HOW I UNDERSTAND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Hoe ek die oordeel verstaan”
Someone asked me to please explain the Day of Judgment because I said that when I depart from this life, I directly enter either heaven or hell.
Again I say as I have said many times in the past. I explain how I see it and of course how I believe.
I want to start as follow:
If a man does something wrong in this life, he is captured and thrown in jail.
He then sit there until his case occurs. He then appears in court and receives his sentence. Now – I believe this is also exactly how it work with us as far as the Day of Judgment is concerned.
I am now going to give some evidence from the Bible, which I believe will explain the matter:
ROM 8:1-2
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Not only is there no condemnation for us, but we are even going to be judges and not only are we going to be judges judging people, we are also going to be judges judging angels:
1COR 6:2-3
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
Jesus is talking here about Himself and about us; and of us He say that if we believe in Him, there is no condemnation for us:
JOHN 3:17-18
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
In the following verses Jesus says that we already have eternal life. He is saying that we have already been set free from death:
JHN 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Does this mean that we will not appear before the judgment seat of our Lord?
Of course we will also appear before the judgment seat of our Lord.
All people will appear before the judgment seat of our Lord:
ROM 14:10-11
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;
11 for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
However, we will not be there to be condemned, but we will be there to be judged:
1COR 3:11-15
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw–
13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
This is concerning all believers.
What then of the unbelievers, as to the Day of Judgment?
I believe that if you depart from this life as an unbeliever, it's like the criminal that is sentenced. He goes to jail and wait there for his sentence, but because he is in jail, he is already experiencing the prison circumstances he is going to experience after his sentence.
I believe, in other words, if you depart this life and you did not want to accept Jesus, you are already condemned and in the jail / hell, awaiting your judgment.
I give you some examples from God's Word:
In the first example below, Jesus do not only speak judgment of the people who stand right before Him in this life, He speak of a much heavier sentence that awaits them on the Day of Judgment:
MAT 23:14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you swallow up widows’ houses and for pretence to cover it up make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation and the heavier sentence.” (AMP)
Jesus is saying that the people with whom He speak, will complete the measure of those that were before them. In other words, there is already a group sitting in jail / hell. The people to whom He is speaking, should also be added.
Jesus actually underline what He is saying, when He say to them that hell is waiting for them:
MAT 23:31-33
31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
In the passage below we read that they are now undergoing the punishment of eternal fire and not that they will undergo it. ”JUDE 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
We have read that we will judge the angels:
1COR 6:3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
Thus we read:
2 PET 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
They are already in jail / hell and have yet to be sentenced.
To summarize how I see it:
If you do not want to accept Jesus and you die in that state, you go to jail / hell and wait there for your sentence.
If you accept Jesus as your Saviour and Redeemer, you will be acquitted and become an heir with Jesus .
It then seems to me one of the (respectfully said) things that we then inherit is then precisely judgeship in the Day of Judgment:
ROM 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
ROM 8:17 and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Nor can I for one moment imagine that a co- heir of Christ and child of God could stand in the dock.
If I may use a little of my great hero Paul's writing style: “Or what shall we say then of all these things? Do we then want to make the blood of Christ so powerless? While the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin, if we confess it sincerely.”
1 JOHN 1:6-9
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
All I have to do is stay in the Light and..:
1 JOHN 1:9 If we (freely) admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins (dismiss our lawlessness) and (continuously) cleanse us from all unrighteousness (everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action). AMP
Greetings,
Sakkie