December 29
Zechariah 13-14
Psalm 148:7-14
Proverbs 31:20-23
Revelation 20
Judgment
“Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the Lake of Fire.”
Revelation 20:15 NIV
Revelation can be very confusing because it is not chronological. John did not record the visions he received in the order in which they are going to occur. He may have received the visions in the order that he wrote them down, but nevertheless, he skips around making it hard to piece together. The order I gave you earlier this month came from the research of a lot of scholars who spent years examining Revelation along with the other prophecies in the Bible. They do not all agree on the exact order, but they are consistent for the most part with only slight variations. There are some misconceptions that I would like to try to clear up related to our reading today in Revelation 20. These are things I did not understand until a few years ago when I did an in-depth Revelation Bible Study related to the Judgment Seat of Christ and when that occurs for different groups of people. This is how I believe it will occur. I am not dogmatic about it, but I think this is consistent with scripture.
At some point in the future, a trumpet will sound in Heaven and Jesus will appear in the clouds. The bodies of everyone who has died who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior will raise out of their graves. Their souls are in Heaven with Jesus so their bodies will meet their souls in the sky. Then everyone who is alive at that time who has accepted Jesus will join them in the air and they will all be taken to Heaven for seven years. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18) During that time, they will stand before the Bema Seat of Christ and be judged for their works while on Earth. This will not be to judge whether they will be allowed to get into Heaven. If they are there, their name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This will be a judgment to determine rewards in Heaven. I believe that any crowns we receive we will immediately lay at the feet of Jesus because we will recognize that any good we ever did is because of His presence in our lives. We will have pure hearts so any rewards will be received in humility and gratitude. (Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10). At the end of the seven years, Jesus will return to Earth, and we will return with Him. There will be another time of judgment where Jesus will judge all the survivors of the tribulation. This is when Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the wicked. The people who were saved during the tribulation and either martyred or lived to the end will go into the Millennial Kingdom with the other believers. The wicked who survived will be cast into Hell. (Matthew 25:31-46) Many believe that at this time the Old Testament saints will be resurrected and allowed to go into the Millennial Kingdom as well. Satan is bound and thrown into the Abyss and the Antichrist and False Prophet are thrown into Hell with the wicked. At the end of the 1000-year reign, Satan is released for a short time, finally and completely defeated by Jesus, and thrown into Hell. At that time, all the wicked people throughout history will be resurrected to stand before the Great White Throne Judgment. Jesus will judge them based on their works and they will receive their final sentence and be cast into the Lake of Fire in Hell for eternity. (Revelation 20).
So, there are three different times of judgment for different groups of people. I hope this explanation is helpful and relieves some anxiety about standing before Jesus for judgment. For believers, there should be no fear about the future. Our destiny is secured. We don’t have to worry about “not making it in.” I do not like “hell fire and brimstone” preachers who try to scare people into Heaven, but this is a stark reminder that everyone will someday stand before God for judgment and those who don’t know Jesus will spend eternity in Hell. We need to pray for opportunities to tell people the truth before it is too late for them.
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