The Judgment Seat of Christ or The Great White Throne Judgment (Part 2 of 2)

Hello Friends!

Welcome back to part two of “The Judgment Seat of Christ or The Great White Throne Judgment”

This week we’ll conclude our series pertaining to the judgments of God upon the unbeliever…

The Judgment Seat of Christ or The Great White Throne Judgment

The "lost" or unsaved person – unbeliever – who has rejected Jesus Christ will be judged at the "Great White Throne" for their personal rejection of Jesus Christ’s atonement for their “sins” on the cross of Calvary.

The Great White Throne Judgment

This Judgment is for the “lost” person as it relates to the degrees of "punishment" in which they will be “judged according to their works” and will suffer the “second death” in the “lake of fire” for all eternity future:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who 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, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire – Revelation 20:1-15

This will be a terrible time for these eternally “lost” souls.

If you have received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, your name is written in the “Book of Life” and the Bible promises that you will be cleansed from ALL “sins” – past, present and future! You will be with Him forever in Heaven! However, if you have rejected Jesus Christ, the Bible promises that you will be forever damned. It will be an eternity of conscience, physical suffering and torment, separated from the Lord – forever.

In Closing:

There is a difference between The Judgment Seat of Christ and The Great White Throne judgments of God and the Christian can be assured of his eternal destiny in Jesus Christ… And the “lost” will perish without Him in the “lake of fire” – This is the second death…

Closing prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to do works for Your glory and in Your power, in preparation for the coming Judgment and to study your word so we can walk in Your paths of preparation, purity and productivity.

Praise the Lord!

Thank you for reading! Don’t miss next week’s edition as we investigate The Great White Throne of God to better understand the Lord’s perspective concerning His future judgments on all of humanity… Believers and Unbelievers.

May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you with His perfect love, mercy and grace!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

 

Blessings!

Shane <><

Who Built It?

5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”  Exodus 19

These words really stand out to me and encourage me.  The whole of everything belongs to God.  The land, the animals, the plants, the people, and everything that we create within it.  Treading lightly in a political realm here, but the statement President Obama made a few years(?) ago regarding, "You didn't build that," completely applies.

I'm not saying whether he was right or wrong, but look at that same statement from a biblical perspective.  God created you.  You are his.  Is there anything that you can build that you can take full credit for?

Look at what else God says.  The Israelites will be his treasured possession, and be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  That applies to us as well!  We are his treasured possession among all the items on the earth that are his. Also, we are all priests in his name and act as a holy nation for him.

So the next time you're "building" something, think about whether you're really doing this for God, as a way to be a priest for him.  This could be something you're doing at work, at home, at church, at a volunteer organization, or anything at all!  

Thursday Devotional - Angel Quiz

In past years, I've done a couple quizzes at Christmas time to see if we really know the details surrounding Jesus' birth as well as we think we do. So, this year, I was led to put together a quiz to see what we know about the angels surrounding His birth.

1. How many people were visited by an angel leading up to Jesus' birth?

2. Who were each of the individuals?

3. How many of the angels are named?

4. What are their names?

5. How many times is it recorded that an angel appeared to Joseph before and after Jesus’ birth?

I'll post the answers next week. Or, for those who can't wait, you can figure them out now on your own by reading the Matthew passage below and Luke chapters 1 and 2!

Matthew 1:20-24 "But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" - which means, "God with us."

God came to live among us and in us! God incarnate, as Jesus, came to live among us. After Jesus death on the cross, to save us from our sins, we have God the Holy Spirit to live in us as believers. As we've been studying the last few Thursdays, God is always with us!

Alice

Godly Intention

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
 
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.  Acts 9:15-19

We all have a clear understanding of the saying ‘cause and effect.’  In science, it is about the laws of physics (Newton’s Law of motion), but in life, many refer to it as karma.  While there are fundamentally clear explanation on the physics side (a ball being hit by a bat in baseball, or one person pushing another who is standing still), I get amused when I hear similar explanations on an intangible level (ex. you get out of the world what you put in).  I have always believed that things happen for a reason that God always intends for.  The typical outcome for a teen dad such as me is often a long and difficult path. However, the birth of my daughter (cause) became the transformative moment that helped become the foundation for my faith (effect).  I realized then there truly was a God, and that He is always watching over me.

God always acts with long term intention, and our goal is to both understand and act on it.  Today’s verses focus on a disciple named Ananias.  While we are not sure of all of the circumstances surrounding Ananias’ life, we know that he was called on by God in this very important part of spreading the gospel.  He is directly instructed by God to confirm to Saul that indeed it was Jesus who spoke to him.  The ‘cause’ of this meeting set forth the ‘effect’ of Saul being baptized, changing his name to Paul, his spreading of the gospel to all nations, and writing a vast majority of the New Testament.  That’s not karma.  That is the power of Godly intention.

Listening to God’s intention changes others’ lives.  We may never know how our story may change the fortune of another, but if we listen to God like Ananias, we may be the start of a God inspired movement.  After all, very few people ever heard of Mordecai Ham, but one person converted over to Christ because of him.  That person was Billy Graham.  Coincidence? Karma?  I think not!  Do you understand God’s intention for your life?  Are you spiritually aware of God’s movement in your own actions?  My prayer is that we have clarity on Christ’s intentions in our daily activity.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Feeling helpless and useless

2 Peter 1:4-10 ”For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.” (NASB)

Hello,

This last week I had an interesting flight experience where the pilot attempted a landing in 100mph wind….we didn’t make it and landed somewhere else. During that time I could hear the warning bells in the cockpit and could feel the pilot fighting against the wind. As we were being tossed right and left, many thoughts were running through my head. But the biggest one – I was helpless and useless. I had no control, I had no expertise – I was at the mercy of whatever happened.

The more I reflected on that, the more I thought about how that is similar to many other situations I find myself in. While others I may control some bits and pieces, and have a little influence – much of what we walk through we do not have any control in – except how we respond. Want to be useful, and not helpless? Respond in your situations with the qualities given in 2 Peter. We are told that if we continue to grow these qualities “they render you neither useless nor unfruitful”.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill