When the End is Not the End

      One of the titles of the last Day in God’s great Week is the Day of Judgment (Matt. 12:36). The Bride is judged as being in Christ at the start of the last Day. We shall be birthed from death—resurrection—at the rapture. Everyone else shall be judged at the end of the Day.
As the great Week ends, it is time for the final judgment. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven [heavenlies or atmosphere] fled away. And there was found no place for them” (Rev. 20:11). Besides the earth, John reports that the sea gives up its dead, as does Death and Hades. Those who have accepted Jesus during the millennial reign, are already before the throne, awaiting their final judgment as well.
       “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 which were written in the books. And they were judged, each one according to his works” (Rev. 20:12).
       End-Time Lesson: The apostle Paul confirms that at the end every person shall receive some form of resurrection. He also tells us the one and only criterion for this final judgment. “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21-2).
         The Book of Life determines whether or not a person receives the resurrection of life or the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:27). When a person is conceived, his or her name is recorded in the Book. It remains there until the last moment of death. If the person has not accepted Christ by that point, his or her name is removed. Only those whose names are written in the Book of Life can enter God’s Kingdom. For God is just and cannot take those who are not His; He is not a spiritual kidnapper.
         Acts 24:5 refers to the resurrection of the just and the unjust. Those who are just enter the kingdom of light, for God is perfectly just. Those who are unjust have rejected God the Creator and God the Son who died for their sins. They have chosen the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan. Daniel prophesied about this same final judgment at the end of the Days. “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).
The other books that are opened are the books of each person’s life. What is recorded there determines the level of rewards in Heaven or the level of punishment for those in Hell. Either way, the people receive their just rewards and justice is served.
        Then Death (the last enemy) and Hades shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, along with anyone whose name is not found written in the Book of Life. The fall of mankind brought the first death, or separation from God. It is why we must be born again when we receive Christ as our Savior. At the final judgment, those who receive the resurrection of the unjust, which is also called the resurrection of condemnation, are separated from God once again and for all eternity. This is why Revelation 20:14 calls this the second death.
         In case you haven’t guessed it by now, the final judgment is the final harvest, when the tares are separated from the wheat. Jesus used another parable in Matthew 25:31-46. The parable speaks of the end of age to come, the end of the Day of the Lord. It is the Day that the Son of Man comes in His glory, beginning with the rapture. At the end of the Day, after He presents the kingdom to the Father, He will sit on the throne of glory, judging the nations with the Father.
        “ All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left” (vs. 32-33). The great Shepherd will set His sheep (believers) at His right hand, the hand of all authority and power. They shall receive the resurrection of life and of the just.
      Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (vs. 41). The goats (unbelievers) shall receive the resurrection of condemnation and of the unjust. “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).
     It is common for those who have not bothered to read and understand God’s Word to reject Christianity because they cannot accept how a loving God can condemn people to everlasting torment. What they don’t realize is that God doesn’t condemn those people; they condemn themselves by choosing not to believe in God. God is both perfectly loving and perfectly just. He cannot take those who are not His into His kingdom.
       People may balk at this truth as well. But how many of these same people likewise complain about the injustices of this world? Without justice we cannot have peace and community--as we’ve seen in our own society in these last Days. Without discipline, it’s difficult to raise a child.