Judgment Completed
What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Matt. 16:26, 27.
When Christ completes His priestly work of judgment in the heavenly sanctuary, He returns to earth to reward those who have accepted His grace and let it change their lives. Of course, some will have opted for some other reward. But the very logic of the flow of events demands the type of pre-Advent judgment set forth in Daniel 7: first comes the judgment and then follows the Advent with its rewards.
That judgment, of course, is not for God's information. Rather, it is public because others need to be convinced that He is doing the right thing in saving some but not others. The open nature of the event is the reason the Bible talks about "books" that record people's lives. What they have done is crucial in the judgment.
Here we have a problem. After all, Paul makes it clear that we are not justified or counted righteous because of our works (Rom. 3:20), but saved fully and entirely by grace (Eph. 2:8-10). And that is absolutely true. But grace doesn't merely forgive and justify--it also transforms, empowers, and sanctifies.
To put it another way, if you have been justified by grace your whole life will change. You will not be able to continue in the same old self-centered way. Jesus makes a difference in how people behave and think. Saved people will live by a different set of principles, and those principles will determine what they "do" in life.
In other words, our actions indicate either salvation in the heart or a lack thereof. According to Jesus, both the heart and the life come up for review in the final judgment. Even Paul teaches that point when he writes that God "will render to every man according to his works" (Rom. 2:6, RSV). And as we have seen, Jesus was big on "doing" since the beginning of His ministry: "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Matt. 7:21, RSV).
So the judgment is based on how those who claim to be Christians have lived their lives. And when the evidence is in and has been set forth for all to see in the pre-Advent judgment, then Jesus "shall come...with his angels" to "reward every man according to his works." What a glorious prospect for God's people. It is a day worth living for.
What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Matt. 16:26, 27.
When Christ completes His priestly work of judgment in the heavenly sanctuary, He returns to earth to reward those who have accepted His grace and let it change their lives. Of course, some will have opted for some other reward. But the very logic of the flow of events demands the type of pre-Advent judgment set forth in Daniel 7: first comes the judgment and then follows the Advent with its rewards.
That judgment, of course, is not for God's information. Rather, it is public because others need to be convinced that He is doing the right thing in saving some but not others. The open nature of the event is the reason the Bible talks about "books" that record people's lives. What they have done is crucial in the judgment.
Here we have a problem. After all, Paul makes it clear that we are not justified or counted righteous because of our works (Rom. 3:20), but saved fully and entirely by grace (Eph. 2:8-10). And that is absolutely true. But grace doesn't merely forgive and justify--it also transforms, empowers, and sanctifies.
To put it another way, if you have been justified by grace your whole life will change. You will not be able to continue in the same old self-centered way. Jesus makes a difference in how people behave and think. Saved people will live by a different set of principles, and those principles will determine what they "do" in life.
In other words, our actions indicate either salvation in the heart or a lack thereof. According to Jesus, both the heart and the life come up for review in the final judgment. Even Paul teaches that point when he writes that God "will render to every man according to his works" (Rom. 2:6, RSV). And as we have seen, Jesus was big on "doing" since the beginning of His ministry: "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Matt. 7:21, RSV).
So the judgment is based on how those who claim to be Christians have lived their lives. And when the evidence is in and has been set forth for all to see in the pre-Advent judgment, then Jesus "shall come...with his angels" to "reward every man according to his works." What a glorious prospect for God's people. It is a day worth living for.
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