And yet, this is exactly what the Scripture teaches. Now understand, that there are those who refuse to believe that a God of love could ever act as judge. But there is another judgment that we have not put in our little scheme of things here because we can't exactly place when it will occur, but it is nevertheless a reality and it's the judgment of believers, the judgment seat of Christ, which I want us to examine together tonight. Next week, Lord willing (not next week because we have the Gettys), but the following week, we'll look at the great white throne of judgment. Now, I am not going to go specifically to that judgment tonight because I think there's another one we need to look at. That is the next issue in our "ordo eschatos" – the great white throne of judgment. That's what we've just finished studying together.Īt the end of that thousand-year period of literal, earthly reign comes the great white throne judgment. Then comes the second coming when Christ returns to earth followed by a thousand-year literal reign of Christ on the earth. Eschatology really begins personally with the death of each believer.įrom there comes the intermediate state, that is, that state between the death of the person and the resurrection.Īnd then comes after the intermediate state the rapture followed by a seven-year period called the (great, or called the) tribulation, a portion of which is the great tribulation. Now, you'll notice from left to right in the center, I have the great events that we're studying together. And we (if you missed that, you can go back and listen online or listen to the CD because we) tried to put together an order based on the Scripture itself. Now, to reorient you in terms of the flow of last things, we put together at the beginning of our study now several months ago a biblical "ordo eschatos" – that is, "an order of last things". And you'll notice, that one of those is the idea that every single human being will one day face God in judgment. Those give to us those essentials of eschatology. We may disagree about other things, but we agree on these things.įirst of all, the eternal soul of every human being, the temporary separation at death of the material and immaterial parts of man, the present existence of a literal heaven and hell, the immediate passing of the soul at death into either heaven or hell, the consciousness of all the dead, the literal bodily return of Jesus Christ, the physical resurrection of every human being, the future judgment of every human being, the eternal conscious existence of every human either in the lake of fire or the new heavens and the new earth. These are the issues that those who believe the Bible embrace. I just want to repunctuate it at various points in our study of eschatology. I'm not going to spend a lot of time with it. Here is a brief list of the non-negotiables. We're talking about a number of things that we believe the Bible teaches, but not all of them rise to the same level. I want to first begin by reemphasizing with you those strategic issues that are the non-negotiables in eschatology. Now, let me remind you of where we are in our study of eschatology. What does the Bible say about this great event? That's the question that I want us to answer tonight. But as with any doctrine, we have to really come back in the end to ask this basic question. For many years, that tract badly distorted my own perspective about the judgment seat of Christ. In the tract, it showed a Christian standing at the judgment seat of Christ while a video of his entire life, especially his sin, flashed on a screen the size of New York City for God and everyone else to see. One of the tracts that I read made an indelible imprint on my thinking about the future judgment of believers. And I have to tell you, if you're familiar with them of all, that most of the theology was bad. I hate to admit to you, but most of the theology that I learned before college, I learned through a version of Christian comic books called Chick tracts. Well, we do want to return tonight to our study of last things and specifically, we want to move ahead to the judgment that's coming and tonight, the judgment seat of Christ.
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