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"Judgments"
The creeds of the churches know of but one judgment, which they speak of as the "general judgment," as they speak only of the one "general resurrection." Yet, more than one is revealed in Scripture: and they are still future. But, each will be in its own “order," “place,” and “time,” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-17
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.).(1).In (2 Corinthians 5:10
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). First, there is the appearance of the risen and changed saints before the Bema of Christ. The time of this is "the Day of Christ" in the air, while it is the day of “Antichrist on earth.”The place is the Bema of Christ: that is the dais from which rewards and prizes are given: not the Bench from which sentences or judgments are pronounced.
The reason why "we" appear is to receive rewards for deeds done, service rendered, and work wrought: as well as the "crown of righteousness" which the righteous Judge shall give in that day. We "appear" there not receive condemnation, (Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit). but to "have praise of God," (1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God). We shall "not come into judgment" as to our standing or ought else, (John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth). From the feeblest, and weakest, and poorest of the children of God will "appear" there as having been already judged in the person of their Substitute.The persons who will stand there will be there in all the glory and perfection of their resurrection bodies. We are, even here, and now, "in Christ:" and we shall be none the less than when we are changed and made like Christ Himself. True, "we shall all stand before the Bema of Christ," (Romans 14:9-13
For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way). But we shall stand there as saved: with and in our resurrection bodies made like Christ`s own glorious body, (Philippians 3:20-21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself).
(2).In (Matthew 25:31-46
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal).
In this passage we have another judgment spoken of. The "time" for this will be "when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory and before him shall be gathered all the Gentiles" (ta ethne).
The persons will be the nations. The word (ethne) is rendered nations (64) times, and Gentiles (93) times: heathens, (5) times, and people, (twice). The Jews therefore will not be there, for they are "not reckoned among the nations," (Numbers 23:9
For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations). The Church of God will not be there, because it bears no relation to Christ as "the Son of Man," and because it shall not come into judgment at all, (John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit).The place is "before the throne of His glory." That this throne will be on earth is clear from (Isaiah 34:1-2
Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Ezekiel 39:21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. Joel 3:1-2 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. Joel 3:11-12 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about).The ground of the judgment is not even righteousness, much less holiness. It is not the ground either of grace, or of faith. And as to works, it is not even "good works" generally, and as such, but only one specific work, as to how they have treated the "brethren" of the Judge, i.e., the Jews. this can only refer to those nations who are alive to stand before that Judge, and which have thus treated or maltreated His "brethren." For there is not a word about resurrection, and we dare not put into the passage so important a matter when the Holy Spirit has so carefully left it out. But there are many who do this, and yet with a strange perversity would leave it out of (Revelation 20:4-6
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years). Where God has put it in with all the emphasis of reiteration.The reward is peculiar. It is entrance into "the Kingdom prepared From the foundation of the world." How the Church, which is "in Christ," Before the foundation of the world, can "enter into the Kingdom," is a problem, with those who make it, and must solve as best, as they can. (Ephesians 1:4
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:).This kingdom is "under the whole heaven," (Psalm 115:16
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men). Upon the earth, and before the Millennium, when He shall appear with His holy angels, "to execute judgment," (Zechariah 14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints).But even this judgment is neither total, nor final, for after a thousand years, Satan "must be loosed for a little season," in order to show that man remains the same in spite of all the evidences of the Glory of the Millennial reign.
The nations of the gentiles immediately range themselves under Satan`s banner of revolt: and are at once destroyed without parley, by the special judgment of "fire from heaven," (Revelation 20:7-10
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever).(3). Revelation 20:11-15
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.
As to time, it is immediately after the thousand years. This marks it off from all others. As to place, it is before "the great white throne."
The persons who will appear before it are to be raised from the dead for this special purpose. They lived before the thousand years, but they "lived not again until the thousand years were finished," (Revelation 20:5
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection). Those who died during the thousand years must also be there, not one will there who had not died. It is "the resurrection of judgment or condemnation," (John 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation).Those who introduce the dead among the living nations in (Matthews the 25th chapter), do not hesitate to introduce the living among the dead in (Revelation the 20th chapter)..
We have thus seen that there are these several judgments: and that while all are still future, we have to rightly divide them as to their order, and nature, and character.
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