“That at the appearing of Christ prior to the establishment of the Kingdom, the responsible (namely those who know the revealed will of God, and have been called upon to submit it), dead and living — obedient and disobedient — will be summoned before His judgment-seat ‘to be judged according to their work’: and ‘receive in body according to what they have done, whether it be good or bad’.” Article XXIV
In the previous article it has been shown that those who are to inherit the Kingdom of God (heirs according to the promise) must undergo a physical change which will then properly prepare them for an everlasting Kingdom (1 Cor. 15:50-54). The time when this change will take place is clearly established in the Scriptures. One of the purposes of this Article is to reveal the precise time when this great event will transpire.
God has indeed selected a day in which He will manifest His power in the subjugation of the nations and the assertion of His will upon all mankind through His beloved Son. Paul, on Mars Hill at Athens warned the citizens of that community, steeped in superstitious idolatry, to repent: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31). The day selected is elsewhere described as “the last day,” “the day of the Lord” (or simply “the day”), etc., and establishes the divine teaching that only at the appointed time will the judgment take place.
The apostle, in his letter to the Romans, emphasizes the certainty of the judgment-seat of Christ. After assuring his readers that every man would be recompensed “according to his deeds” (2:6-10), he pinpoints the exact time as “the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel”. (V16).
“At His Coming”
The granting of immortality and the dispensing of rewards, in view of the Scripture teaching on the nature of man and the death state, must take place at some future time. The master Himself carefully warned the Pharisees on this very matter. After relating a parable in which He urged humility of mind upon them, He declared: “When thou makest a dinner or supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:12-14).
The judgment-seat, therefore, is inseparably associated with the time of the resurrection. This theme finds illustration throughout the teachings of Christ and the apostles. ‘When the Lord was asked by His apostles what they should receive, in view of their having forsaken other pursuits and followed Him, Jesus replied, “Verily I say unto, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mat. 19:28). “Regeneration” mean a new birth, and thus has reference to the establishment of the Kingdom of God, when, through the righteous rule of Christ, the nations will be changed, enlightened and made to know God. The “throne of his glory” is a term found only here and in Matt. 25 where the time factor is established and linked with the Lord’s coming. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory. and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (v v31-34 ). The judgment, therefore, will take place only “when the Son of man shall come in his glory.” Those upon the King’s right hand are the faithful of all ages, who have believed the teachings of God and manifested their convictions by rendering service to the Truth. The unfaithful are dealt with in 41-46, their rejection being based on the same principles upon which the faithful were accepted.
We find similar direction in the witness of the New Testament writers, paramount among whom was Paul. His teachings on the time when the judgment will take place leaves no room for speculation. When writing to Timothy, the apostle reminds him of the gravity of the responsibility resting on his young shoulders. “I charge thee, therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” Paul further expresses his own confidence in the nature of the reward to be dispensed at that time: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, hut unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:1, 8).
In combating the Greek influence on the ecclesia at Corinth, Paul speaks of the time when the “crown of righteousness” shall be given to “all them also that love his appearing.” The Hellenistic teaching of the immortality of the soul was even then beginning to infiltrate the infant church. Its acceptance by Christians would not only do violence to the rest of God’s Word, but would also stultify the necessity of a resurrection. So insidious was this Greek philosophy, that some of his readers were actually challenging both the reality and need of the resurrection. The apostle shows the logical conclusion to which their new doctrine would lead them by using the resurrection of Christ as an example: “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how sq some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain … For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” (1 Cor. 15:12-14, 16-18). But Christ did rise from the dead, and the glorification of His followers is dependent on a similar resurrection, as Paul then shows: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits: afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” ( vv19-23
The Last Day
Christ’s constant allusion in John’s gospel to the last day illustrates further His teaching on this vital subject. The granting of rewards must await His return from heaven, to take place at the last day. This term is often used in connection with the Lord’s second coming, and refers to the Messianic times; i.e. the time when the Lord will return and establish his kingdom upon the earth. It will be at that time that Christ will manifest Himself as “the resurrection and the life” by raising the dead and rewarding them according to their works. His ability and determination to keep those who come to Him and to lose none of the faithful ones is very touchingly alluded to in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will that hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (vv37-40). The raising up clearly refers to the resurrection, as Martha understood when her brother, Lazarus died: “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day (Jo. 1 1 :24).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One