The Reason We Must Tell Everyone We See About Christ

Revelation 20

11  Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12  And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

It’s happening. There is coming a day when all men will stand before God in eternity and final judgments will be made by the only righteous, perfect Judge. What will happen on that great and terrible day?

ONLY ONE WILL JUDGE

There is only One worthy and capable of making perfect judgments. It is He who sees all, knows all, and judges with absolute perfection. No one will be able to accuse Him of a mistake…and there will be no final appeal.

EVERY UNBELIEVER WILL BE JUDGED

This judgment is for every person who has not followed Christ…all of those whose “name was not found written in the book of life.” Believers will be conspicuously absent. Why? Their judgment has already fallen on their Savior, Jesus Christ. Their penalty has been paid and during their earthly life they recognized this and trusted in Him. They are pardoned from this horrible moment. They will not face this judgment

THE SMALL AND THE GREAT WILL BE JUDGED

The local plumber, the Fortune 500 CEO, the school teacher, Presidents of countries, convenience store clerks, the most recognizable movie star. They will all stand shoulder-to-shoulder. All of their accomplishments or notoriety will mean nothing on this day. I often think of this when I hear of the passing of some person the whole world knows. Nothing matters for them anymore except whether or not they have surrendered to the King of kings and Lord of lords. There will be no allowances or exceptions.

EVERY DEED WILL ADD TO THE JUDGMENT

Since this judgment recorded here is for the unbelievers, every deed they have done and every sin of their life will add to their judgment. Every day they rejected Christ. Every decision they made on their own without consulting Him.

The great tragedy is that all of this could have been averted if they had turned to the One who makes our “sins, though they be like scarlet, as white as snow.”

IT WILL BE COMPLETE AND ETERNAL

Jesus said in John 3 that He did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. But men condemn themselves by rejecting His overwhelming offer of mercy.

All who do will face this judgment and will be cast into the lake that burns with fire. They will be eternally separated from Christ with no opportunity of change. They will exist in a place that has nothing of God—no love, no peace, no grace, no wisdom, no light. Eternal death.

If you are a believer and you lack gratitude, mediate on these verses and the magnitude of what it means to be “saved.”

If you are a believer and lack motivation to unashamedly, urgently share Christ with everyone you meet, meditate on this words.

 

 

©2014 Bill Elliff.  Originally posted on The Summit Blog.