There is a day coming in which we will all stand in judgment before the Lord. “And as it is appointed for men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Each individual has two appointments, which we will definitely keep: death and judgment. They cannot be cancelled or changed. When we draw our last breath our eternal destiny is sealed. We don’t know when we will die. We might drop dead of a heart attack or stroke in the next few minutes or be killed in a car accident in the next week.
Life is uncertain, but Judgment day is certain. There is no way to escape it. All of us will be there for this final appointment. We will not get out of this life alive.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done in the body, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11). No one will be excluded from the Judgment. Every person, who has ever lived, that is now living, and who ever will live, will stand before the Lord and be judged.
We do not know when Judgment Day will come in spite of man’s predictions. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” (2 Peter 3:10-11).
We must take very serious this Judgment. When God decides to end time, as His Word states, “the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written ‘As I live says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God’. So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10-12).
What will the judgment be like? “Then I saw a great white throne, and Him who 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, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things written in the books…And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire…The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are. And they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:11-12,15). Being cast into the lake of fire with the devil is not very good company to be with forever and ever. Is your name in the Book of Life? Are you sure? Your eternal destiny of either Heaven or Hell will be determined by whether your name is there or not.
Take life, and death, seriously.
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