The reader who has traveled intelligently with us through the opening lines of 2 Cor. 5 will be in a position to understand something of the solemn and momentous subject to which we now approach, namely, the judgment-seat of Christ. If indeed it be true that the believer is God’s workmanship — if he is actually a member of Christ — associated with the Second Adam — bound up in the bundle of life with the risen and glorified Lord: if all this be true — and God’s word declares it is — then it must be perfectly evident that the judgment-seat of Christ cannot, by any possibility, touch the Christian’s position, or prove, in any wise, unfriendly to him. No doubt, it is a most solemn and serious matter, involving the most weighty consequences to every servant of Christ, and designed to exert a most salutary influence upon the heart and conscience of every man. But it will do all this just in proportion as it is viewed from the true standpoint, and no further. It is not to be supposed that anyone can reap the divinely appointed blessing from meditating on the judgment-seat, if he is looking forward to it as the place where the grand question of his eternal salvation is to be settled. And yet how many are thus regarding it! How many of God’s true people there are who, from not seeing the simple truth involved in these words, “He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God,” are anticipating the judgment-seat of Christ as something that may, after all, condemn them.
This is greatly to be deplored, both because it dishonors the Lord, and completely destroys the soul’s peace and liberty. For how, let us ask, is it possible for anyone to enjoy peace so long as there is a single question to be settled? We conceive it is wholly impossible. The peace of the true believer rests on the fact that every possible question has been divinely and eternally settled; and, as a consequence, no question can ever arise, either before the judgment-seat of Christ, or at any other time. Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith in reference to this great question: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [or, judgment]; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).
It is important that the reader should understand that the word used by our Lord in the above passage is not “condemnation” but “judgment.” He assures the believer that he shall never come into judgment; and tins, too, be it observed, in immediate connection with the statement that “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” (Ver. 22.) And, again, “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.” Ver. 26, 27.
Thus, then, the One to whom all judgment is committed — who alone has authority to execute judgment, by the Father’s just decree — this blessed One assures us that if we hearken to His word, and believe on Him that sent Him, we shall never come into judgment at all.
This is clear and conclusive. It must tranquillize the heart completely. It must roll away every cloud and mist, and conduct the soul into a region where no question can ever arise to disturb its deep and eternal repose. If the One who has all judgment in His hand, and all authority to execute it — if He assures me that I shall never come into judgment, I am perfectly satisfied. I believe His Word, and rest in the happy assurance that whatever the judgment-seat of Christ may prove to others, it cannot prove unfriendly to me. I know that the word of the Lord endureth forever, and that word tells me I shall never come into judgment.
But it may be that the reader finds it difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile this entire exemption from judgment with the solemn fact stated by our Lord that “For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” But there is really no difficulty in the matter. If a man has to meet judgment at all, he must give account for every idle word. How awfully solemn the thought! There is no escaping it. Were it possible for a single idle word to be let pass, it would be a dishonor to the judgment-seat. It would be a sign of weakness and incompetency which is utterly impossible. It were blasphemy against the Son of God to suppose that a single stain could escape His scrutinizing gaze. If the reader comes into judgment, that judgment must be perfect, and, hence, his condemnation must be inevitable.
We would press tins serious matter upon the attention of the unconverted reader. It imperatively demands his immediate and earnest consideration. There is a day rapidly approaching when every idle word, and every foolish thought, and every sinful act, will be brought to light, and he will have to answer for it. Christ, as a Judge, has eyes like unto a flame of fire, and feet like unto fine brass — eyes to detect, and feet to crush the evil. There will be no escape. There will be no mercy then: all will be stern and unmitigated judgment. “I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and the grave were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Rev. 20:11-1511And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11‑15).
Mark here the difference between “the books” and “the book of life.” The entire scene sets forth the judgment of the wicked dead — of those who have died in their sins, from first to last. “The book of life” is opened; but there is no judgment for those whose names are written therein by the hand of electing and redeeming love. “The books” are opened — those awful records written in characters deep, broad, and black — those terrible catalogs of the sins of every man, woman, and child, from the beginning to the end of time. There will be no escaping in the crowd. Each one will stand in his own most intense individuality in that appalling moment. The eye of each will be turned in upon himself, and back upon his past history. All will be seen in the light of the great white throne, from which there is no escape.
