Final Judgment - the event that separates this Age and the Age to Come (Dividing Line)
Jesus Christ taught his disciples a system of eschatology which consisted of only two ages. Only these two ages (this age and the age to come)
existed in our Lord’s understanding. There was no place for a third
intermediate age. We have also understood that the judgment of the wicked and
the resurrection of the saints separate these two ages.
Matthew 13:37-43: “37 He answered, “The one who sows the good
seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good
seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil
one, 39 and the enemy who
sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the
reapers are angels. 40 Just
as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be
at the end of the age. 41 The
Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom
all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace.
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will
shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has
ears, let him hear.”
Now let us
focus on the judgment of the wicked which separates these two ages. Let us
study from the following three passages:
a)
Matthew 25:31-46
b)
Romans 2:5-16
c)
2 Peter 3:1-13
We will
try to get answers to the following questions from these passages:
1.
What is the scope of the judgment?
2.
What is the timing of the judgment?
3.
What are the issues of this judgment?
The thesis
of this study is that:
The
scope of the judgment is all men
living and dead.
The
timing of the judgment is the Second
Coming of Jesus.
The issues of this judgment are eternal life or eternal punishment.
Matthew 25:31-46
Timing of the judgment: the Second Coming of
Jesus
Matthew 25:31, 32: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and
all the angels with him, then he will sit
on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he
will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats.”
Issues of the judgment: Eternal life and
eternal punishment
Matthew 25: 34, 41, 46: (Verse 34) “Then the King will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world.” (Verse 41) “Then he will say to those on his
left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the
devil and his angels.” (Verse 46)
”And these will go away into eternal
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Scope of the judgment: All men living and dead
Matthew
25:32: “Before him will
be gathered all the nations…..”
Who all
are included in this judgment? Premillennial interpretations limits the reference of all the nations. The key issue here is the
meaning of the phrase, all the nations. Does it include the Jewish nation or
does it refer exclusively to the Gentiles? Let us understand the term “all the
nations” from the book of Matthew itself.
The word
“nations,” by itself used in the plural designates the Gentile nations in
Matthew and may be translated Gentiles (Matthew 6:32; 10:5, 18; 12:18, 21;
20:19, 25). The case is, however, very different with the terminology, all the
nations. This occurs in three other places (Matt. 24:9, 14; 28:19).
Matthew 24:9: “Then they will deliver you up to
tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all
nations for my name's sake.”
Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will
be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all
nations, and then the end will come.”
Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
When Matthew 24:9 speaks of Christ’s disciples being hated
“by all the nations,” it includes hated by the Jewish nation as well. The
phrase is used in Matt. 24:14 and 28:19 to designate the universal scope of the
church’s evangelistic mission. This scope certainly includes the Jews (Acts
1:8; Rom. 1:16, 17).
Luke 24:46, 47: “…..Thus it is written, that the Christ should
suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and
that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be
proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem”
Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.”
Therefore,
the phraseology “all the nations” designates the world – both Jews and Gentiles
– which is the object of the preaching of the gospel during the last days.
Moreover,
Matthew 25:31-46 is the final reference of a judgment theme that runs throughout
Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 7:22; 11:20-24; 12:36-42; 16:26, 27). We must
interpret Matthew 25:31-46 in line with such passages which always speak of a
single judgment or day of judgment. They teach that ancient nations, cities of
Jesus’ day, “every man,” and “all the nations” off history will be there. Here
are some passages:
Matthew
7:22: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we
not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do
many mighty works in your name?’”
Matthew
11:21-24: ““Woe
to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and
ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable
on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will
be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been
done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But
I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment
for the land of Sodom than for you.”
Matthew
12:36-42: “I tell
you, on the day of
judgment people will
give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by
your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees
answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign
will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they
repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than
Jonah is here.”
Matthew
16:27: “For
the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his
Father, and then he will repay each person according
to what he has done.”
Therefore,
Matthew 25:31-46 must be seen as in its scope absolutely universal. If all men
living and dead will be judged at the second coming of Jesus, then they have to
be resurrected before that judgment. Therefore, all men (wicked and righteous)
will be resurrected at the second coming of Jesus.
Romans 2:5-16
Issues of the Judgment: eternal life and
eternal punishment
Romans 2:6-8: “He will render to each one
according to his works: 7 to those who by
patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give
eternal life; 8 but for those who are
self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
there will be wrath and fury.”
Scope of the Judgment: all men living and dead
Romans 2:6, 9, 10, 12: (Verse
6) “He will render to each one according to his works.” (Verse 9)
“There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, (Verse 10) but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the
Greek.” (Verse 12)”For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”
It also
includes both the living and the dead. This is clearly implied in Paul’s assumption
that his contemporaries as well as those in the past would experience this
judgment. Note the present tenses in verses 4, 5, 7-10.
Romans 2:5: “ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you
are storing up wrath for yourself on
the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.”
The scope of this judgment is universal. In general the scope is “every man” (verse 6); “every soul of man who does evil” (v. 9); “every man who does good” (verse 10); and “all who have sinned without the law”; and “all who have sinned under the law” (verse 12). In particular the scope is both the righteous and the unrighteous (vvs. 7-10); both Jew and Gentile (vvs. 9-12) and both the living and the dead.
Timing of the Judgment: the Second Coming of
Jesus
The timing
of this judgment is also clear. The parallels between verses 6 and 16, and
Matt. 16:27 shows this.
