Rev 674; 8/18/76; 3/1/77; 10/20/77; 11/28/77; Eph 778 3/3/88
A. Definition.
1. The Last Judgment is the alternative to salvation. In effect, it is facing God’s judgment in eternity because you would not face God’s judgment in time.
2. The Last Judgment is the expression of the integrity of God toward those who reject Christ as Savior.
3. It is the culminating judgment of human history in which every unbeliever of the human race is judged and sentenced to the lake of fire. They will stand before Jesus Christ who is the supreme court judge of heaven, Jn 5:22.
4. This is also called the second death or the Great White Throne Judgment, Rev 20:12.
B. There are two basic categories in the human race based on God’s justice.
1. The believer has accepted and adjusted to divine justice in time, Jn 3:18, 36; Acts 4:12.
2. The unbeliever must face divine judgment in eternity, since he was negative to divine justice in time.
3. Attitude toward Christ determines classification in the human race. Idiots, morons, babies, and those who never reach the age of accountability are automatically saved by the justice of God.
C. In the Last Judgment, only the unbeliever is under the indictment of rejection of Christ as Savior, Jn 3:18, 16:9; Rev 20:15. The Book of Life is the roster of believers only. The unbeliever is not found in the Book of Life because he has not been given eternal life for faith in Christ. He has committed the “willful sin” or “unpardonable sin” of unbelief in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, Heb 10:26.
D. No believer is involved in the Last Judgment, Rom 8:1. “There is, therefore, no judgment to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
E. The unbeliever has two appointments with God.
1. Heb 9:27-28, physical death.
2. The second death or the Last Judgment. This is spiritual death or separation from God forever. Heb 9:27, “For just as it is destined for man to die once, but after that the judgment.”
F. The second appointment of judgment is preceded by the second resurrection, Jn 5:24-29; Dan 12:2.
1. All unbelievers are resurrected at the end of the Millennium in order that they may be judged by Christ and cast into the lake of fire. They are resurrected from the fire of Hades to go into the eternal lake of fire. So the Last Judgment follows the second resurrection.
2. Dan 12:3, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake to eternal life [first resurrection for believers only], but others to disgrace and eternal rejection.”
G. The Basis of Indictment of the Unbeliever.
1. No sin is mentioned as the basis of judgment, but rather the unbeliever’s human good and his righteousness based on his good works, which God rejects as not good enough to match the perfect righteousness of God required for eternal life with God.
2. At the Last Judgment, two books are opened.
a. The Book of Life lists the names of believers only. Therefore, this book is closed because all the names of unbelievers have been blotted out, and so it is not an issue at the Last Judgment.
b. The Book of Works lists the name of every person who has rejected Christ as Savior. All his works are listed there. They are all added up, and they total relative righteousness. God is perfect righteousness and cannot have fellowship with anything less. This is the basis of judgment.
3. So the unbeliever is judged on the basis of his works, not his sins, Rom 2:5-6; Rev 20:12-13.
4. Jesus Christ was judged for the sins of believers and unbelievers; this is the doctrine of unlimited atonement, taught in 2 Cor 5:14,15,19; 1 Tim 2:6, 4:10; Tit 2:11; Heb 2:9; 2 Pet 2:1; 1 Jn 2:2
. 5. The unbeliever is judged because he has rejected Jesus Christ as Savior. Jn 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged, but he who does not believe is judged already because he has not believed in the name of the uniquely born Son of God.”
6. Jn 16:9 says that the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit does not address your personal sins, but only the one sin which could not be judged on the cross. “Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.”
H. The Eternal Status of the Unbeliever.
1. The unbeliever faces “the second death,” Rev 20:14, also called “dying in your sins,” Jn 8:21,24.
2. The unbeliever will live forever in the lake of fire, Rev 20:14-15; Matt 25:41.
3. The unbeliever does not have his name in the Book of Life, Rev 20:15; only in the Book of Works, Rev 20:12-13.
a. Man’s works are not adequate to live with God forever. Only the righteousness of God is adequate. The righteousness of God is imputed to all believers at the moment of faith in Jesus Christ.
b. Rom 2:22, “Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.”
c. The cross separates the entire human race into believers and unbelievers.
4. To live with God forever, you must be as good as God is (have perfect righteousness), and live as long as God does (have eternal life). The unbeliever has neither. Therefore, he lives forever with human life in his soul in the lake of fire in a resurrection body designed especially to suffer maximum pain.
5. God gives the unbeliever an indestructible body and soul to suffer with forever, Rev 14:11.