JUDGEMENTS
JUDGEMENTS OF THE SCRIPTURES
Let us now take a look at all the Judgements spoken off in the Scriptures, where a throne is set up and people are judged, because many people have the wrong ideas of what will happen after they die. This is often caused by pastor or preachers failed to tell them the facts of what it says in the Scriptures, but instead told them what their religious order or cult taught them.
You may ask, how do we know that what we write is true? The simple answer is that after more than 40 years of diligent study of the Word of God we write from the Bible and you can make your own decision of what you want to believe. Like the Bereans, who after hearing Paul and Silas preach, went home and searched the Scriptures (they only had the Old Testament) and when they realised that what Paul and Silas were saying was in the Scriptures, they took it all on board and believed. That is what you also must do, read what we write and go to the Bible and see if it is true what we write.
The first thing we want yo to know is the different groups of Saints in the Bible. Without these distinctions you will struggle to correctly understand a lot of things in the Bible. You can read about the different group of Saints on our Topic page “Saints”
BE LIKE A BEREAN
We encourage you to READ what we WRITE, go to the Bible and CHECK that the Scriptures CONFIRM what we WRITE and then BELIEF what we WRITE.
WE WILL LOOK AT THREE JUDGEMENTS
We will look at three Judgements and explain whom the Judgements are for and what happens at these Judgements. It is important for you to know about these Judgements, for your own understanding and also to help others understand what happens the moment you die. REMEMBER to be a BEREAN and CHECK with the Scriptures (the Bible) to SEE what we WRITE is backed up with the Scriptures.
JUDGEMENT FOR REWARDS NOT SALVATION
The first important fact we have to stress is that this Judgement is NOT for SALVATION but for REWARDS. When Paul, in the above verse writes “WE must ALL” appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, the “WE ALL” are all the BORN AGAIN believers that trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour from the beginning of the Church at Pentecost till the completion of the Church, when the LAST person “CHOSEN IN JESUS FROM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THIS WORLD” has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and the Church is RAPTURED by the Lord Jesus Christ. NO ONE ELSE will stand before this Judgement Seat. It is ONLY for the Church.
The Judgement Seat of Christ is NOT for PUNISHING sin because Jesus bore the PUNISHMENT for our sins on the Cross.
This Judgement is not to decide whether or not the believer who stands before Jesus at the Judgement seat is saved or not saved, because all believers in the Body of Christ, the Church, are SAVED for eternity from the moment they believed the Gospel and trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and were sealed into the Body of Christ, the Church, the Holy Spirit when He made His abode in their them, with the promise NEVER to leave them. NOTHING that we do can pay the penalty for our sins. Our sins were paid for and our debt settled by that wonderful amazing loving SACRIFICE when Jesus gave His Own life and died for us on the Cross, was buried, rose again and ascended into Heaven where He is our Mediator beside the Father. What an AMAZING GRACE, what an AMAZING LOVE. NOTHING can ever separate us from that AMAZING LOVE.
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR BELIEVERS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST, TO LOSE THEIR SALVATION. ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED!
WHEN WILL THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST TAKE PLACE?
The Scriptures do not specifically state when this Judgement will take place but we believe it takes places in Heaven shortly after the RAPTURE and before the Wedding Banquet takes place. Here are some reasons why we think that way.
When John was caught up into Heaven in Revelation 4 (type of the Rapture) he saw the following:
Revelation 4:4 “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in WHITE GARMENTS, and GOLDEN CROWNS on their heads.”
We all believe that the twenty-four elders represent the Church and the WHITE GARMENTS represent the Glory of Christ and the GOLDEN CROWNS represent the rewards received at the Judgement Seat of Christ, as the word “Crowns” is “STEPHANOS” which are crowns like laurels given out at the early Games. They are REWARDS and not SOVEREIGNTY.
Also we read in Revelation 19:14 “And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.” We are that army and are clothed in FINE LINEN WHITE AND CLEAN, again representing the righteousness of Christ.
WHO WILL APPEAR BEFORE THIS JUDGEMENT THRONE?
All believers that trusted in Jesus as Lord and Saviour during the period starting at Pentecost and which ends at the Rapture when the last person chosen in Jesus has trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, completing the Church, the Body of Christ, His Bride. NO ONE ELSEwill appear before this Judgement Seat. It is ONLY for the CHURCH.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT THIS JUDGEMENT SEAT?
