INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT BEMA SEAT - AND GREAT WHITE THRONE.
We shall not be judged for our sins, which were laid on our Savior, our beloved Lord. ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk after the flesh but after the Spirit.’ Romans 8:1. That was settled at Calvary, where HE bore our sins in His own body on the tree, was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquity.
Isaiah 53 However, we shall stand before Him as saved to be judged. It is called the Bema judgment seat of our Lord, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 5:10.
No one is excepted, for we must all stand in that awesome moment before the Lord who created this marvelous universe, which is upheld by His mighty power; Who came to earth for thirty three years, being dishonored, mocked and humiliated and hung naked on Calvary’s cross. We stand before HIM, who released His Spirit and took the sting out of death; triumphed over the grave; and was gloriously revealed for 40 days after his resurrection; then went home to heaven in triumphal splendor. Not as a conquering team baptizing themselves in alcoholic maelstrom; but delighting the countless redeemed in glory. Yes, you and I will stand before Him in that awesome hour.
Why is this truth withheld from many of the Lord’s people, for we all need this productive truth to bring into being a life-time of glory for our risen Lord? During our days on earth, we have sought to delight our Lord and Savior, the Friend who sticks closer than a brother, ‘We make it our aim whether present or absent to be well pleasing to Him. Why, we enquire? We all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ , that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.’ The dread of the Lord is suppressed in teaching. Paul continued, ‘Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord , we persuade men, but are well known to God and I trust are well known in your consciences.
‘According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise Master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. Let each one take heed how he builds on it’. Read 1 Corinthians 3:10
The choice of metals gold, silver, precious stones, has significant, scriptural meaning. Gold speaks of God’s eternal glory: silver of His redemption, as seen in many articles of the tabernacle: precious stones are the souls won for our beloved Lord. For example the pearl, from the grain of grating sand in the oyster, initiating the process leading to the priceless jewel: the diamond from coal, formed under extreme pressure, and is the hardest substance known to man. How our Lord delights to preserve the invaluable metals and stones. They will be sealed for eternity .
Wood, hay and stubble are vastly different: while the Tree of Life ( our Lord Jesus ) has been preserved from Genesis to the final Revelation, the wood is the flammable human part which has been discarded; a limb is torn from nature’s tree in a storm; while white-ant eating may jeopardize some of the branches. Wood is combustible. While hay structures kernels of growing grain, wheat, barley, or rice, until removed, hay is suitable for cattle as food stuff. Stubble is fodder for beasts. What dominates in your life experience? Imperishable- or perishable?
‘For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid , which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, each one’s work will become manifest, because it will b e revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. V13 Revealed is ‘apokaluptus’ to be exposed, laid bare, fully known.
Our walk with the Lord will be obvious in that Bema judgment seat. Nothing will be obscured. Fire proves the metals of gold, silver, and precious stones, confirming the valuable harvest.
If any one’s work which he has built on it endures, he shall receive a reward. If any one’s work is burnt, he will suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. V15
Do you not know you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any one defiles the temple of God , God will destroy him . For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. V17
Paul wrote in this chapter of the ‘law of liberty’ that ‘whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s .
His death and rising again affirmed that He is Lord in both these realms. That debars us from judging our brother in the Lord: or deriding him. Without exception, we all shall submit to the Lord and with knees knocking, stand before his Majesty. Nothing will sidetrack us; no event shall have precedence; it is the eternal climax of our Lord’s Bema judgment seat. Without exemption, we shall bow before His majesty; and willingly acknowledge His glorious person. This incentive drives us forward to prepare for that great day. One of my close and dear friends of 6 decades has been called to the Father’s throne. He distinguished himself as a sheep farmer, pastor, husband, father, grandfather, counselor, missionary statesman who will be humbly presented to his Lord at that great judgment day. His merino wool kept missionaries in Irian Jawa while God invested his prayer in their spiritual struggles. Within weeks, God has called home an eminent theologian-author, a medical missionary and writer, and this beloved farmer. Oh, the gold, silver and precious stones Christ will lavish on His cherished ones.
