As the term implies there are judgments of God for every action and inaction based on the facts of any situation. This in turn brings about the eternal legal and literal standing of a person, organization and nation.

God has set out the price or penalty for any disobedience and the matter finalized. Finalized mean no debate God can not change His mind on this point.

As we look deeper into this subject we will see the judgments and the outcome. Please note that as we look at the eternal outcome or the sentencing based on disobedience or sin that this could be changed, by the individual’ organization and/or Nations, but there are some time restraints.

Q1/There is a penalty for sin. (True or False)

Q2/ The penalty can be changed at any time by God. (True or False)

Q3/ The penalty can be changed at any time by us. (True or False)

2 Peter 3:7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. (NIV)

Deuteronomy 32:35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them." DT 32:36 The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. (NIV)

The judgment of God can be broken into four parts.

1.    Judgment on sin

2.    Judgment of the saints

3.    Judgment of the nations

4.    Judgment of the sinner (unrepentant sinners)

1. Judgment on Sin

It is the Judgment on sin from God that changed the whole legal position of man. This all happened at the beginning of time as God is a Holy God and no sin can dwell in His prances.

Then we see with the first perpetrator sin Satan and his fall and then followed by Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. Subsequently they didn’t take responsibility for their own actions and therefore we have the fallen state of man.

God had passed judgment on Sin so we can see if man had eaten of the Tree of Life he would never have to face any of his own actions. Finally, he would have no need for God.

Q4/ God had made his judgment on sin before Satan or Adam came along. (True or False)

2. Judgment of the Saints

Judgment of the saints is to confirm our passage into heaven based on our confession of Jesus as our Lord and God, and with the act of a heartfelt repentance.

This needs to be this side of death or the resurrection whichever comes first. It’s too late after death or resurrection.

The prayer of forgiveness is the legal requirement to break the curse of sin and death over our life. Remember, we are already legally seated in heaven. That means our new spirit is pure and has no sin, and therefore it can be with God. It will be music to our ears when God says. “Well done good and faithful servants, enter into My rest.”

Q5/ Repentance is required to confirm our passage into heaven. (True or False)

Q6/ We can wait until after our death to repent to get into heaven. (True or False)

“Judgment of the saints”

Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Also please understand there is another aspect to this judgment, which I have listed below, the judgment which will come upon the believer. Please note this does not affect our salvation, which is purely based on the belief in Jesus plus nothing.

When we talk of the judgment of the saints, who do we mean? We mean all who are in the Lambs Book of Life. This list is only a guideline for the Christian walk and not for the purpose of condemnation, for there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark on their foreheads, nor in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The second death has no authority over these, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him a thousand years. (MKJV)

Q7/ A unrepentant person can be in the Lamb Book of Life. (True or False)

A list of Judgments  for personal reflection. We will look at these in more detail in the next lesson.

i.    A Personal Judgment  Romans 14:12

ii.    A Judgment of our Relationships.  Romans. 14:10, 13, 15.  Un-forgiveness and wrong attitudes will be judged.

iii.    A Judgment of our Conversation.  Matthew .12:36-37 ; Ephesians. 4:29, 31-32

iv.    A Judgment of our Faithfulness.  Matthew. 25:19 onwards

v.    A Judgment of our Inner Motives.  2 Corinthians. 5:10   Appear = Revealed

vi.    A Judgment of our Spiritual Condition.  Hebrews. 4:11

vii.    A Judgment of our Works.  

2 Corinthians.5:10  Kakos = Worthless  1 Corinthians. 3:11-15

viii.    A Judgment of the Shepherds.  Hebrews. 13:17 ; 1 Peter. 5:4 ; James. 3:1

The purpose of these Judgments is for the receiving of the Crowns as listed below.

I Corinthians 3:8-15

    CROWNS        Rewards or Regrets    

i.    The Crown of life James 1:12  1Corinthians 10:13

ii.    The Imperishable Crown 1Corinthians 9:24,27 Mark 8:34,35

iii.    The Crown of Rejoicing 1Thesolinica 2:19,20 Psalm126:6

iv.    The Crown of Righteousness 2Timothy 4:7,8 Luke 9:62

v.    The Crown of Glory 1Peter 5:1,5 Luke 22:26 Mark 9:33,35

vi.    The Crown of Patience Rev 3:10 & 11

vii.    Soul-winner’s Crown Proverbs 11:30-31 Proverbs 14:24-25

More teaching on this in the next lesson of this book.  

Q8/ We don’t need to reflect on the judgments. (True or False)

Q9/ If you are a Christian you will receive a Crown. (True or False)

3. Judgment of the Nations

This judgment is at the beginning of the 1000 years reign of Jesus Isaiah 9:7, Revelation 3:21, Psalm, 89:30-37  1 Chronicles, 17:12-14  and Revelation 20:4 ; 19:15.

This takes place after the saints’ judgment and before that of the non-believers!

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark on their foreheads, nor in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (MKJV)

Revelation 19:15 And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, so that with it He should strike the nations. And He will shepherd them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the anger and of the wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His garment, and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Q10/ The saint have already been judged before the nations. (True or False)

This is something that could take a lot of explanation and is very interesting study in itself, but at the moment I will keep it short because it is the judgment of the saint and sinner that I want to cover in more detail.

