, now answer our second question-For what purpose will believers appear before the judgment- seat of Christ? We have seen that it is not to be judged for sin; for the possession of everlasting life exempts them from this, and the judgment, due both to their sins and sinful condition, has already been borne by their Surety in His death. It is “that every one may receive the things [done] in [ his ] body; " and thus for the believer it is a judgment of his works or service. This truth cannot be too earnestly pressed upon our hearts and consciences; for it will stimulate us both to fidelity and zeal to remember that we must " be manifested ” (as the word is) before the judgment- seat of Christ. Let it be remembered, however, that before we are thus judged we are already raised, and made like unto our Lord (Phil. iii. 20, 21; 1 John iii. 2), bodily as well as spiritually; and hence that we shall have full fellowship with Him in His judgment upon our works. Still it is a very solemn consideration, that in regard to those things which we now excuse or allow to pass unjudged, we shall then take part with Christ in condemning as unworthy of Him whom we professed to serve; as traces of Egypt which ought to have been judged and rolled away; as actings of the flesh which God in His infinite mercy and grace had put into the place of death, and which He has given us power to keep there through the indwelling Spirit. Hence the blessing of constant and faithful self -judgment, as even now in spirit manifested before the judgment -seat of Christ. May we be enabled to do this, and may “ the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ” (1 Thess. v. 23.)

3. The final judgment of the wicked will take place at the end of the millennium. Earth has been, and will yet be, the scene of many a judgment of the living; and so also “ when the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations, ” etc. (Matt. xxv. 31, etc.) This judgment scene is often confounded with that which takes place before the great white throne; but it is entirely distinct. It is, as the word declares, the judgment of the nations, living nations at the coming of the Son of man in glory; a judgment therefore preparatory to His sway from the river unto the ends of the earth. The final judgment, that of the dead, is found in the Revelation, and is thus described: " And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God " (it should be, before the throne); " and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [ the book ] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (rather, hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. " (Rev. xx. 11-15.)

This is the “resurrection of judgment ” of which our Lord speaks in the gospel of John; and will include therefore all the unsaved, and the unsaved alone. True that the book of life is there; but there is no indication of any saints to be judged. The book of life is opened to show that the names of those to be judged were not there; and thus they are condemned on both negative and positive grounds. Their names were not written in the book of life, and their works declared them amenable to righteous judgment, and they thus fall hopelessly under the everlasting sentence of the lake of fire, which is the second death, a sentence from which there is no appeal and no escape.

Are any of my readers still unsaved?? Let me beseech you to ponder upon this solemn scene. He who sits upon that great white throne as the Judge is the Blessed One who, now seated in the glory at the right hand of God, is proclaimed to you as a Saviour. Concerning Him the divine decree has gone forth, “ That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [ things] in heaven, and [ things] in earth, and [things] under the earth ' (i.e. celestial, terrestrial, and infernal beings); " and [ that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. ii. 10, 11.) None therefore can escape; but the question which affects you, and will affect you eternally, is whether you will bow the knee to Him now while it is the accepted time, and the day of salvation, or whether you will be constrained to bow before Him as your Judge on the throne. Bow before Him now, in self-judgment, taking the place of a sinner, and looking to Him as the Saviour, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, and you will not come into judgment, but will, while you look, pass from death unto life. Refusing Him as a Saviour, despising the grace of God which promises everlasting life to every one that believeth on Him, you will have to bow before and under the rod of His judgment, and at the same time to confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Awful alternative! Oh that even the contemplation of it may be used of the Lord to bring you, even as you read, as a lost sinner to His feet, so that finding Him as your Saviour, you may be amongst that happy number who are waiting for His return, and who will never stand before the great white throne.  

“Lamb of God, Thou now art seated
     High upon Thy Father's throne;
All Thy gracious work completed,
     All Thy mighty vict'ry won:
Every knee in heaven is bending
     To the Lamb for sinners slain;
Every voice and harp is swelling,-
     Worthy is the Lamb to reign. ”

"Unto Him who loved us — gave us
     Every pledge that love could give;
Freely shed His blood to save us;
     Gave His life that we might live;
          Be the kingdom,
          And dominion,
     And the glory evermore!”

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LONDON:
W H. BROOM, 25, PATERNOSTER SQUARE.