Romans 2:6: “He will render to each one according to his works”
Romans 2:16: “on that day when, according
to my gospel, God judges the
secrets of men by
Christ Jesus.”
Matthew
16:27: “For
the Son of Man is going to come
with his angels in the
glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.”
Second,
the parallels between the rewards mentioned here and the rewards given to
Christians at the Second Advent manifests this connection.
|
Romans
2:7: eternal life |
Matthew
25:46: eternal life |
|
Romans
7, 10: glory |
Col.
3:4; 1 Cor. 15:43; Rom. 8:18: glory |
|
Romans
2:7: immortality |
1 Cor.
15:53: immortality |
Time of the Judgment: Second Coming of Jesus
Verse 4
taken with verses 9 and 10 clearly shows that the theme of this passage is the
certainty of the promise of Christ to come again. Here, “the day of the Lord”
is equivalent to and synonymous with Christ’s coming. The connection between
the mention in verse 9 of the Lord’s “promise” and the substitution of the
phrase, “day of the Lord”, in verse 10 confirms this identification.
Scope of this Judgment: all men
2 Peter 3:6, 7: “and that by means of these [water] the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored
up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”
2
Peter 3:10: “But the day of the
Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens
will pass away with a roar,
and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
The parallel with flood, found in verse 6, strengthens the universal character of this judgment. The mention of the new heavens and new earth in verse 13 also plainly declares its universality.
Issues of this Judgment: eternal life and
eternal punishment
2 Peter 3:7: “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”
2 Peter 3:11, 12: “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what
sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting
for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens
will be set
on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! “
The eternal
destruction of the wicked is implied by the universal destruction of the
present world that the judgment brings. Verse 7 speaks of the “judgment and
destruction of ungodly men”. Verse 9 says that the unrepentant will “perish” at
Christ’s coming.
The eternal
blessedness of the godly is also clearly a result of this judgment. Verse 13
asserts that this judgment will usher in the new heavens and the new earth.
This is clearly a reference to the eternal state of the righteous (Rev.
21:1ff.).
|
Note: A response to a Pre-millennial argument Premillennial argument: The day of the Lord lasts over 1000 years. They say this because the day of the Lord is spoken of as “great” day and cannot be compared to the normal 24-hour day. Also, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8). So they argue that the day of the Lord spans a thousand year period. A Response: Our objection is not that the Day of the Lord is literally a day
of 24 hours, it is rather based on the following considerations: 1. The Pre-millennial understanding contradicts
the clear implications of the passage that the destruction of the Day of the
Lord is swift destruction. The analogy of the flood implies (v. 6) swift
destruction (Matt. 24:37-44; Luke 17:22-27). The analogy of the thief (v. 10)
implies swift destruction (Matt. 24:42, 43; 1 Thess. 5:2ff.) 1
Thessalonians 5:2, 3: “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden
destruction will come upon
them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” A
destruction that takes place over a period of 1000 years is anything but swift
and sudden. 2. In 2 Peter 3:3-13 the day of the Lord is a
synonym for the parousia (second coming of Jesus). To affirm that the day of
the Lord lasts over 1000 years is to affirm the same with reference to the
Second Coming. The connection between the mention in verse 9 of the Lord’s
“promise” and the substitution of the phrase, “day of the Lord”, in verse 10
confirms this identification. 3. Verse 9 makes plain that the alternative to
repentance before the Second Coming is perishing. A 1000 year “day of the Lord”
or parousia undermines the starkness of this alternative.
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CONCLUSIONS
We have
studied Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 2:5-16 and 2 Peter 3:1-13. The three major New
Testament passages affirm clearly that the timing of the coming judgment is the
second coming of Christ, the issues of the coming judgment are eternal life and
eternal punishment, and the scope of the coming judgment is general or, in
other words, absolutely universal. Since this judgment is universal, this is the
Final Judgment. The resurrection of all who will be judged precedes the Final
Judgment. Therefore, all dead will be resurrected at the second coming of
Jesus.
The three
passages we have considered not only mentions a thousand year reign after the
second coming of Jesus, but also contradicts the premillennial system of
interpretation. The unavoidable implication of this is that pre-millennialism
is excluded as the biblical scheme of the last things. There is no room for
millennial kingdom after the second coming of Jesus. This is because all forms
of pre-millennialism requires that there will be unresurrected men in their
natural bodies living on this earth. All pre-millennialists believe that the
resurrection of unbelievers will be occurring thousand years after the second
coming of Christ. All premillennialists believe that millions of people will
get saved after the second coming of Jesus. Pre-millennialism cannot be
reconciled with the most foundational structure of biblical teaching about the
last things, its very doctrine of the final judgment.
The three
passages we have considered also make it plain that the Apostles never taught a
pre-millennial system of interpretation. They didn’t give space for any such
systems in their teachings. It is a historical fact that all Apostles except
John died before the writing of the book of Revelation. Even before the writing
of Revelation, the Holy Spirit through Apostles has given believers a
consistent system of eschatology that contradicts pre-millennialism. The right
interpretation of Revelation in general and Revelation 20 in particular will
not be (and should not be) contradictory to the Scriptures written before. Peter and Paul didn’t believe in a reign of
Christ in this old world after the second coming of Jesus. Neither should we.
Let us believe in the system which the Apostles of Christ believed. Let’s
embrace it. May God help us to do that. Amen.
(The writings are not original to the author of this blog. It is taken from other sources and has been edited, sometimes paraphrased)
Reference:
1. Waldron, Samuel E. The End Times Made Simple
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