After the resurrection of the dead, all humans who have ever lived will stand before God for a final judgment of their lives.[1] This final judgment is described several times in the Bible. It is a sober yet vital reality to which all of our lives are moving.
Let’s look at five truths taught throughout Scripture about the coming final judgment.
First, the final judgment will be universal.
All people who have ever lived will appear before God. This includes non-Christians and Christians. In the context of warning the Roman Christians against being judgmental toward each other, the apostle Paul said the following,
“You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” (Romans 14:10-12, NIV)
In the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 10-11 (NIV), Paul describes the motivation that comes from anticipating the final judgment:
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others.”
This knowledge spurs us on to live good lives. In addition, it motivates us to seek to persuade non-Christians about the grace of Christ. For one day, they too will stand before God in judgment, and without Christ they have no hope.
The Final Judgment: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body.”
Second, the final judgment will be comprehensive.
The book of Revelation, based on an apocalyptic vision written down by the apostle John, gives a picturesque description of the final judgment. It describes how God sits on “a great white throne,” and earth and sky flee from his presence. John describes the judgment by noting that each person has a book which will be a comprehensive record of all the things they did while on earth.
“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.” (Revelation 20:12-13, NIV)
The final judgment will be an evaluation of everything we have done. This concept is also taught elsewhere in the scriptures: Paul says that God would judge everyone according to their deeds (Romans 2:6). Peter says that God judges everyone’s deeds impartially (1 Peter 1:17).
“The final judgment will be an evaluation of everything we have done.”
Jesus himself explained that on the day of judgment everyone will have to give an answer for every careless word they have spoken in Matthew 12:36-37 (NIV):
“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
This is not to say that salvation is by our works. Salvation is always by grace through faith, as Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV) teaches:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
As theologian Robert Mounce explains, “The issue is not salvation by works but works as the irrefutable evidence of a man’s actual relationship with God. Man is saved by faith, but faith is inevitably revealed by the works it produces.”[2]
The Final Judgment: “Everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.”
Those who are saved on the day of judgment are those who have their names written in “the book of life.” This book is referred to elsewhere in the Bible; it is a listing of those who will be saved (Daniel 12:1; Revelation 21:27). These people approach the final judgment with concern for the way that they have lived, but not with fear. They know that they will have to give an account of their lives to God, but they also know that through Jesus, God will declare that they are forgiven from all sins and acquitted through the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7-2:2; 4:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9, etc.).
Third, the final judgment will be based upon Jesus and his teachings.
Jesus, as God’s Messiah, established himself as the definitive interpreter of the Old Testament, as we see throughout the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:17-20; 7:24-28). Jesus said that he is speaking for God, his Father. In John 12:47-49 (NIV), Jesus is explicit that his teachings will be a basis used at the final judgment.
“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”
The Final Judgment: “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.”
In Matthew 25, Jesus describes a way in which he is personally present in each Christian. He teaches that, at the end, as part of the final judgment of humanity, he will judge and separate people based upon how he became personally present in their lives and how they followed his teachings. He describes this in Matthew 25:37-43 (NIV):
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’”
Again, Jesus describes our response to his own teachings as a grounding for how he will judge us.
Fourth, the final judgment will be a fair judgment.
As Peter put it, God will judge each person’s work impartially (1 Peter 1:17). The apostle Paul described the fairness of the final judgment this way:
“God ‘will repay each person according to what they have done.’ To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” (Romans 2:6-11, NIV)
True Christians seek good (and glory, honor, and immortality), and they will be rewarded. Those who reject the truth and follow evil (i.e., unbelievers) will experience anger, wrath, trouble, and distress. God will treat people fairly, according to how they have responded to God and other people.
“True Christians seek good (and glory, honor, and immortality), and they will be rewarded.”
Fifth, the judgment will be final.
Scripture nowhere gives any indication of a second chance, of purgatory (where you spend a certain amount of time being punished, or “purged” of sinfulness, before being released into heaven), or of any other way for lost people to get back into a right relationship with God after death.[3] Once people die, they have set themselves on a course for all eternity.
“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:27-28, NIV)
Therefore, the Bible puts a strong emphasis on the fact that people must turn to God now, before it is too late (Hebrews 3:12-14). In the words of Jesus, there are only two roads in eternity, and the one that leads to eternal life is narrow (Matthew 7:13-14). It is a road that people must choose in this life, for in the afterlife it will be too late.
The Final Judgment: “The Bible puts a strong emphasis on the fact that people must turn to God now, before it is too late.”
In light of these stark descriptions, we always want to encourage everyone to turn to the mercy, forgiveness, and grace of God in Jesus. The sober yet hopeful words of Jesus in John 3:16-18 (NIV) are the best way to end this article:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
[1] Not all end-times paradigms place the two events one right after the other.
[2] Robert Mounce, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmanns Pub. Co., 1977), 366.
[3] See Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), 1236.
