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SERIES: The Final Judgment

This is Part 1 of a 4-part series on The Final Judgment:
Part 1 → · Part 2 (You are here) · Part 3 → · Part 4 →

Receipts Will Be Read

"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ"[1]
Not some of us. Not most of us. All.
Not a group average. Not a denomination. Not a family legacy. Every one.

This judgment is personal, thorough, and entirely public.

"The books were opened…
and the dead were judged…
according to their works"[2]

Books. Plural.
Records. Receipts.
Every browser tab. Every unspoken resentment. Every private message.
The duration of our life is compared to vapor. The content is not.
The content is archived.

And what those books reveal won't be new to God.
It may only seem new to us that such detailed records exist.

"God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ"[3]

The things no one saw—except the One who will read them aloud before everyone.

Deeds Don't Earn Salvation—They Reveal It

Don't twist this judgment into legalism.
The sheep didn't buy eternal life with charity.
The goats weren't damned for skipping a food drive.

Their deeds were the fruit—not the currency.

Jesus didn't say, "Well done, you tried hard."
He said, "Ye have done it unto me"[4]
And the same explanation hit both groups by surprise.

Because judgment is not based on claimed identity, but on revealed nature.

The Standard Is Already Public

This won't be a surprise; it will be a reading of what we already wrote.

"The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day"[5]
"God… will render to every man according to his deeds"[6]

And here's the part we'd rather blur:

Judgment is according to knowledge—and our chosen response to it.

We heard the sermons.
We led the youth group.
We taught others to obey while privately compromising.

Jesus said:

"That servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required."
— Luke 12:47–48

There is no cramming in the grave. Only reviewing the record.

We're not just making choices.

We're growing proof.

And what's thriving in our life might be evidence of damnation.

→ Continue to Part 3 →

FOOTNOTES

  1. 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." ↩︎

  2. Revelation 20:11–15 — "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it… And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened… and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works… and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." ↩︎

  3. Romans 2:16 — "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." ↩︎

  4. Matthew 25:40 — "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." ↩︎

  5. John 12:48 — "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." ↩︎

  6. Romans 2:6 — "Who will render to every man according to his deeds." ↩︎