The skeptic may reason against all this. He may say, “How can these things be? How could all the dead stand before God? How could the countless millions, who have passed away since the foundation of the world, find sufficient space before the judgment-seat?” The answer is very simple to the true believer, whatever it may be to the skeptic; God who made them, will make a place for them to stand for judgment, and a place to he in everlasting torment. Tremendous thought! “God 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 17:3131Because 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 be it remembered that “every man will be judged according to his works.” The solemn session of the judgment referred to in Rev. 20 will not be an indiscriminate act. Let none suppose this. There are “books”— rolls — records. “Every man” will be judged. How? “According to his works.” Nothing can be more precise and specific. Each one has committed his own sins, and for them he will be judged and punished everlastingly. We are aware that many cherish the notion that people will only be judged for rejecting the gospel. It is a fatal mistake. Scripture teaches the direct contrary. It declares that people will be judged according to their works. What are we to learn from the “many stripes” and the “few stripes” of Luke 12? What is the force of the words “more tolerable” in Matt. 11? Are we not plainly taught by these words that there will be a difference in the degrees of judgment and punishment? And does not the apostle most distinctly teach us in Eph. 4 and Col. 3 that the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience (or, unbelief) “because of” certain sins against which he solemnly warns the saints.
No doubt, the rejection of the gospel leaves people on the ground of judgment, just as the true belief of the gospel takes people off that ground. But the judgment will be, in every case, according to a man’s works. Are we to suppose that the poor ignorant savage, who has lived and died amid the gloomy shades of heathen darkness, will be found in the same “book,” or punished with the same severity as a man who has lived and died in the total rejection of the full blaze of gospel light and privilege? Not for a moment, so long as the words “more tolerable” stand on the page of inspiration. The savage will be judged according to his works, and the baptized sinner will be judged according to his works; but, assuredly, it will be more tolerable for the former than the latter. God knows how to deal with people. He can discriminate, and He declares that He will give to each according to his works.
Reader, think of this, we beseech you. Think deeply, think seriously. If thou art unconverted, think of it for thyself, for, assuredly, it concerns thee. And if thou art converted, think of it for others, as the apostle says, “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” It is impossible for anyone to reflect upon the great and awful fact of judgment to come, and not be stirred up to warn his fellows. We believe it is of the very last possible importance that the conscience of men should he acted upon by the solemn truth of the judgment-seat of Christ — that they should be made to feel the seriousness of having to do with God as a Judge.
Should the reader, whoever he be, have been led to feel this — if he has been roused by this weighty matter — if he is, even now, asking the question, “What must I do?” the answer is blessedly simple. The gospel declares that the One who will, ere long, act as a judge, is now revealed as a Justifier — even a Justifier of the ungodly sinner that believeth in Jesus. This changes the aspect of things entirely. It is not that the thought of the judgment-seat loses a single jot or tittle of its gravity and solemnity. Quite the contrary. It stands in all its weight and magnitude. But the believer looks at it from a totally different point of view. In place of looking at the judgment-seat of Christ as a guilty member of the first Adam, he looks at it as a justified and accepted member of the Second. In place of looking forward to it as the place where the question of his eternal salvation or perdition is to be decided, he looks to it as one who knows that he is God’s workmanship, and that he can never come into judgment, inasmuch as he has been taken clean off the ground of guilt, death, and judgment, and placed, through the death and resurrection of Christ, on a new ground altogether, even the ground of life, righteousness, and cloudless favor.
It is most needful to be clear as to this grand fundamental truth. Very many even of the people of God are clouded in reference to it, and hence it is that they are afraid when they think of the judgment-seat. They do not know God as a Justifier. Their faith has not grasped Him as the One who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. They are looking to Christ to keep God out as a Judge, very much in the same way as the Israelites looked to the blood to keep out the destroyer. (See Exod. 14) It is true and real enough, so far as it goes; but it falls very far short of the truth revealed in the New Testament. There is a vast difference between keeping God out as a destroyer and a Judge, and bringing Him in as a Savior and a Justifier. An Israelite would have dreaded, above all things, God’s coming in to him. Why? Because God was passing through the land as a destroyer. The Christian, on the contrary, delights to be in the presence of God. Why? Because He has revealed Himself as a Justifier. How? By raising up Jesus our Lord from the dead.
