The Doctrine of the End Times: The Judgment Seat Of Christ (2024)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Review
Review
Turn to 2 Corinthians 5:10-11.
This series is an attempt to build a basic framework for understanding the end times. Our method and our outline for this series is to build a timeline. We will use this visual tool to help tie together the events of the end times in chronological order.
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Last week we began with what is - from our perspective - the next event on God’s calendar: the imminent rapture of Christ’s bride.
What does the word “imminent” mean? Ready to take place at any time. Happening soon.
Without any prior warning, Christ Himself will descend from heaven into earth’s atmosphere. A trumpet will sound and a shout will echo throughout the earth. The souls of the dead in Christ will instantly be united with glorified bodies and will rise to meet the Lord. Then we which are alive on earth will supernaturally be snatched up to meet the Lord in the air.
(You will have no fear of heights on that day.)
While we do not know the day or the hour of the rapture, here’s Paul’s conclusion that is 100% certain: “so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
That part you can bank on.
Any questions about the rapture before we move on?
Message
Message
Tonight we’re going to begin looking at what happens to all the believers who were taken off the earth at the rapture. We’re going to look at what the Bible calls the Judgment Seat of Christ.
As we consider this event, I want you to imagine that time on earth is paused for a bit so that we can discuss what is happening in Heaven. The unsaved people who are left on earth will not experience the Judgment Seat of Christ. This judgment is for the believers who were raptured out of the earth.
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Here’s the timeline for the judgment seat of Christ.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:10-11.
In Second Corinthians five, Paul is talking about his ministry of giving the Gospel. He describes how that he was dependent upon the power of God to do this because it was beyond his own ability or intelligence. His body and his physical strength would fail because of the great pressures upon him, but he trusted in God and looked forward to eternal life. Verse nine indicates that meanwhile, as long as he lived on earth, Paul worked to honor Christ and to please Christ in everything that he did because a time of judgment was coming.
When I say the word, “terror”, what comes to your mind? What does that word mean to you?
Paul uses that word - terror, or fear - to describe what motivated him to prepare for the Judgment Seat of Christ! We better sit up and pay attention because Paul cared very much about this event.
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Terror: fear, dread, panic, reverence
The word for “terror” in verse eleven is the Greek word φόβος. Our English word “phobia” comes from this Greek word. Phobos means “fear”, “dread”, “terror”, and “panic”.
Homer, an ancient Greek poet, used the word to refer to a panic that makes you run away from something. Some New Testament uses are more like reverence or respect, but generally, this word means fear or terror.
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Paul, one of the greatest of the apostles, was motivated by fear of the Judgment Seat of Christ. He wanted to do everything he could do to be prepared.
As we study today, please keep this in mind: the Judgment Seat of Christ will not be a simple “walk in the park” where we all get participation awards. Not at all! I think all of us will feel some regret and say to ourselves, “I wish I had given him more. I wish I had lived more for Jesus.”
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References to the Judgment Seat of Christ:
Romans 14:10-12
1 Corinthians 3:11-15
1 Corinthians 4:5
2 Corinthians 5:10-11
2 Timothy 4:8
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Here’s what will happen: All individuals from the Rapture will be examined for how they lived after their salvation. Their lives will be revealed and they will be rewarded according to their works. They will receive rewards but they will also forfeit rewards. That which was done for Christ will remain as gold, silver, and precious stones. 1 Cor. 3:12. That which was done for self - wood, hay, and stubble - will be burned and lost. 1 Cor. 3:12-15.
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This will not be a judgment of how we lived before salvation, this will be a judgment for how we lived for Christ after salvation. The Judgment Seat of Christ will examine the way you live today. Your life will be revealed with nothing hid.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
I don’t know what Christ will say to me, but I can imagine Him saying something like this: “What did you do with your life after I saved you?”
That’s a sobering thought.
Application: What will matter on that day is not whether you had a title in the church. What will matter on that day is not whether you were famous or highly thought of by men.
What will matter on that day is whether you did the will of God for your life as best as you knew how or not.
God has a plan for every life in this room. His plan is to bring glory to Himself and to the Son and He has a way that He wants to do that through your life. All of us are different and unique from each other. So God’s plan is going to look a little different for each of us. What matters is that we follow the basic roadmap for life that He gives us and as we go, we be sensitive to how He wants us to serve Him along the way.
Christian, what are you doing with your life now that God has saved your soul? You can think about that question now, or you can think about it when you stand before your Savior.
Continue here on Sunday, 5/26/24
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Judgment Seat of Christ = Bema Seat of Christ
Another name for the Judgment Seat of Christ is the Bema Seat of Christ. These are two different names for the same event.
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Judgment Seat: βήμα
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Here’s an illustration of what a bema seat platform would have looked like.
The Bema was a raised place mounted by steps; a platform, tribune: used of the official seat of a judge, Mt. 27:19; Jn 19:13; Acts 18:12, 16; of the judgment-seat of Christ, Ro. 14:10; 2 Co. 5:10
Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Being Grimm’s Wilke's Clavis Novi Testamenti (New York: Harper & Brothers., 1889), 101.
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“At this platform in Corinth (here partly restored), the Roman proconsul Gallio refused to take sides against Paul in what he considered to be a Jewish controversy (Acts 18:12–16).”
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Judgment seats were located in every city and place of authority. A Roman camp commander would have a judgment seat where he would sit and administer discipline or address his troops. But they were also used at games and tournaments. Herod built a bema seat in the theatre at Ceasarea from which he would view the games and make speeches to the people.
