Judgment Seat of Christ

The Judgment Seat was a raised place mounted by steps and used for the official seat of a judge.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body; according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
The manifestation of the believer's works is in question at this judgment. As to the judgment of the saints, these have been fully atoned for in the vicarious and substitutionary death of Christ, and "remembered no more forever," but then the service of every child of God is scrutinized and evaluated.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. By why do you judge your brother? or why do you set at naught your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14:10.

So then each of us all give account of himself to God. Every man's work will be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Christianity is the world's only religion that sets a man upon a godly course by grace and simple faith in Christ by no effort of his own and then supernaturally empowers his life and enables his works. Then-wonder of wonders - that man is rewarded for the works which he had nothing to do with in the first place.

Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? For if God spared not the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;.. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.. But the heavens and earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. And the angel which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

We must understand then, that the judgment seat of Christ pertains to the works that we have done while here on earth. Now a judgment may already be given before we appear for works do not save us, we are saved by the blood of Jesus through our faith in Him. "justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." But just as James teaches, faith without works is dead being by itself, so even though works will not save us, they will be evident if our faith has genuinely partaken of His spirit.

"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"

We know that not all Christians are "in" Christ Jesus. They may know who He is and have that mental ascent that causes us to believe in the first place but those who are walking in the spirit are truly in Christ. Christians who are operating in the flesh will be in a different walk than those in the spirit. There are those that teach salvation is of faith alone and there are those that teach that it must also include the evidence of love and the witness of the spirit. There are those that quench the spirit and deny the power and there are those that are filled with the spirit and exhibit the power.

The thing that we must remember is that love is the identifying mark of a Christian and discernment is the righteous judgment that serves to protect the flock. Judgment is not the same thing as condemnation. When a judge in a court of law brings forth a judgment, it could be acquittal as well as condemnation. That means we could be judged innocent as well as judged guilty and we all know that we are not the judge. What many people do not know is that it will not just a judgment according to our faith but our works as well. That is where the love comes in if we are walking in the spirit. The best way to bring our bodies into submission is to fulfill the greatest commandments of all, that of loving the Lord and of the people around us. If we love the Lord, we obey His commandments and do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And we cannot be a perfect vessel of love without doing good to the people around us. Love covers a multitude of sins.

At the last judgment, said Jesus, one issue will decide the fate of men - have they fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, visited the sick and the imprisoned. A further problem arises with regard to the relation between the private judgment of an individual immediately after death, and the general judgment of all the dead at the final consummation of the world and the second coming of Christ and the idea that we are not judged at all if we are translated. The question is a difficult problem of what state a person is in between the private judgment and the general judgment. How a spiritual entity could possess a temporal duration was never explained. A clue is given in the parable of the man who was forgiven his debts but did not forgive others, (Matt 18). Once forgiven is not a guarantee of acquittal in the long run.
[II Corinthians, BD, Ephesians, Romans 14, I & II Corinthians, 335, I Peter, II Peter, 315, 92, Jude, judgement resurrections was an item of the latter rain list]



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