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In this lesson we will see in detail how the believers, in the completing stage of God’s full salvation, will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ, which is the judgment seat of God.
In the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification, the believers will be glorified, redeemed in their body, resurrected, and raptured. Being glorified, redeemed, resurrected, and raptured is a procedure that will bring the believers to the judgment seat of Christ for them to be judged.
Some believers think that there is only one kind of judgment in the New Testament—to decide whether people will perish or be saved. However, the truth revealed in the Bible concerning God’s judgment is much more detailed. In the New Testament there are at least five kinds of judgment.
The New Testament reveals that the Lord Jesus was judged on the cross by God. The crucifixion of the Lord was a judgment, for the righteous God judged the Lord Jesus as our Substitute. Hence, the Lord Jesus was judged by God on our behalf.
The New Testament reveals that as the house of God, the believers are being judged by God in the church age. First Peter 4:17 says, “It is time for the judgment to begin from the house of God.” God’s house, or household, is the church, which is composed of the believers (2:5; 1 Tim. 3:15). God judges His people so that they may be disciplined, purified, and sanctified from the unbelievers. Such disciplinary judgment begins from God’s own household. Therefore, if we are careless in doing things, we will be judged. Instead of using the word judgment, we may speak of being disciplined, chastised, and corrected. However, discipline, chastisement, and correction are actually God’s judgment. God is always right and righteous, and He will not allow anything under His rule to be wrong. For this reason, when we have unseemly conditions, He sometimes judges us so that we may be disciplined.
The New Testament reveals that the believers will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ at His coming back. After all the dead saints have been resurrected and raptured and all the living ones have been raptured, a judgment seat will be set up for Christ to judge all His genuine believers. This judgment will determine whether the believers will receive a reward or some kind of dispensational punishment. Paul says, “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done through the body according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). The judgment seat spoken of in this verse is the place where Christ will judge His believers at His coming back. This judgment is not concerning their eternal salvation but concerning their dispensational reward (1 Cor. 4:4-5; 3:13-15).
Romans 14:10 also speaks of the believers being judged: “We will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” The judgment in this verse is different from the eternal judgment of God spoken of in 2:2-3, 5, 16, and 3:8, which will be carried out at the great white throne revealed in Revelation 20:11-15. The eternal judgment at the great white throne will be after the millennium. It will be to judge all the dead unbelievers, and it will be for eternal punishment in the lake of fire. However, the judgment at the judgment seat of God, or the judgment seat of Christ, will be before the millennium, immediately after Christ’s coming back. It will be to judge all the resurrected and raptured believers, and it will be for reward or punishment in the millennial kingdom.
The New Testament reveals that the living will be judged at Christ’s throne of glory before the millennium (Matt. 25:31-46). When the Lord Jesus, together with His overcomers, defeats Antichrist and his army, many Gentiles will still be living on earth. The Lord will gather these Gentiles to Himself and judge them. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, at that time He will sit on the throne of His glory. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (vv. 31-32). Those who are regarded as sheep will be transferred into the millennium to be the people under the kingly ruling of Christ and His overcoming believers (Rev. 2:26-27; 12:5; 20:4-6) and under the priestly ministry of the saved Jews (Zech. 8:20-23). Those who are regarded as goats will go with their leader, Antichrist, “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).
Finally, the New Testament reveals that the dead unbelievers will be judged by Christ at the great white throne after the millennium. Christ is the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1). The living unbelievers will be judged before the millennium, but the dead will be judged afterward at the great white throne, as revealed in Revelation 20:11-15. The dead unbelievers will be condemned by the Lord because of their evil deeds and will perish because of their unbelief, not having their names written in the book of life. Christ will judge the dead unbelievers in order to determine their eternal perdition.
Three of the five judgments in the New Testament are concerned with the believers. We should put ourselves under the judgment that was carried out through the cross of Christ. As believers, we have already been judged eternally, for we were judged in Christ on the cross. Just as Noah and his family were judged by the flood but were inside the ark, so we have been judged by God on the cross in Christ. Furthermore, since we are saved and have become members of God’s family, we are under God’s family judgment. God is judging His own house, and we are members of His family. Every day we need to realize that we are under this judgment, a judgment that is not for perdition or salvation but for correction and transformation. We need this judgment. Finally, we will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ in the air. This judgment will determine our destiny in the millennium; it will decide whether we will be rewarded to enter into the kingdom in order to enjoy the blessing of eternal life, or we will suffer some kind of punishment in the coming age. Therefore, as believers we are involved with three judgments: the judgment on the cross, the judgment in God’s house, and the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ.
In all His judgments the Lord is righteous. He is wise and just, and He will not allow His people to be loose or wrong. Formerly we were sinners, but now we have become God’s children. As God’s children, we are not free to do things in a loose way. God is very strict with His people. He exercises His family judgment in His house according to His will to correct us so that we may grow and experience more transformation. Eventually, at the Lord’s coming back, He will judge us to decide whether we will receive a reward or punishment in the coming age. This judgment will take place after our rapture.
