Below is a summary of what the Bible teaches with regard to the Day of Judgment:
The New Testament is full of expectation for the
return of Christ. As the disciples
watched Jesus ascend into heaven two angels declared to them that “‘this same
Jesus…will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.’” (Acts 1:8). The apostle Paul comforted the Thessalonians
by reminding them that ‘the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout...’ and Jesus exhorts the churches to godliness and service by saying,
‘Behold, I am coming quickly!’ (Rev. 22:7).
When the Lord comes again His purpose will be to
execute the judgment which His Father has committed to Him (Jn. 5:22). All people from every nation will stand
before Him (Matt. 25:32) and they will have to give an account of their thoughts
(1 Cor. 4:5), words (Matt. 12:36) and deeds (2 Cor. 5:10). The judge of all the earth will then reward
each person according to what he has done (Matt. 16:27), ‘eternal life to those
who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honour, and immortality;
but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth – indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil…’ (Rom.
2:7-10). This quote from Romans reminds
us that the Final Judgment will be based not on faith or lack of faith, but ‘on
what people have done, which reveals their faith or lack of faith.’[1] We are clear that no one will enter the
kingdom of God whose name is not found written in the ‘Book of Life’ (Rev.
20:15), for without faith in the blood of the Lamb that was slain (Rev. 13:8;
21:27) no man can stand in the judgment (Ps. 1:5). Of course, the Reformed position is that
justification is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. However, the Bible also teaches that our
works provide the evidence of our justification. On the Last Day the Lord will point to the
works of believers as the evidence of their faith in him and will then graciously
reward them for these works done in his name (Matt. 25:34-40).[2]
On that day, the dead will also be present. Jesus warned that the hour was coming “‘in
which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who
have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to
the resurrection of condemnation.’” (Jn. 5:28-29). Similarly, we read in Revelation 20:28, ‘And
I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God…the sea gave up the dead
who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.’
These and many other passages of Scripture supply
abundant evidence that there is a Day of Judgment coming in which God will
judge every person from the beginning of time by the Man he has appointed (Acts
17:31), that is, Jesus Christ, who was dead and is now alive forever more.
[1] Peterson, Robert, ‘The
Annihilation of Hell’, in Risking the
Truth, ed. by Martin Downes (Christian Focus Publications), p. 211.
[2] The evangelistic illustration of
two people dying, one a Christian the other not, and standing before the living
God, is so common that much work will need to be done to ensure that we are not
misunderstood when we say that ‘judgment is according to works’. The illustration continues, ‘God will ask
you, “Did you believe in my Son?” and if you’re answer is "no", you will have to
go to hell forever.’ When teaching that
judgment is ‘according to works’ to the people of God we must be careful to
maintain the distinction between justification on the basis of works, and
justification by grace through faith in Christ which naturally leads to good
works, which serve as the evidence of our justification.
