Judgment seat of God

“ Then at that great future day all the dead, both small and great, shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ; "for God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained;" ”

“ The judgment will be general. All men, though they have been already judged privately, will stand before God’s judgment-seat, and be judged together and openly.
The Divine Judge will equally make known the good works of the just and the evil deeds of the wicked, so that the former may publicly receive their merited praise and reward, and the latter may be put to open shame; and men and angels may know and confess the justice of the Divine Judge.
The law by which men will be judged is that first commandment of Christ, the law of love which contains in itself all the other commandments. ”

“ But when we shall be summoned to the awful judgment-seat to give an account on the testimony of conscience of all things we have done in the body, the God-Man may consider the price of the holy blood that He has shed, and that the Incarnate Deity may note the frame of our carnal nature, that our weakness may pass unpunished where infinite loving-kindness is to be found, and that the soul of the wretched sinner may breathe again where the peculiar office of the Judge is to show mercy. ”

“ Why are they so frantically opposed to the idea that all, both just and unjust, must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to give account of themselves, previously to being quickened with a life that shall never end? ”

“ In brief, trust not in any who exalt you, but in those who humiliate you. For this is the judgment of God: "He hath cast down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble." ”

“ But though this may be the case in temporals, yet it is not so in spirituals; all judgment is committed to Christ, because he is the Son of Man; he is the judge in the court of mercy, and I will hear what the Lord will say. Moses has condemned me, conscience has said Amen to the sentence, justice demands satisfaction, the law is broken, guilt is great, Satan is busy, hell appears open, heaven shut, and the soul trembles, and with all the heart exclaims, God be merciful to me, to me a sinner! And amidst all, will you believe it, faith is waiting for the sentence from the judge ”

“ In the fifteenth, we have the separation of the saints appropriated in the heavenlies; and then, in the sixteenth, the judgment on the earth, reaching primarily those who had received the mark: all this in relation to God,—subjection and fidelity to Him—not the Lamb. The Son of man judging as the Judge from God, so to speak, not wielding His power as King of kings and Lord of lords. ”

“ We reply, men and fallen angels.
"We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." If the government of Jesus Christ over men is to be revealed on that day, it is clear that all men, without exception, must be judged. ”

“ He looks still from the judgment-seat, where He does not stand as a criminal, but sits as the supreme and omniscient Arbiter of our fates, and Judge of our actions. And He beholds us, each of us, moment by moment, as we go about our work, and often, by our cowardice, by our faithlessness, by our inconsistencies, 'deny the Lord that bought' us. ”

“ Such an effect could hardly follow the mere proclamation of judgment on the world. When we look at that judgment in the light in which it ought to be regarded, and in which we have hitherto regarded it—as the vindication of righteousness and of a Divine and righteous order—the thought of it can impart nothing but joy. But to think that the Church of the living God, the bride of Christ, shall be visited with judgment, and to be compelled to acknowledge that the judgment is deserved; to think that those to whom so much has been given should have given so little in return ”

“ Our final hope for that true salvation, which is the sharing of the life of God and the involved likeness of character with God, is in God's own long-suffering, redeeming activity. Only as that may be remembered, in connection with our surrender to it, may we hope to stand approved before the judgment of God. We are not judged alone before the judgment of God. In a very real sense the judge himself stands with us. ”

“ Was Christ judged, bruised and forsaken on the cross—did God visit His only begotten and well beloved Son with the full weight of His righteous wrath against sin—and shall impenitent sinners escape? We solemnly press this question on all whom it may concern. Men talk of its being inconsistent with the idea of divine goodness, tenderness and compassion that God should send any of His creatures to hell. We reply, Who is to be the judge? Is man competent to decide as to what is morally fitting for God to do? And further, we ask, What is to be the standard of judgment? ”

“ When we are doing the work of the Lord with all our might, and the evil within us is subdued by the power of God, and the light of Christ so shines within us that we can see clearly the things of God and men truly as they are, and all is judged by a righteous judgment, then we may look at and talk about the faults of each other without in the least disturbing our peace. When we do this, working faithfully for the building up of God's kingdom, we are ready to acknowledge all things we possess to be the Lord's, holding them for him in time, not knowing what he will do with them in the future. ”

“ The virgins that go out to meet the Bridegroom, the servants with their talents, the Judge dividing all brought before Him as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats, are warnings of the certainty and severity of judgment, and of the doom reserved for the ungodly.
"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." [162] As God, He has all things naked and open before Him. As man, He became subject to human conditions, and was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ”

“ It is the time of the judgment hour, when God was to lift up the standard of truths long trodden underfoot. In the heavenly sanctuary Christ's closing judgment work is going forward, preparatory to His coming in consuming glory to end the reign of sin. On earth the Lord is sending the last gospel message to men, warning against sin and error, and calling all men to worship God, and to keep "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." ”