‘To this end Christ both died and rose and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, ‘As I live says the lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God’. So then each of us shall give account of himself to God’ Romans 14:10
Right through God’s Word, He prepared His people for the great day of judgment so that we should look for this culmination of our earthly life. David foreshadowed it in Psalm 9:7,8, ‘The Lord shall endure forever; he has prepared his throne ( Bema Judgment seat ) for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. We live unaccountably when this truth is forgotten, for the thought of judgment by an eternal One offends our pride. Yet, life demands a judgment. After childbirth, each mother returns with her baby to the doctor for a personal check that all has proceeded well.
‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad‘. 2 Corinthians 5:10
David wrote, ‘Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent. A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth that he may judge His people, ( His sole motive). Gather my saints together to Me, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice ( that entails closeness with our Lord ) . Let the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Psalm 50: 6 Devouring fire accompanies such judgment. Heaven and earth are called to witness His majesty. God cherishes the company of His special ones ( saints ) . This reveals the warm-hearted character of our heavenly Father.
This 96 th psalm views the principle of universal judgment, which is the Bema ruling for believers; and the Great white Throne judgment of every person who has breathed God’s air. In this psalm both judgments are identified, while the New Testament gives details of each. Scripture affirmed the rightness of the ruling, rejoicing the heavens; and the earthly response. Judgment is foundational transaction with God’s created ones. His specific purpose is to adjudicate the world, which is emphasized in its repeating ‘He will judge the world.’ Why are we reluctant to teach God’s sovereign judgmental right? It is a divine entitlement. Heaven’s standard is uprightness and reality.
‘Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. The world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and all its fullness. Let the field be joyful and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. His coming and his judgment are each repeated . For he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth. Psalm 96:13
The Lord longed from past eternity to reward those whom the Father has blessed. Then the King shall say to those on His right hand, Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ Matthew 25:34
God as King pronounced His holy Self detached from man as a rebellious sinner. He announced a curse on them for their revolt. Solemnly, interminable fire is prepared for those who withhold life’s necessities of food, fluid, sweet fellowship, protective covering in time of necessity, refusing to visit those in isolation. The King decrees for them a never-ending sentence, while the righteous are assured of eternal safekeeping.
‘The King will answer and say to them on Hs left hand, Depart from Me ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you took Me not in; naked and you did not clothe me; and in prison (hospital, retirement village) and you did not visit me. ‘You did it not to the least of these My brethren, you did it not to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.’ Matthew 25: 46
God keeps his appointments. He actually chose the day for such a trial. He dispenses with a jury of men or women, for our God’s flawless character warrants fair, open-mindedness .
Our Lord Jesus is that perfect holiness ( that righteous standard ) by which HE will judge the world. The resurrection from the dead is God’s guarantee that he will fairly judge the dead. This judgment immeasurably comforts the child of God whose loved ones died in Christ, while sobering to those whose loved ones have died without Christ’s sure protection.
‘Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now HE commands all men everywhere to repent, because HE has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all, by raising Him from the dead. Acts 17:31 They jeered and taunted Paul. ‘And when they heard of the resurrection from the dead, some mocked, while others said, We’ll hear you again on this topic.’ Fallen man hates judgment truth. Faithful men must proclaim it.
The mightily-privileged John actually saw the great white throne. Notice that the seven colors of the spectrum blend into white light. It was a great throne. When touring Westminster Abbey, Gwenda and I were shown a well-worn, rugged lounge, which was absurdly explained as royally draped when the King or Queen occupied it. We smiled at its stripped triteness. Not so with the great white throne. John knew its full significance. We, too must understand the judgmental hour is somber. The solemn glorious One occupying the throne is our beloved Lord and Savior, from Whom fallen earth and heaven itself fled. In the Lord’s auspicious plan, they had accomplished their purpose, and hastily retreated. They recoiled, vainly making their get-away. ‘Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away.’ And there was found no place for them. When the great American theologian Jonathan Edwards preached on this theme, distressed men and women cried out to their God. Why do we not preach these irreplaceable truths, which are indelibly emblazoned in the Word of the living God, resulting in revival thus dramatically convincing the sceptic?
