What Is The Final Judgement From The Bible?

We know that God will judge all but what is the final judgment that the Bible mentions?

Daniel’s Prophecy

The Prophet Daniel wrote about the end of the age, not the end of the world, but the end of this present, evil world when the King of Righteousness will come to judge all of mankind. Daniel writes about this end time in Daniel 12:1 where it is written that, “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.” The way to ensure a person’s name is in the book of life is to be brought to repentance and faith in Christ. Then their name cannot be erased. Furthermore, Daniel speaks of the end time resurrection of those who have died in Daniel 12:2-3 but with radically different outcomes, saying that “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” There is a resurrection coming but for those who have died outside of having faith in Christ, they shall arise to “shame and everlasting contempt” forever but for the children of God, they “shall shine like the brightness of the sky above” and “like the stars [will shine] forever and ever” signifying eternal life.

Great White Throne Judgment

The Bible speaks about an end time judgment where Christ Himself will be the Judge and this is found in Revelation 20:11 where the Apostle John wrote, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them” and this Righteous Judge will then judge all who have ever lived outside of saving faith in Christ. Next, John saw “the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:12-15). Here is another reference to the book of life that Daniel mentions. Those who have rejected Jesus for all their life and then died without trusting in Him, they are thrown into the lake of fire because their “name was not found written in the book of life.” The fate of all unrepentant sinners is also mentioned in Revelation 21:8 where John writes that “the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Jesus on Judgment

Jesus speaks about the end time judgment in Matthew 25:31-32 where He said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” That is when “the King (Jesus) will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt 25:34). Why does Jesus separate the goats from the sheep? Sheep are obviously the children of God while the goats are the children of the Devil. He separates them because the sheep did as they were commanded and fed the poor, gave water to the thirsty, clothed the naked, made strangers feel welcome, and visited the sick and those in prison (Matt 25:35-36), not to save them but because they are saved. Jesus sees it like this: “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt 25:40). But what of the others? Jesus makes it clear that “he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal 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 welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, 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” (Matt 25:41-44) and tragically, “these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt 25:46).

No Fear

When God finally does judge the world in righteousness, we know that if we’ve been brought to repentance and faith in Christ, our sins have already been judged at the cross by Christ’s payment, therefore we have no fear of a judgment. Our judgment will be to receive our rewards from Christ Himself. We need not fear cosmic calamities, persecutors, and those who threaten us because we are of the same mind as Paul who wrote, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).

Conclusion

You can either have Jesus pay for your sins today by trusting in Him or you will have to pay for your own sins in hell and since we cannot ever pay our sin-debt by suffering, we are destined to be there for all time so today is the day of your salvation (2nd Cor 6:2) if you have not already done so. Jesus gives us all only two options; “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). You must choose one or the other because all who sit on the fence of indecision must realize that the fence and those who sit on it will all be cast into the lake of fire.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.