The Day of Judgment
I have found that most people don't understand what the Bible says about the Day of Judgment. It is not a time when we will stand before the Lord and try to ask Him to forgive our sins or to try to justify our sins. Once we die, we are either forgiven, or we are not forgiven. Nothing we do after death will have any bearing on our salvation. It is too late to do anything then. The day of Judgment is a time to give account for our lives. We will tell the Lord why we did what we did and said what we said. In fact, we will give an account for every idle word we have spoken, as well as all of our other works in our lives. (Matthew 12:36) That is the day when all of our motives and actions will be seen in the light of God's truth, so we will have no excuses for having done the wrong thing.
Life is choices. Some choices are sins, and some choices are righteous actions. The Day of Judgment will be the test we will take for all of our choices. God will be able to remind us of what He told us and how He led us. Then, we will see if we did the right thing or the wrong thing. It will be a very sobering experience to stand before the Lord Jesus to give this account to the One who lived as a human being, yet He never sinned or made the wrong choice.
The Judgment Day is meant to be a deterrent to sin. It is supposed to get us to think twice or three times before we say something rash or hurtful. It is a day of reckoning, in which we will go over our lives thoroughly, so that no one will be able to say that God was unfair or treated us badly. As believers, we will stand before Christ at the Mercy Seat Judgment, so we will stand before Him forgiven. However, our rewards and standing in heaven will be determined by how we have lived our lives. (I Corinthians 3:11-15) The unbelievers will stand before Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment. (Revelation 20:11-15) They will give an account of their works, and then, they will be dismissed from God's presence to dwell in the Lake of Fire forever, because their names will not be found in the Lamb's Book of Life, which is everyone who was ever saved by grace through faith. Therefore, both are serious times of accountability to God.
The best outcome a person can have on the Day of Judgment is to be a believer who hears His precious Lord Jesus Christ say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." I pray that we all live in God's power to achieve that commendation from Jesus.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Matthew 13-15.
Life is choices. Some choices are sins, and some choices are righteous actions. The Day of Judgment will be the test we will take for all of our choices. God will be able to remind us of what He told us and how He led us. Then, we will see if we did the right thing or the wrong thing. It will be a very sobering experience to stand before the Lord Jesus to give this account to the One who lived as a human being, yet He never sinned or made the wrong choice.
The Judgment Day is meant to be a deterrent to sin. It is supposed to get us to think twice or three times before we say something rash or hurtful. It is a day of reckoning, in which we will go over our lives thoroughly, so that no one will be able to say that God was unfair or treated us badly. As believers, we will stand before Christ at the Mercy Seat Judgment, so we will stand before Him forgiven. However, our rewards and standing in heaven will be determined by how we have lived our lives. (I Corinthians 3:11-15) The unbelievers will stand before Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment. (Revelation 20:11-15) They will give an account of their works, and then, they will be dismissed from God's presence to dwell in the Lake of Fire forever, because their names will not be found in the Lamb's Book of Life, which is everyone who was ever saved by grace through faith. Therefore, both are serious times of accountability to God.
The best outcome a person can have on the Day of Judgment is to be a believer who hears His precious Lord Jesus Christ say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." I pray that we all live in God's power to achieve that commendation from Jesus.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Matthew 13-15.