For all eternity John will recall that awful hour when he saw the dead, important and irrelevant, standing before the Lord. Are you aware of an increasing practice of tracing cultural roots for generations. Gwenda’s family has just recorded years of research of generations that have served the Lord from German roots. God has His family trees, from which there is no breaking away. Yes, John saw them all stand tremblingly before the throne of the Lord of all the universe.
Remembering that many perished in the oceans, often one incident involved hundreds or thousands, God will raise from the dead ( breath-taking in its immensity ). Those buried from every nation , all who were in Hades, the place of departed spirits will be solemnly mobilized to appear before the Judge of the entire universe. In wartime operations, all the troops were mobilized; an amazing achievement to rail troops, food, equipment, medicine, ships for transport. Our hospital unit left Adelaide by rail, arriving in Port Melbourne to embark on a 4 funnel coal-burning immense Atlantic liner, Mauretania, waiting for us. The Queen Mary , part of our convoy had 20,000 troops on board. Destroyers encircled us for thousands of miles, while Catalina flying planes searched from the skies for the shadow of U-boats. All these masterly human achievements fade into oblivion, alongside God’s gathering from history all His creations- solely for trial. No human inventiveness shall frustrate the divine intention. We may superficially gloss over some of the majestic moments when God shows His glory. The natural man rejects this as an impossibility, beyond human conception. You see, He does not know His Creator-God as personal Savior- only to face Him on that day as the inevitable, Supreme, heavenly judge.
Scripture modestly declares that ‘the books shall be opened.’ If computer science enables listing of every living individual, as in the European Union, how much more shall the God of the silicon chip summon every unsaved person to appear on that occasion.
How harrowing to find one’s name in those condemnatory books. How relaxing, confident and secure are those, ‘Whose names are written in the book, which is the book of life. That is the only description of the book of life. Suffice to say, all is eternally well for each person inscribed in that living book. They are in Him, safe and secure for eternity. Praise the Lord.
Twice is the statement ‘the dead shall be judged according to their works, by the things written in the books’, while the 13 th verse states ‘they were judged each one according to his works.’
No King or Queen’s counsel will defend the individual. No jury will arbitrate on possible innocence or guilt. God’s Word shall judge those who are recorded in the books. This sobers, for there is no alternative path. He is the only Potentate, all-wise, all-knowing and just.
The lake is ablaze with inextinguishable fire. Death and Hades are thrown into it. Scripture briefly records ’This is the second death.’ Such serious truth should fire us in our search for lost, eternal, perishing souls. This preaching is sadly lacking among many of God’s children.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things written in the books. The sea gave up the dead, who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.’ Revelation 20:11
Preachers are reluctant to preach on the second death, perpetuating gross ignorance among God’s people. Once-born-twice to die: twice-born ( that is from above ) once to die. *** Be sure!
The angel held the key to the bottomless pit, and had a great chain in his hand, concluding Satan’s power as He had challenged the Lord’s first creatures in the garden; and had successfully overpowered each generation of the human race ever since. Now his power is repressed. He is bound by the great chain; the world will have 1000 years free of his tyranny;
Grasp this truth, for this vitriolic enemy has enslaved those, who longed to be free.
An angel came down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. Revelation 20:2’He laid hold of the dragon, that servant of old, who is the Devil and Satan, as bound for a thousand years.’ Scripture has released no details of this incarceration: our Lord rules for a 1000 years free from the overpowering discomfiture of a relentless foe.
Presidents or national rulers arrive in acceptable splendor, but the coming of Him for this historic contrast, Who is above all, is justly regal and magnificent above all human description. The stately Great white throne Judge arrived in style. “I saw heaven opened, and, behold a white horse. And He who sat on it was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood (Calvary triumph) and his name is called the Word of God.( Logos is exclusive to Deity so none can contend with Him )’ Scripture prepares us for the arrival of the Judge of all the earth. ‘And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. And he Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written ’KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS. Revelation19:16 Royalty needs no accessory. While our Lord safeguards you as His bride: everyone not covered with His redeeming blood only despairs. Lost! Rejected.
