Neither the expression, "general judgment" nor the idea conveyed by that expression is found in the Scriptures. Dr. Pentecost well says: "It is a mischievous habit that has led the Christian world to speak of the judgment as being one great event, taking place at the end of the world, when all human beings—saints, sinners, Jews and Gentiles, the living and the dead—shall stand up before the Great White Throne and there be judged. Nothing can be further from the teaching of the Scriptures."
Scripture speaks of five judgments, and they differ in four respects: subject, time, place and result of the judgment.
As to Believers
Time: A.D. 30
Place: The cross of Calvary
Result: Death for Christ and justification for the believer
"Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree"
"For He (God) hath made Him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him"
The Judgment of Sin in the Believer
Time: Anytime
Place: Anywhere
Result: Chastisement
The Conduct, or Works of Believers Judged
Time: When Christ comes for His own
Place: In the air (1 Thess. 4:1717Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17); Matt. 25:24-3024Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 26His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 27Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. 28Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 29For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. 30And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:24‑30))
Result: To the believer, reward or loss of reward, "but he himself shall be saved"
Although Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and God has entered into covenant with us to "remember them no more" (Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17)), every work of the believer must be judged.
Both passages are limited by the context to believers. In the first, the apostle has just written of us as in one of two states: either we are at home in the body and absent from the Lord, or absent from the body and present with the Lord language which could not be used of unbelievers. "Wherefore we make it our aim," either with the Lord, or in the body, to please Him, "for we must all be made manifest" (2 Cor. 5:8-98We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. (2 Corinthians 5:8‑9)).
In the other passage the word "we" limits it to believers. The Holy Spirit never commingles the saved and the unsaved. Then, lest it should seem incredible that a blood-cleansed saint could come into any judgment whatever, Paul quotes from Isaiah to prove that "every knee shall bow," and adds, "so then everyone of us shall give account of himself to God."
The following passage gives the basis of the judgment of works: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, 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 by fire" (1 Cor. 3:11-1511For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11‑15)).
The following passages fix the time of this judgment:
It is comforting, in view of that inevitable scrutiny of our poor works, to learn that in His patient love He is so leading us now that He can then find something in it all for which to praise us.
The Judgment of the Nations
Place: The Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:1-2, 12-141For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. (Joel 3:1‑2)
12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:12‑14))
Basis: The treatment of those whom Christ calls, "My brethren" (Matt. 25:40-4540And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. (Matthew 25:40‑45); Joel 3:3, 6-73And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. (Joel 3:3)
6The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 7Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: (Joel 3:6‑7))
These "brethren" are believed to be the Jewish remnant who have turned to Jesus as their Messiah during "the great tribulation" which follows the taking away of the Church, and is terminated by the glorious appearing of our Lord (Matt. 24:21-2221For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:21‑22); Rev. 7:1414And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14); 2 Th. 2:3-93Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (2 Thessalonians 2:3‑9)). The proof is too extensive to be put forth here. It is evident, however, that these "brethren" cannot be believers of this dispensation, for it would be impossible to find any Christians so ignorant that they do not know that acts of kindness to believers are really ministries to Jesus Himself.
Heavens and earth fled way
Three classes: sheep, goats,
After He has reigned 1000 years
The saints will be associated with Christ in this judgment, and hence cannot be the subject of it (1 Cor. 6:22Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (1 Corinthians 6:2); Dan. 7:2222Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. (Daniel 7:22); Jude 14-1514And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14‑15)). In truth, the judgment of the nations have but one thing in common: the Judge.
The Judgment of the Wicked Dead
Some may be troubled by the word "day" in Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the 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 17:31) and Rom. 2:1616In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Romans 2:16). In the following passages "day" means a lengthened period: 2 Peter 3:88But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8); 2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2); John 8:5656Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. (John 8:56). The "hour" of John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25) has now lasted more than nineteen hundred years. The scriptures also speak of a judgment of angels (1 Cor. 6:33Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3); Jude 66And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 6); 2 Peter 2:44For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; (2 Peter 2:4)).