Who Will be Judged on Judgment Day? [2 Reasons Why Many People Have it Wrong]
There is a false idea out there today, so prevalent, that I am almost certain you have heard more times than you could possibly count. Here is the statement, something along these lines:
“Hey Christian! If you do X,Y, or Z….Or, you don’t do X,Y or Z…then you are going to stand before God on judgment day and you are not going to make it to heaven”
This is false. Plain and simple. It’s inaccurate, misleading, and damaging for multiple different reasons. Allow me to very briefly explain why these kinds of statements are absolutely, positively, false doctrine.
The main reason why this is such a rank false doctrine is that it promotes a works based salvation.
It makes salvation seem as if it is this lifelong process in which one day when we meet Jesus, He then decides based on how good we have been if we get to go to heaven or not. This is completely throwing eternal security out the window. Salvation is not a giant math equation that adds up every good action we have done against every bad action we have done. Such a salvation would have us all sitting like an elephant on a teeter totter, being outweighed by our sins and shortcomings, destined for hell. Thank God, that this is not how salvation works. When a person gets saved, the moment they are saved they are sealed with the Holy Spirit and they will never again be threatened with going to hell. (Ephesians 1:13) From the moment of salvation until Christ takes us home, we should be focusing on our walk with God. This includes following Jesus, reading our Bibles, praying, loving others, ect. This is called sanctification. This is sometimes confused with our salvation, but it shouldn't be, because salvation is not based on our works, and happens at one single moment in time. Sanctification is based on our works, and happens throughout the remainder of our lives.
2. The second reason this is a false doctrine is that people are confusing two separate events that are mutually exclusive one to another.
When people say that a Christian is going to have to stand “on judgment day” and answer for all they have done, they are actually confusing 2 separate events mentioned in the Bible. The events are “The judgment seat of Christ” and “The great white throne judgment”. I plan on breaking these 2 separate events down in a future blog post, but for now I will just sum it up.
The great white throne judgment is where the unsaved will stand before God and be judged according to their works and God’s Holy standards. Of course, because these people are unsaved, they will be judged accordingly.
The judgment seat of Christ is where the saved will stand before God, not with a threat of hell, but as a final evaluation of how they did with all that God gave them. This IS in fact based on works, but has no impact on where the believer will spend eternity. (Heaven/Hell).
At the judgment seat of Christ the final result will end with rewards given from God to all that the believer did that had eternal value (or the lack of rewards). Of course after this, regardless of how many rewards they receive or don’t receive, the believer will end up being with Jesus for all eternity because they are saved.
I hope this makes sense, I wanted to keep this as brief as possible. God bless you.
If you are not sure that you are going to heaven, please get this settled today by clicking here: How to Go to Heaven.
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