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About Barbara Shafer
Expertise
I am an Evangelical Christian who is willing to answer faith questions in a thoughtful, researched manner. In particular, my heart`s desire is to assist those who need answers regarding suffering and those seeking to reconcile the Christian faith with the field of science.

Experience
I have a Masters of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I particularly enjoy apologetics (defense and explanation of the Christian faith) and systematic theology (understanding how the Bible itself supports various aspects of Christian doctrine). Both of these play a vital role in the "nuts and bolts" of evangelism... but the heart of Christian evangelism is love and compassion. A turning point for me was when I experienced the loss of my daughter Julia. Since then, my heart has been to help people who struggle to understand the Christian faith (and those who may be questioning the goodness of God) in light of the problem of evil and suffering. I've been informally answering Bible questions via other Internet avenues for over 7 years- to skeptics and believers alike. Thank you for blessing me with these opportunities.

You are here: Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Christian Teens > Christianity -- Christian Living > Judgment Day

Christianity -- Christian Living - Judgment Day

Expert: Barbara Shafer - 11/9/2009

Question
Hi Barbara,

What is the judgment that Christians will face on Judgment Day?

I've read Scriptures pertaining to this issue, and I'm still confused. Will we be judged with respect to how fully we have lived as Christians, e.g. how many people we've helped, how often we've read the Bible and prayed. etc.? I certainly don't think Christians should do whatever they want to do and feel like they have a "free ride," but if we're judged according to our works, does that not fly in the face of the promise that our sins were forgiven when we accepted Christ as Savior?

Thank you for your help!!!

G

Answer
Hi G,

I think it's pretty interesting that I'm getting this question everywhere right now. God is at work and that's always REALLY cool! I wonder what I'm supposed to be learning! LOL! :-D
Thanks for your question. :-)

First, some background: there are two groups...the believers and those who do not believe.
(1) There are believers that I'll call Christians. There are believers before Christ (Old Testament) who are simply believers in God and fall under the umbrella of Christ because they believed in the One who sent Jesus in the fulness of time.
(2) Some people attending in the local church are Christians but others are people who do not believe. Non-believers can be in the world...or hiding in the church.

This is who Jesus refers to as the sheep (believers/Christians) and the goats (not believers/not Christian).

Matthew 25:33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41 "Then he will say to those on his left [goats], 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and ddid not help you?' 45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

ALL people will experience judgment.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

For ALL Christians/believers, judgment= receive eternal life and reward
For ALL non-Christians/non-believers, judgment= hell...lake of fire.

Furthermore, when Jesus returns, there will be an order:

1 Thessalonians 4:14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.

First, the dead in Christ will rise to judgment/eternal life. (These believers' souls are with Jesus...and their bodies are in the ground. Their spirit--life itself--is with their soul. It's what eternal LIFE means.)

Then the living in Christ will rise to judgment/eternal life (their bodies, souls and spirits rise together).

Finally, the dead nonbelievers will rise to judgment...and the "second death"/ hell. Their dead bodies join with their souls and they have some sort of "second death" but there's also an enduring aspect. Hell is a place Mark 9:48 where "'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'

Now regarding the judgment:
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and BOOKS were opened. ANOTHER book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

(these are the dead believers...whose names are in the Book of LIFE...and the dead nonbelievers who aren't in the Book of Life.)

13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.

(these are the non-believers--sea, death, and Hades are all indicative of unbelief)

Revelation 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

So, if you are a Christian, judgment on works is independent of salvation...since this is what the Holy Spirit guarantees: eternal life!
:-)
Ephesians 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-- to the praise of his glory.

ALL "marked and sealed" Christians are saved to eternal life...and then the Judgment begins. ALL Christians WILL face Judgment...

(as it says ALL in 2 Cor 5:10)...

but Jesus has already experienced the wrath/punishment that we were due to receive. I personally believe that our horror and regret at what we did wrong...will be totally eclipsed by thankfulness that Christ has forgiven us. Each of us will see our sin in its unmasked gruesome detail...and we will be horrified at how sinful we were...and overflowing with thankfulness at how much we've been forgiven.

We will not experience ANY punishment for it (Jesus already experienced that on our behalf) and instead we will be rewarded for how faithful we had been with the gospel of peace (sharing God's love with others as we see in the Matthew 25 passage above). Our judgment is basis our works (faith without works is dead)...and our works (both good and bad) result in reward (for the good) and revelation of our sinfulness and resulting thanksgiving for Christ's sacrifice in the case of our bad deeds.

This is the only way that I can see God vindicating people of faith who have been wronged and PARTICULARLY those wronged by other Christians. They will experience immense sadness at their treatment of their fellow Christians and see the stripes upon our Savior necessitated by their actions. God vindicates, remains HOLY, and yet it was Jesus who was punished... since all wrongs must be punished for God to be HOLY.

If you'd like clarification on anything, it's obviously a huge and very interesting topic...and a profoundly important one for Christians to address. Please feel free to ask a followup or to write to me on my email address askseminarygal@aol.com

Thanks for such a great reminder of the treasure we have in Christ.
Blessings always,
in Christ,
Barbara <><

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