THE JUDGMENT OF BELIEVERS
By G. H. PEMBER, M.A.
The
Millennial Age will be a time, not only of reward for those who will have
overcome by the Blood of the Lamb, but also of chastisement for such believers
as will be found to have failed in their walk - through indolence, or the
minding of earthly things - and will, consequently, be sentenced to remain
in abodes of the dead [i.e., in 'Hades', (Luke 16: 23)] until the Last Day.
For it will then appear, that, through their lack of earnestness and
prayer for the [Holy]
Spirit's help, their sanctification was not perfected during their earth-life;
and it must be so before they can dwell for ever with the Lord. They
did evil in the body as well as good, and did not judge themselves and repent
with bitter crying before the Lord: therefore, they must be judged by Him,
and even as they did, so must they receive.
Hence
the Judgment-seat of Christ will dispense temporary chastisement for trespass,
as well as rewards. This is
plainly indicated in the verses under our consideration, as well as in other
striking passages of the First Gospel, which, as we study them in due course,
will increase our knowledge of a solemn but disliked and much neglected truth.
We shall, moreover, find it revealed, with equal clearness, in other parts of
the New Testament.
For
instance, what does Paul mean in the subjoined passage? In speaking
exclusively to those who have accepted the only true foundation, he tells us,
that it is possible [for regenerate believers] to build upon it either with gold, silver and
costly stones, or with wood, hay and stubble, and then continues:
"Each man's work shall be made manifest: for the Day shall declare it,
because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a
reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he
himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire"
(1Cor. 3: 13).
And
again:-
"Wherefore, also, we
make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto Him.
For we must all be made manifest
before the Judgment-seat of Christ, that
each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath
done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the fear of the
Lord, we persuade men, but to God we have been made manifest: and I hope
that we have been made manifest also in
your consciences" (2 Cor. 5: 9).
And
was not the sentiment expressed in the last verse, the fear of the Lord's
terrible judgment of His Own House,
powerfully affecting the Apostle when he wrote:-
"The Lord grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus:
for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; but, when he was in
Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me - The Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord at
That Day - and in how many things he ministered at Ephesus, thou knowest very well."
Surely
if Paul was moved to interpose this fervent ejaculatory prayer on behalf of one
who was not only called, but had also shown himself faithful by fearlessly
ministering to the Lord's servant while he was fighting with wild beasts at
Ephesus, and, subsequently, at Rome, when he was in the clutches of the most
unscrupulous and cruel of persecuting tyrants - surely, if the Apostle was
impelled to pray for such a one, that the Lord would grant him mercy in
the Day of His Judgment, there can be no [regenerate] believer who is not in need of the same mercy.
Hence
the decisions issued from the Judgment-seat of Christ will have the following
results:
Those
servants of the Lord who shall be found
to have been faithful will be judged worthy
of the First Resurrection, and will be made Priests of God and of His Christ,
and will reign with Him for a Thousand Years. They will thus enjoy the great Sabbath that remains
for the people of God, and will themselves rest from their labours, even as He
did from His.
But the unfaithful servants will be banished into the darkness without
the pale of the Kingdom, where they will be detained, and dealt with according to the
sentence of the Lord, until the Last Day. Then, when the time of reward has passed by, He will raise them up to everlasting life,
even as He has promised to do in the case of all who have believed in Him.
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