There are three forms of expression used by the inspired apostle in Rom. 3 and iv. winch should be carefully pondered. In chapter iii. 26 he speaks of “ Believing in Jesus.” In chapter 4:5, he speaks of “Believing in him that justifieth the ungodly.” And, verse 24, he speaks of “ Believing in him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
Now, there is no distinction in scripture without a difference; and, when we see a distinction, it is our business to inquire as to the difference. What, then, is the difference between believing in Jesus, and believing in Him that raised up Jesus? We believe it to be tins. We may often find souls who are really looking to Jesus and believing in Him, and yet they have, deep down in their hearts, a sort of dread of meeting God. It is not that they doubt their salvation, or that they are not really saved. By no means. They are saved, inasmuch as they are looking to Christ, by faith, and all who so look are saved in Him with an everlasting salvation. All this is most blessedly true; but still there is tins latent fear or dread of God, and a shrinking from death. They know that Jesus is friendly to them, inasmuch as He died for them; but they do not see clearly the friendship of God as expressed in the act of His raising up Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Hence it is that we find so many of God’s people in uncertainty and spiritual distress. Their faith has not yet laid hold of God as the One who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. They are not quite sure of how it may go with them. At times they are happy, because the new nature, of which they are assuredly the partakers, gets occupied with Christ; but at times they are miserable, because they begin to look at themselves, and they do not see God as their Justifier, and as the One who has condemned sin in the flesh. They are thinking of God as a Judge with whom some question still remains to be settled. They feel as if God’s eye were resting on their indwelling sin, and as if they had, in some way or another, to dispose of that question with God.
Thus it is, we feel persuaded, with hundreds of the true saints of God. They do not see God as the Condemner of sin and the Justifier of the believing sinner. They are looking to Christ on the cross, to screen them from God as a Judge, instead of looking at God as a Justifier, in raising up Christ from the dead. Jesus was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification. Our sins are forgiven; our indwelling sin, or evil nature, is condemned and set aside. It has no existence before God. It is in us, but He does not see us in it. He sees us only in a risen Christ; and we are called to reckon ourselves dead, and, by the power of God’s Spirit, to mortify our members, to deny and subdue the evil nature which still dwells in us, and will dwell until we are passed out of our present condition, and find our place forever with the Lord.
This makes all so blessedly clear. We saw in our last paper, that “They that are in the flesh cannot please God;” but the believer is not in the flesh, though the flesh be in him. He is in the body, and on the earth, as to the fact of his existence; but he is neither in the flesh nor of the world as to the ground or principle of his standing. “ Ye,” says the Holy Ghost, “ are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” (Rom. 8) “ They,” says our blessed Lord, “ are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17.
What a sweet relief to a heart bowed down under a sense of indwelling sin, and not knowing what to do with it! What solid peace and comfort flow into the soul when I see God condemning my sin in the cross, and justifying me in a risen Christ! Where are my sins? Blotted out. Where is my sin? Condemned and set aside. Where am I? Justified and accepted in a risen Christ. I am brought to God without a single cloud or misgiving. I am not afraid of my Justifier. I confide in Him, love Him, and adore Him. I joy in God and rejoice in hope of His glory.
Thus, then, we have, in some measure, cleared the way for the believer to approach the subject of the Judgment-seat of Christ; but we shall not enter upon it now. The Lord may permit us to go into it in our next. We shall close this paper with those memorable words of our chapter, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith not by sight:) we are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.”
“The Lord of Life in death hath lain,
To clear me from all charge of sin;
And, Lord, from guilt of crimson stain
Thy precious blood hath made me clean.
And, now a righteousness divine
Is all my glory, all my trust;
Nor will I fear, since that is mine,
While thou dost five, and God is just.”