Judgment Day

"And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city." (Matthew 10: 15)

"But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. " (Matthew 11: 22-24)

"The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jona s is here." (Luke 11: 32)

"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Matthew 12: 36, 37)

The Lord Jesus Christ warned all of a coming Day of Judgment. Yes, it is true that Lord God is judging now and we therefore confess - "He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth." (Psalm 105: 7)

It may not seem that it is so now, but it is so now, only not as it will be in that special period of time called the "Day of Judgment" and "Day of Wrath" and "Day of Perdition." Lord God is seeing to it now that sinners "receive in themselves" (Romans 1: 27) the fruit and consequences of their sins.

The sin against which Jesus chiefly warned sinners, the sin that seals the fate of all, is the sin of rejecting him, of refusing to believe the truth of Lord God respecting Jesus and his mission into the world, and of his plan for the world to come, and refusing to repent of sin. So too did the apostles warn.

"And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." (Acts 24: 25)

This is what the Christian does in his witnessing to his friends and neighbors. He "reasons with" them about many things, "out of the scriptures" (Acts 17: 2), and about "judgment to come." Such preaching can cause the most stout-hearted to tremble at the thought of meeting Lord God in judgment. Paul may have cited these words of King Solomon to King Felix:

"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Ecclesiastes 12: 14)

He may even have uttered words as these to him, probably a sample of the kind of warnings that he gave to all.

"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds." (Romans 2: 4-6)

Paul summed it all up for us, as Christians, why we are under solemn obligation to warn others of the coming Day of Judgment.

"Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences." (II Corinthians 5: 11)

The message of warning and instruction is -

"But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment." (Psalm 9: 7)

"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." (II Peter 2: 9)

"But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." (II Peter 3: 7)

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (II Corinthians 5: 10)

Not only evil men, but fallen and evil angels too, will meet their final judgment at this time.

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 1: 6)

The actual Judgment scene itself is described by the Apostle John:

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that 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, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20: 11-15)

Are you ready for that "great day"? The only safety is to have one's name in the "book of life." How can you be assured that your name is there written? By believing in Christ and the gospel, by repenting of sin, one can be fully assured that his name is there written, and will therefore "not come into judgment," for he is "pardoned" and "justified" by the blood and name of Christ (I Corinthians 6: 11).

"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." (Ecclesiastes 11: 9)

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (I John 4: 7)

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment..." (Hebrews 9: 27)