Let me say every power and principality will have to give an account for its action in the past in regards to Christians and the People of Israel (Mat. 25:31-46). This will all take place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:1-2 11-12, Ezek. 34:11-15) at the throne David where Jesus sits.

One point, which is very important, is that every action big or small will be judged. Nations will have a free will to repent too.

Joel 3:1 For, behold, in those days and in that time, when I will bring again the exiles of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will fight with them there for My people and for My inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided My land. (MKJV)

Joel 3:11 Gather yourselves and come, all you nations, and gather yourselves together all around; cause Your mighty ones to come down there, O Jehovah. 12  Let the nations be awakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the nations all around. (MKJV)

Q11/ Every Nation will be judged for what it has done good or bad. (True or False)

Q12/ The judgment of the Nations will take place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. (True or False)

4. Judgment of the Sinner (unrepentant sinners)

This “judgments is of the unrepentant sinners” which means all the unsaved people, those who haven’t called on the name of Jesus. This includes those who say they have lived a good life and they don’t need God.

This is where the non-believer will come to the Judgment Seat. When they approach the throne of God, they will see their own sin. The sinners will be self-condemned and they will look upon Jesus at this point. They wont hear God say, “Enter,” they will turn and go into the pit of hell and be in torment for eternity.

Revelation 20:15 And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.(MKJV)

This happens at the end of the Millennium where the non-believers or sinners will be self-condemned when looking upon God’s holiness and they will see their sins. Also at this time those who have become believers in the Millennium will also be judged and given their reward.

All those not in the Book of life. (Revelation 20: 12)

Revelation 20:12  And I saw the dead, the small and the great, stand before God. And books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (MKJV)

Those that live a righteous life and call on the name of Jesus in the Millennium will be rewarded. (Revelation 20: 13)

The White Throne Judgment or the Second Judgment is for those who are not written in the Book of Life. Another way of saying this is to say it is The Judgment of Self-Condemnation.

Q13/ It’s too late to repent at the White Throne to get into heaven. (True or False)

Q14/ The sins of a person does the condemning. (True or False)

The Legal and Literal position.

The legal position of the saint and the sinner is set out in the Word of God clearly. The saint is literally in the world, even though he or she was acquitted of sin. Their sin has been superseded by what Jesus did on the cross plus nothing. Now the saint is legally in heaven.

The sinner is literally and legally in the world without passage into heaven. Legally they are on their way to hell.

Even though the second or final Judgment comes at a later date it could be superseded now by the accepting of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for all mankind.

Q15/ Taking responsibility for our own sins and repenting, changes the penalty eternally. (True or False)

This only applies to those who are living and those who are born after the first, and before the second resurrection. Once you have physically died without accepting Jesus as your saviour it’s too late. You don’t have the right of appeal after your death. Therefore today is the day of salvation.  

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (NIV)

Before we can receive the grace of God we are all in the state of fallen man, and under the curse of sin. In the world when you commit a crime and are found guilty, you must pay the price. We deserved the punishment for our sins and to spend eternity in torment. So for us to receive the grace of God someone had to pay and that someone was Jesus.

Legally we were dead in our sins, but Jesus has legally paid the price for our redemption. All we need to do is appeal to God to forgive us. Then we are legally and literally free from the sin, our present sins and our future sins. This has happened by God’s free gift and the amazing thing is we did not need to do anything to warrant God’s benevolence towards us.

Q16/ Jesus has paid the price for our sins. (True or False)

Q17/ Repentance is never saying sorry. (True or False)

This is the same God from the Garden of Eden, and all Adam and Eve had to do was to say, “sorry” and God would have forgiven them. But their act of disobedience caused them to harden their hearts.

It was because of this hardening of their hearts that their literal and legal position changed. They were legally and literally in the Garden, but now they were literally and legally outside the garden. They could not come back into the Garden. Only God could bring them back legally by paying the price and through the act of their repentance as a sign of their remorse.

Ephesians 2:4  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

Q18/ The unwillingness of some stops them from repenting. (True or False)

Finally Comment

On the subject of Judgment, it is easy to see the judgment of the world’s legal system.  It is literally and legally on the same plane. Do the crime; do the time, or live an honest life and stay out of trouble.

On the other hand the spiritual dynamics of judgment is different. You are literally on this earth, but legally you are in heaven.

It is in the World where we can change our spiritual standing. We need to do our business with God while we are in this life. After death and the resurrection there is no appeal. Your outcome will be sealed by the action or inaction of your free will towards Jesus Christ. If you are a non-Christian, today is the day of salvation. You need to take a step of faith in Jesus.

Q19/ When you have the Legal right to be seated in heavenly places all will see the change in You. (True or False)

Q20/ Change the Legal position now and the literal will happen later. (True or False)

 If you are a Christian you need to use your time on this earth to share the saving grace of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible, so that others do not have to face the terrible Day of Judgment.

“Let’s not be a Church of regrets, but be a Church that gets.”