The Judgements of God

The Judgements of God

Text: Hebrews 9:27.                           

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgement.”

                                                  

There are Five Judgements in all found in the Bible.

1.    THE JUDGEMENT OF SIN (CALVARY).

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” 2 Corinthians 5:21.

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) Galatians 3:13.

2.    THE JUDGEMENT OF SELF (DAILY).

          “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world” 1 Corinthians 11:31-32.

3.    THE JUDGEMENT OF SAINTS (AT THE RAPTURE).

“For we must all 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” 2 Corinthians 5:10. 

4.    THE JUDGEMENT OF NATIONS (SHEEP AND GOATS).

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy 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 the goats.
And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left” Matthew 25:31-33.

5.    THE JUDGEMENT OF SINNERS (GREAT WHITE THRONE).

          “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and 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 which were 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” Revelation 20:11-13.

4.  JUDGEMENT: THE JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS.

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy 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 the goats.
And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will 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: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?
Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the 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 did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'
Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” Matthew 25:31-46.

a.     Subjects: The Nations.

b.    Time: The Revelation of Christ.

c.     Place: The Throne of His Glory.

d.    Judgment: Their treatment of the Jews (and Christians).

e.     Results: Judgment of the nations.

This judgment is in the FUTURE.

6.    JUDGEMENT: THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD.

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and 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 which were 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 20:11-15.

a.     Subjects: The Wicked Dead.

b.    Time: Before the final judgment of the earth by fire.

c.     Place: The Great White Throne.

d.    Judgment: Their works of wickedness.

e.     Results: Cast into the “lake of Fire.”

This judgment will be in the heavens, during the creation of a new earth and a new heaven, as seen in 2 Peter 3:7 “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and hell of ungodly men.”

All the righteous dead will arise at the First Resurrection. So this is the Second Resurrection of the unrighteous who will face a second death after their judgment of rejecting salvation through Jesus Christ.

Hell

Artists and others have guessed over the centuries about what hell looks like, or even feels like. But the clearest revelation of hell is given in the Bible, the Word of God. Here is a simple description: “Hell is the conscious suffering in the blackest darkness, surrounded by demonic powers. It is bearing the guilt of your sin and coming under the righteous judgment of God. But the hell of hell for the sinner will be to know that there is a God of love and that he or she could have known His love, but that now it is beyond their reach.”

Hell is as real as the cross. In one way, Jesus entered all of hell’s dimensions on the cross, and He bore them so that we would never need to know what hell is really like.

Many like to say that hell is not real. But, if there is no hell:

Then what was the cross of Calvary about?

Why did Christ have to suffer and die at the cross?

Why the darkness at the crucifixion of Christ?

Why was the Son of God forsakenness of God the Father at the cross?

These things happened because there is Divine wrath, there is a judgment and there is a hell. Everyone wants to talk about loved ones in heaven, the good in heaven, rejoicing in heaven, etc. The Bible agrees there is a real place called heaven, where God and His angels dwell, and the righteous in Christ shall dwell there with Christ for all eternity.

And Hell is as real as Heaven is! Where the ungodly, those that refuse and reject the love of God, and His plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus, shall dwell for eternity. “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgement.”

A court judge does not send an innocent prisoner to jail. But when someone breaks the law of the land and is caught out. He or she is tried before a jury of 12 men (women) just and true, then when the evidence of the crime committed is presented before the judge and jury, and the prisoner in the dock is proven that he is guilty and has broken the law. Only then does the judge cast his judgement on the prisoner.

How much more should men and women be in fear to stand before a Holy God, a righteous judge yes, but there is only one punishment for sin, death! And an eternity outside the presence of God. Our sin and punishment was poured out on Jesus, and He engaged it in Himself to save us from hell.

In one way Christ experienced hell on the cross for us:

1.    He was aware of His suffering. Jesus experienced great physical suffering—the scourging, the nailing and the mocking—all at the hands of men. He felt in His body all the pain of torture of crucifixion.

Hell is a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28; Matthew 13:50), and Jesus entered into all of its pains and torments when He was suffering on the cross.

2.    He was in the blackest darkness. “From the sixth hour (midday) until the ninth hour (3 in the afternoon), darkness came over all the land” (Matthew 27:45).

The sudden darkness tells us that something entirely new was happening. Up to this point it had all been about physical suffering. Now Jesus was entering into the heart of His atoning work as our sin-bearer, of God’s wrath.

3.    He was surrounded by demonic powers. Scripture speaks of these dark forces when it tells us that “having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross,” (Colossians 2:15).

A full picture of this conflict has not been given to us, but we can be sure that the demonic powers were present at Calvary, adding their taunts and venom to the human hatred that was poured out on Christ.

4.    He was bearing sin. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” God made Him “who had no sin to be sin for us” 2 Corinthians 5:21. In the darkness, the Lord laid on Jesus “the iniquity of us all” Isaiah 53:6.

To be our sin-bearer, Christ received in Himself the hell that our sins deserve.

5.    He was under judgment. Jesus endured hell on the cross because hell is the punishment for sin. All that hell is, He experienced right there during these hours of darkness in which He bore our sin and endured our punishment.

The wrath of God was poured out on Him, and He became the “propitiation for our sins” Romans 3:25, 1 John 2:2.

6.    He was separated from the knowledge of God’s love of God. This abandoning of Christ meant that the love the Son had enjoyed with His Father for all eternity was now beyond His reach. It also meant that the terrors of the Father’s judgment were poured out on the Saviour. 

2 Thessalonians 1:9 says that “those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus…will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”

CONCLUSION:

This is why every person must come to Jesus Christ and be in him, because we cannot be saved without Him.