And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that He is the One ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believe in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.
Acts 10:42-43
Christ is Risen!
In Acts 10:34-43, Peter gives a summary of the Good News of Jesus Christ to a gathering of Gentiles. We have used this Scripture in the last reflection, to summarize the Resurrection and in this one to talk about the judgment of the living and dead, which is the next phrase of the Creed we will examine.
There is going to be a judgment over all the people who have ever lived on earth. Some will be judged worthy to enter into the kingdom of God, and some will be judged unworthy and sent to eternal condemnation. Jesus clearly teaches on this in Matthew 25:31-46, the account of the last judgment. In Matthew 25:31, Jesus says that “The Son of Man” will sit on His glorious throne, in other words Christ will be the judge. All the nations will be gathered before Him “and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left.” (25:32-33) Not everyone will end up on the right, but Christ will divide people classifying them as sheep and as goats and placing them accordingly. Those on the right hand will be welcomed: “Come, O blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (25:34) Those on the left will be sent away to eternal condemnation: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (25:41)
The judgment will be based on six metrics:
I was hungry and you gave/didn’t give Me food.
I was thirsty and you gave/didn’t give Me drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed/didn’t welcome Me.
I was naked and you clothed/didn’t clothe Me.
I was sick and you visited/didn’t visit Me.
I was in prison and you came/didn’t come to Me.
Jesus tells those who stand before Him, that when we did one of these things to the least of our brethren, it was as if we were doing it for Him. And when we didn’t do these things even for the least of our brethren, it was as if we were not doing that for Him.
There are lots of churches who preach a doctrine of “once saved, always saved,” as if to say that making a declaration of faith one time saves us for all time. There are two problems with this way of thinking: First, if one is saved at a finite moment in time, and one has already declared himself/herself “saved,” what is the incentive to do anything for the rest of life—to either believe or behave—if salvation is already clinched. Secondly, to declare oneself saved is at odds with Matthew 25:31-46, and puts an individual on his/her own throne of judgment and removed Christ from the throne of judgment. Our entrance into the Kingdom of God is not based on a “name it and claim it I’m saved,” but rather on the judgment of God on the totality of each life. And our entrance into the kingdom of heaven is an act of God’s grace and mercy on each person who is admitted there.
I like to think of the last judgment as like the final exam for a class. One should definitely prepare for the final. A good student would not go into an exam unprepared and just guess or hope for the best. A good student studies and prepares for the final. A good student hopefully feels prepared and might even go into the final with a lot of confidence. But the exam still has to be taken. And the grades are given by the professor, not by the students.
In the same way, Christ will administer our final exam, our final judgment. A good Christian is not going to go to the judgment unprepared, and just hope for the best. A dedicated Christian is going to believe, work, repent and follow the commandments of God. A good Christian will be prepared for the judgment, and might even feel confident. That’s the way we want to exit this life, with confidence and with a sense that we have prepared. The judgment, however, is given by God, not by us.
When Christ comes again in glory, it will also indicate the end of the world as we know it. Most of us don’t think on a regular basis about the second coming of Christ. We just assume we will live out our lives and then our children will live out theirs and generation after generation this will all just continue. Christ tells us that all of this will come to an end at an hour unknown to us. But it will come to an end. And then the final judgment will happen for everyone, and then people will take their places for eternity, either with God (Heaven), or away from Him. (Hell)
O Lord my God, in Thee do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me, lest like a lion they rent me, dragging me away, with none to rescue. O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have required my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue me and overtake me, and let him trample my life to the ground, and lay my soul in the dust. Arise, O Lord, in Thy anger, lift Thyself up against he fury of my enemies; awake, O my God, Thou hast appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about Thee; and over it take Thy seat on high. The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to he integrity that is in me. O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish Thou the righteous, Thou who triest the minds and hearts, Thou righteous God. My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who had indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; He has bent and strung his bow; He has prepared his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil, and is pregnant with mischief, and brings forth lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hold which he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own pate his violence descends. I will give to the Lord the thanks doe to His righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High. Psalm 7
A judgment awaits all of us. We can prepare for judgment, but our final judgment belongs to Christ, not to us. And we will either be judged worthy of eternal life (heaven) or eternal punishment (hell).