All Christians (that is the Church, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ) who were taken up in the Rapture, will appear before this Judgement Seat of Jesus Christ where their actions done in their “Christian” service for the Lord, whether good or bad. It has noting to do about their sins as they were all forgiven the moment they believed and trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Their Salvation is not in question here. We will be judged for our MOTIVES behind these actions. Did we do them for the Glory of God or for selfish reasons? Are they God centered or human nature centered?
Paul tells us that by the grace of God he laid the foundation stone, but this foundation stone is not just any foundation stone but the CORNER STONE and that this foundation stone is JESUS CHRIST.”
1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid A FOUNDATION, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
1 Corinthians 3:11 “For no man can lay a FOUNDATION other than the one which is laid, which is JESUS CHRIST.
The apostles laid more foundation stones, but they were normal foundation stones and these stones are the teachings of the apostles. As we can read in 1 Corinthians 3:10 that each Christian must be careful on how he/she builds on that foundation of Jesus Christ the Corner Stone and the foundation stones of the Apostles.
Paul goes on to say that Christians can build on that foundation which the following elements.
1 Corinthians 3:12 “Now if any man builds on the FOUNDATION with GOLD, SILVER, PRECIOUS STONES, WOOD, HAY AND STRAW.”
Again, let us maake one thing very clear!!!
ONLY BELIEVERS WILL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST
There is only ONE Judgement Seat unbelievers stand before and that is the GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT OF GOD.
Revelation 20:11-12 “Then I saw a GREAT WHITE THRONE and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another [book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”
Unbelievers’ scale on the Judge’s “balance” fall short and because their names are NOT written in the Book of Life, they are thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity, which is the second death.
The Greek word for THRONE is “thronos” ascribed to God’s Divine power for judgement of the unbelievers’ standing in regards to eternal destination.
The Greek word for Judgement Seat (Judgement Seat of Christ) is “bema” ascribed to a judge of games etc and to Jesus Christ as Judge on how we ran our race as Christians.
1 Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that those who RUN IN A RACE all run, but only one receives the PRIZE? Run in such a way that you may win.”
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us RUN with endurance the RACE that is set before us,”
Believers stand before the Judgement of Christ where Jesus will judge on how they have used the gifts God has given to them. If they have used the gifts faithfully and with the right motives they will get rewards. Their works are tested to be of gold, silver and precious stones which withstood the test of fire.
If they haven’t use the gifts given to them faithfully or with the right motives they will not get rewards but are saved as by fire. Their works were of wood, hay and straw and are consumed by the fire.
After we have received our rewards from our Judge at His bema seat, an amazing scene unfolds.
Let us look at Revelation 4:10-11 “the TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will CAST THEIR CROWNS BEFORE THE THRONE, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
The Greek word for crowns here is “stephanos” and means “wreath” or “crown” given as reward and honour.
The Greek word for crown (royal) is “diadem” and is used for the many crowns on the head of Jesus at the Second Coming
Revelation 19:12 “His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many DIADEMS; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.”
The twenty-four elders, who represent the Raptured Church, take off their crowns (stephanos) fall down before the Judgement Seat of Jesus Christ and cast their crowns (their rewards) before the throne of Jesus Christ.
They acknowledge that the reason for them getting the rewards (crowns) is because it was He that enabled us to do the works, prepared for us, faithfully and with the right motives. ONLY Jesus is worthy to receive ALL honour and glory and praise.
There is nothing in us that would have enabled us to do these works faithfully and with the right motives. Only God working in us, as we allow Him to work in us by walking in OBEDIENCE to His will and Word.
The glory we are clothed with in eternity is GOD’S GLORY.
Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the GLORY forever. Amen.”
TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY IN JESUS CHRIST
Let us now look at how many CROWNS (stephanos) are available to be won during our Christian race we are running from the moment we are BORN AGAIN till the moment we are RAPTURED.
These are the CROWNS (stephanos) that are given to Church Saints for works they have performed which are of GOLD, SILVER or PRECIOUS STONES quality. They withstand the test of fire.
The five crowns to be won are:
THE VICTOR’S CROWN – (1 Corinthians 9:25–27).
THE CROWN OF REJOICING – (1 Thessalonians 2:19).
THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS– (2 Timothy 4:8).
THE CROWN OF LIFE – (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10).
THE CROWN OF GLORY – (1 Peter 5:4).