In Grecian games in Athens, the old arena contained a raised platform on which the president or umpire of the arena sat. From here he rewarded all the contestants; and here he rewarded all winners. It was called the “bema” or “reward seat.”
Pentecost, J. Dwight; Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
It’s safe to say, the bema seat was a very familiar setting to the greco-roman culture of the New Testament. They were common across the Roman Empire. It was a raised platform and the seat would be brought and placed on top of it. Whoever was being judged at the court or rewarded at the games would stand down below.
That’s the picture that God used to describe this future event where we will judged by Christ. It helps us understand what this event will be like. God chose this place, that was so familiar to New Testament believers, and used it to illustrate for us what this future judgment will be like for believers.
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The time of the Judgment Seat
This judgment of New Testament believers will happen sometime after the Rapture but before Christ returns back to earth at the Second Coming.
In 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Timothy 4:8; and Revelation 22:12 the reward is associated with “that day,” that is, the day in which He comes for His own. Thus it must be observed that the rewarding of the church must take place between the rapture and the revelation of Christ to the earth.
Pentecost, J. Dwight; Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
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The place of the Judgment Seat: Since this judgment will involve only those who are taken to be with the Lord at the Rapture, this judgment must take place somewhere in Heaven, the domain of God.
2 Corinthians 5:8 indicates that we will be “present with the Lord” and then begins to describe the Judgment Seat.
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The judge at the Judgment Seat: We know that the judge will be Jesus Christ for two reasons:
The Father has committed all judgment to the Son - John 5:22.
The court is His - 2 Corinthians 5:10.
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The people at the Judgment Seat: The ones being judged will be those who were raptured out of the earth.
This does not include Old Testament saints. They will be resurrected at a later time. The church was fully instituted in Acts chapter two. It will be removed from the earth at the Rapture. It includes everyone who was saved after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Old Testament saints were saved looking forward to the coming Messiah who would redeem them from their sins. They were not part of the church because it was a mystery that they did not know about. It did not exist yet.
New Testament believers in Jesus are saved looking back at the finished work of the Messiah who saves them from their sins. Since the church began soon after Christ’s resurrection, they are part of the church and will be judged at the Judgment Seat. Only New Testament believers in Jesus Christ will stand at this judgment because they are the only ones who have built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3:11-12.
We’ll talk about that distinction again later in the series, but for now, please understand that the Judgment Seat includes New Testament believers only.
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The basis of the examination at the Judgment Seat: We will be examined concerning our works, not our sins.
The issue here is not to determine whether the one judged is a believer or not. The question of salvation is not being considered. The salvation given the believer in Christ has perfectly delivered him from all judgment (Rom. 8:1; John 5:24; 1 John 4:17). To bring the believer into judgment concerning the sin question, whether his sins before his new birth, his sins since his new birth, or even his unconfessed sins since the new birth, is to deny the efficacy of the death of Christ and nullify the promise of God that “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 10:17)...A saint will never again come into judgment on account of his natural or inherited iniquity.”
The purpose of the bema is to make a public manifestation, demonstration or revelation of the essential character and motives of the individual.
We will stand and be judged individually before the Lord. It is impossible that we will be judged for sins committed because the sin of all believers was placed upon Jesus and judged on the Cross of Calvary. He who knew no sin, became sin for us. Jesus cried, “It is finished!” There the judgment of sin for the believer was forever settled.
“The judgment is not to determine what is ethically good or evil, but rather that which is acceptable and that which is worthless.”
Therefore, “it is not the Lord’s purpose here to chasten His child for his sins, but to reward his service for those things done in the name of the Lord.”
There is some debate on this issue. Some men seem to think that sins will be brought up at this judgment, but I don’t hold to that position.
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The result of the examination at the Judgment Seat: “In 1 Corinthians 3:14-15 it is declared that there will be a twofold result of this examination: a reward received or a reward lost. That which determines whether one receives or loses a reward is the trial by fire...”
Our works that we did on earth will be tested, not for their outward significance, but for their “inner character and motivation.” For example, if I preach a message trusting in my own ability, it will be found worthless. But if you go and rake the leaves in your elderly neighbor’s yard and do it with a right motive, you will be rewarded.
NOTICE: In 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Timothy 4:8; and Revelation 22:12 the emphasis is on the reward.
The examination at the bema of Christ is to determine that which was done by God through the individual and that which the individual did in his own strength; that which was done for the glory of God and that which was done for the glory of the flesh. It can not be determined by outward observation into which class any “work” falls, so that work must be put into the [fire] in order that its true character may be proved.
Christ will test our works by fire and make a decision on each one:
1. There will be loss of reward for that which is proven by the fire to be destructible.
2. There will be a reward bestowed for that work that is proved to be indestructible by the fire test.
The rewards given seem to be the following five crowns:
1. The incorruptible crown - the victor’s crown - 1 Cor. 9:25
2. The crown of righteousness - for those who love His appearing - 2 Tim. 4:8
3. The crown of rejoicing - witnessing crown - 1 Thess. 2:19-20
4. The crown of life - martyr’s crown - Rev. 2:10
5. The crown of glory - elder’s crown - 1 Pe. 5:2-4.
In Revelation 4:10, where the elders are seen to be casting their crowns before the throne in an act of worship and adoration, it is made clear that the crowns will not be for the eternal glory of the recipient, but for the glory of the Giver.