There's A Great Day Comming!

    The Bible foretells of a great day that eventually will come to pass. A day in which Jesus Christ will sit upon a great white throne where he will judge the living and the dead. On that day, all that do not find their names written in the Book of life will be cast into the lake of fire( Acts 17:31; Revelation 20:11-15). From the pen of the apostle Paul we learn some crucial things about that day. Notice Paul’s words in the following verse: "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 had done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). From this verse, we learn something about what will be the most important day of all, the Judgement Day. First, we learn….

1. It Will Be A Day of Appearing: On that day there will be two appearances. First, the Lord will appear. The Bible says he will be revealed 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 (2 Thessalonians 1:7,8). At the same time, he will meet his saints in the air, and thus they shall forever be with Him (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Also, on that great day, we as well must appear. Every individual who has ever lived must face his day in court. Paul said, "we must all appear." There are a lot of appointments subject to cancellation but the judgment is not one of them. The Hebrew writer wrote, "and as it is appointed for men to die once but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27) Second, concerning that great day we learn that….
   
2. It Will Be A Day of Judging: In our society today, people constantly scream, "Don’t judge me!" In other words, do not call me into account for my actions. On the judgment day, assuredly there will be screaming, but not "Don’t judge me!" but "Please God do not hold me accountable or my sins!" The words of the prophet Nahum come to mind, "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all ACQUIT the wicked." God is a God of justice. Because of his just nature he cannot allow one sin to go unpunished. Also, because of his just nature you can count on Him to be completely fair. But do not be fooled, if we die in our sins, we will not go unpunished, that would be impossible for God to let happen. That ought to cause us to place great importance on obeying the Lord now, because at the judgment day it will be too late! Third, we learn that…
   
3. It Will Be A Day of Receiving: Paul said that part of the purpose of judgment was that "each one may receive the things done in the body." On that day we will receive either the crown of life (Revelation 2:10; 2 Timothy 4:6-8) or we will receive a death sentence--- Eternal separation from God for all eternity, which includes having both our souls and bodies being destroyed in hell, the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44). Quite a contrast between the two possibilities wouldn’t you say? Nevertheless, we will receive either one or the other on that great day. Fourth, we learn that…
   

   "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…" (2 Corinthians 5:10)

4. 4. It Will Be A Day of Accounting: On that day we will give an account of all that we have done, as Paul says, "whether good or bad." Notice again, that we will individually give an account. It will not matter what our mother or father did, or sister or brother, but what we did! There will be no pleas of insanity or urban survival syndrome, we will be held responsible.

There is no doubt the judgment day will be an awesome day. It is up to us whether or not it will be a great day or a sad day. If we obey the gospel it will be great as we are glorified with our savior. If we choose not to, it will be sad as we have an eternity to contemplate what we could have and should have done

~ Bill Burk