The believers will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ in order to be recompensed for the things that they have done. In 2 Corinthians 5:10 Paul says that every believer will be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ so that “each one may receive the things done through the body according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad.” Dean Alford points out that the word receive is the technical word for receiving wages. While we are still at home in our body, we should do things through our body to please the Lord so that at His coming the Lord may reward us for our deeds.
At the judgment seat of Christ, each believer will give an account of himself to God in order for the Lord to settle accounts with him. Matthew 25:19 speaks of this: “After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.” A long time signifies the entire church age, and came signifies the Lord’s descending to the air (1 Thes. 4:16) in His coming (parousia). Settled accounts signifies the Lord’s judgment at His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10 Rom 14:10) in the air (within His parousia), where the believers’ living, conduct, and work will be judged for reward or punishment (Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12; 1 Cor. 3:13-15; 4:5).
When the believers appear before the judgment seat of Christ, they will give an account of how they lived before the Lord and what kind of work they did for the Lord after they were saved. We will have to tell Him what we did and what we gained for Him. This will be very difficult, for we will have to relate to the Lord what we did in our life as believers. This is to give an account of ourselves to God for the Lord to settle accounts with us.
At the judgment seat of Christ the believers will be examined by the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 4:4-5 Paul says, “He who examines me is the Lord. So then do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then there will be praise to each from God.” Before the time means before the day of the Lord (3:13). We often hide the things of darkness and the counsels of our heart. But these will be brought to light and made manifest at the Lord’s coming back. One day, at the judgment seat of Christ, the things in our heart will be made manifest. If our heart is right, good, pure, and for God, then at the judgment seat of Christ we will be rewarded with praise from God.
At the judgment seat of Christ, the Lord will reward each one of His believers according to his work. In Revelation 22:12 the Lord Jesus says, “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me to render to each one as his work is.” The phrase I come quickly is the Lord’s repeated warning (vv. 7, 20) so that we may consider His reward at His coming back. This reward is the wages rendered to each one according to all the things that he has done.
This reward will be rendered to the believers at the Lord’s coming, after their rapture, at the judgment seat of Christ. While some will receive a reward, some will suffer loss. The defeated believers will be punished and thus lose their reward, but they will not lose their salvation. The punishment that the Lord will measure to them is related to a certain dispensational punishment, not to eternal perdition. In other words, the defeated believers will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Cor. 3:15).
The believers who overcome—by building the Body of Christ with gold, silver, and precious stones in their Christian life (v. 12), willingly serving the saints for the building (14:26), preaching the gospel (9:16-17), denying their self and taking up their cross to follow the Lord (Matt. 16:24-27), pursuing toward the goal (Phil. 3:14), not casting away their boldness (Heb. 10:35), serving as the faithful and prudent slaves whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time (Matt. 24:45-47), and being faithful to use their gifts (25:14-30)—will receive a reward at the judgment seat of Christ.
In the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification, the believers’ glorification, redemption, resurrection, and rapture is a process that brings them to the judgment seat of Christ for them to be judged.
According to the New Testament, God’s judgment on man is not only to decide whether he will perish or be saved; there are at least five judgments. The first judgment revealed in the New Testament was exercised by God when the Lord Jesus was on the cross. The crucifixion of the Lord was a judgment, for the righteous God judged the Lord Jesus as our Substitute. The New Testament reveals that in the church age God is judging His house. God judges us so that we may be disciplined, purified, and sanctified from the unbelievers. Furthermore, before the millennium, immediately after Christ’s coming back, the believers will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ in order to determine whether they will receive a reward or a dispensational punishment. This judgment is after all the dead saints have been resurrected and raptured and all the living ones have been raptured. There will also be the judgment of the living unsaved ones at the throne of Christ’s glory. At His coming back, Christ will sit on the throne of His glory where all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Those who are regarded as sheep will be transferred into the millennium, and those who are considered as goats will enter into the eternal fire. Finally, the dead unbelievers will be judged by Christ after the millennium. All the dead will be judged at the great white throne. They will be condemned by the Lord for their evil deeds, and then they will perish because of their unbelief, not having their names written in the book of life.
Three of the five judgments are concerned with the believers. As believers, we were judged in Christ on the cross. Now we are under God’s family judgment, which is for our correction and transformation. Finally, we will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ in the air so that we may be recompensed for the things we have done, according to what we have practiced, whether good or bad. At that time we will give an account of ourselves to God concerning how we lived before the Lord and what kind of work we did for the Lord after we were saved. The Lord will then settle accounts with us. When we are examined by the Lord, He will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of our heart so that we may receive praise from God. He will also render to each of us according to our work. Some believers will receive a reward, but some will receive a punishment.