Abraham walked closely with his Lord, proposing that the Lord had a certain number of righteous people in a city. He rules out God’s possible unrighteous action. Then the superb public statement that the Judge of all the earth should accomplish justice. This contrasts with the present unjust humiliation of our Lord. Many oppose God’s judgmental right. ‘Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would you also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?’ Abraham continued, ‘Far be it from you to do such a thing as this to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked: far be it from you! Then the penetrating comment, ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right’? Genesis 18:25 At Calvary God’s justice and His mercy met (blended ). Unspeakably precious. Bless the Lord.
Out impartial God is morally correct in judgment, leading to a just verdict. He purposed this in preparing His throne, when He would truly evaluate us. He made Himself our Refuge in the hour of storm, as His gracious part in the judgment process. David in his psalms wrote, ‘The Lord shall endure for ever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The Lord also will be a Refuge for the oppressed, a secure refuge in times of trouble.’ +
The ruling monarch dominates an atmosphere of sound judgment. Multiple nations bow before him. From which there are no exceptions: nor superficial recognition from His creatures; rather He gloriously sits on the royal dais. Let’s take hold of the nobility of the ever-reigning Monarch of the whole universe. He completely controls His marvelous universe.
‘God reigns over the nations. God sits on His holy throne.’ Psalm 47:8
God’s throne exhibits royal dignity, authority or power: while justice is the attribute of a holy God or gift to His recreated man. His righteousness is revealed in covenant-keeping; or personally as the Messianic king; or shown in people enjoying salvation. The habitation is the foundation of the throne of our God, whose exquisite language ensures that the Great While throne operation would be honorable and just. While unbelievers ridicule God’s entitlement to the Great White throne, the Lord shows unbreakable flawlessness. No person can challenge God’s integrity at this sovereign, powerful throne. Truth is ethical learning, true doctrine or religious knowledge. How dare fallen man presumptuously challenge the Lord of the earth. The Father’s loving-kindness preceded the judgment, or before your face. ‘Righteousness and justice are the habitation of your throne. Mercy and truth go before your face.’ Psalm 89:14
Why do men not preach this solemn passage, assuming it is part of the gospel, and feeling it is so stern. However, universal judgment will occur at the great White Throne. Did you notice the Son of God used the term, ‘Son of Man’; He is then enthroned; and all the nations of the world, past, present and future, regardless of distinctions and location, will be marshaled to appear.
‘And when the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides His sheep from His goats. He spoke to those sheep who were on His right hand,’ Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then to the contrasting group on the left,’ He will say to them, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ The conclusion of the serious discussion is, ‘These will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life‘. Matthew 25: 41. Solemn!
Let’s comment on ‘these times of ignorance’. A Sovereign God commands men to repent- that is, change their approach or their mental attitude. Proud man urgently needs to change his heart towards his God. God has dictated the actual day of His final judgment. None can escape that awful experience. The Lord is clearly the righteous, chosen standard. Because we have all sinned and come short of his glory, none can attain God’s highest standard. We are as sure of the judgment day as the resurrection of our beloved Lord.
From all eternity, God had specified the occasion- even the day. ‘These times of ignorance God winked at ( or overlooked ) but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has chosen a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all , by raising Him from the dead.’ Acts 17;31
Paul argued that man disdains the heavenly riches, which `lead to a repentant life. Rather they have their private treasure from an unapologetic heart and callous nature, which will fizzle out in the face of God’s righteousness. God is fair and an equitable judge: he will grant eternal life to those who qualify for it, pursuing glory, respect and never-ending life.
Paul asked, ‘Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. But in accordance with your hardness and impenitent heart you are treasuring up for your self wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Who will render to each one according to his deeds.
Eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honour and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking, and do not obey the truth , but obey unrighteousness- indignation and wrath. Tribulation and anguish , on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.’ Romans 2:5-8
May our beloved Lord stir compassion for those of our loved ones and friends who know not the beloved Redeemer and His bountifulness at the Bema judgment throne, and those unrepentant who stubbornly resist the reality of that solemn Great white throne.
--+-Please Lord waken us- shake us- stir our hearts to cry out for their redemption. In His holy name Harrold .