“ Yes, we are all going to judgment, the trial of eternity before the all-seeing Judge. We are all formed in a great procession. No matter whether we are good or bad, in a state of grace or of mortal sin, no matter whether our case is a good one or a bad one, no matter if our cause be just or unjust, we are all going to judgment—all going to the great trial, in which every living soul, each man and woman and child, shall be the prisoners at the bar, and God, the judge of all, shall sit upon the great white Throne. When will that trial-day come? No one knows, not even the angels, our Lord says. ”

“ If there seem to us to be some irregularity in the present decisions of Providence, yet these, instead of shaking our belief of God's justice, may serve to strengthen our belief of the judgment to come, which will set all to-rights. ”

“ God shall bring every work into judgment. Note, 1. There is a judgment to come, in which every man's eternal state will be finally determined. 2. God himself will be the Judge, God-man will, not only because he has a right to judge, but because he is perfectly fit for it, infinitely wise and just. 3. Every work will then be brought into judgment, will be enquired into and called over again. It will be a day to bring to remembrance every thing done in the body. ”

“ It is appointed to men that after death they shall come to judgment, to a particular judgment immediately after death; for the soul returns to God as to its judge, to be determined to its eternal state; and men shall be brought to the general judgment, at the end of the world. ”

“ It is a judgment that makes him sin again, p. 30and a judgment that enables him to resist again. In the one case, it is the angry withdrawal of grace, and the giving up to a reprobate mind, and the delivery to Satan; in the other it is the approving increase of grace, and the sending of angels to keep off the fiends. Where is the God of Judgment! Where, brethren, is He not, and when not acting? This world is the throne of judgment. Every moment is the trial time. Every act, every word, every thought, brings down upon it, on the instant, the sentence and the execution of the sentence! ”

“ Who are responsible to judgment? Answer: All who know the truth, whether they submit to it or refuse.
Proof:
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:16) .
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Cor. 2:15-16) .
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. ”

“ The whole passage, read by a soul awake to itself, and to the holiness of the Judge of men, will contribute from its every sentence something to our conviction, our repentance, our dread of self, our persuasion that somehow from the judgment we must fly to the Judge. ”

“ And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy of the smaller judgments? 3 Have you not known that we will judge messengers? Why not then the things of life? 4 Of the things of life, indeed, then, if you may have judgment, those despised in the Assembly—these you cause to sit; 5 I speak to your shame: so there is not among you one wise man, not even one, who will be able to discern in the midst of his brothers! ”

“ Men will find, when truth shines in their spirit, that they have not to await a great day of judgment in the end, when the good results of sin shall be reversed and reward allotted to those who have done righteously, but that judgment is a constant and universal element in God’s government and to be found everywhere throughout it, distinguishing between sin and righteousness in every present instance, and never for one moment allowing to sin the value or the results which only righteousness has. ”

“ In strict consistency with this teaching, our Lord here declares the office of a Judge to be implied in the relation of the divine Son to men. In doing so, He clears away confusions that have darkened the conscience and disturbed the practice of all men. We think of the judgment of God. ”

“ Upon the judges' seat they shall not sit, and the ordinance of judgment they shall not understand, neither shall they declare discipline and judgment, and they shall not be found where parables are spoken:
38:39. But they shall strengthen the state of the world, and their prayer shall be in the work of their craft, applying their soul, and searching in the law of the most High. ”

“ This judgment must be executed, to convince the unthinking, unbelieving, world, that verily there is a God that judges in the earth, a God that governs the world, that not only has a kingdom of his own in it, and administers the affairs of that kingdom, but rules also in the kingdom of men, in the dominion that one man has over another, and gives that to whomsoever he will ”

“ I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it ”

“ And if you say that the Holy One, blessed be He, judges man without justice, we have learned that when Judgment prevails on man and he is righteous, it is because of the love of the Holy One, blessed be He. ”

“ Fifthly, The final issue: all the angelic hosts and all the redeemed of the Lord, join in applauding acclamation at the decision of the Supreme Judge. The heavens (for the earth is no more, it is burnt up) shall declare his righteousness, the exact justice of the whole procedure, where justice alone has been done without partiality, and without severity, nor could it be otherwise, for God is Judge himself. Thus the assembly is dissolved; the righteous are received into everlasting glory, and the wicked turned into hell, with all those who forget God. ”

“ So in the great day of final atonement and investigative judgment, the only cases considered are those of the professed people of God. The judgment of the wicked is a distinct and separate work, and takes place at a later period. “Judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel?”838
The books of record in heaven, in which the names and the deeds of men are registered, are to determine the decisions of the judgment. Says the prophet Daniel, “The judgment was set, and the books were opened.” ”

“ But when we pass beyond the simple reception of this doctrine in a general form, and inquire when and how this judgment will take place, we instantly find ourselves surrounded by opposite and conflicting opinions. The most popular and general impression appears to be that the last judgment will take place on this earth, and that it will be accomplished by the Son of God, who will personally descend from heaven for that purpose. ”

“ And thus our church and nation may feel their national judgments in this world quite independently of the several personal judgments which will be passed upon us each hereafter individually, when we stand before Christ's judgment seat. ”