Heb 6:1 Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do, if God permit.
The doctrine of eternal judgment is a foundational teaching of the Christian life. The early Church lived in a state of constant consciousness of the Day of Judgment – so much so that they referred to it as "that day." It is the only day on earth of any real importance. Paul prayed that one who had assisted him would find mercy of God on that day (2 Tim. 1:18). It was on "that day" that Paul expected to receive what had given to Christ and Christ was keeping for him (2 Tim. 1:12). The book of Hebrews encourages its readers to meet together and exhort each other continually, especially as the day approaches (Heb. 10:25). James reminded his readers that they should not grumble because the judge stood at the door (James 5:9). From all this we see the emphasis that the early church placed upon eternal judgment. Now let us look at what they taught concerning eternal judgment: what will be judged; when will it be judged and how will it be judged?
- What will be judged
All of our works done in our body will be judged and will be either rewarded or punished according to their merit (2 Cor. 5:10). We will be judged for every word we speak, even the idle chit-chat we engage in (Matt. 12:36-37). When those who fear the Lord speak together that is noted and written down by God (Mal. 3:16). Even our consciences will bear witness either for us or against us in what we have done, and then every secret of our hearts will be revealed (Rom. 2:15-16). Since both our attitudes and actions toward God and man will be judged, Paul strove to always have a conscience that was without offense towards either (Acts 24:26). As we see that absolutely everything will be judged, we should also remember that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Without forgiveness from God through the merits of Christ no one could stand in this judgment.
- When will it be judged
These things will all be judged on the day that God has appointed (Acts 17:31). This is the day of the Lord – a great and terrible day. It is the day for which we all must prepare. This life is the stage rehearsal for that day. It does not matter how much we may look like a failure now, nor how successful we appear now, what matters is how do we appear when the curtain opens on the final day and we are seen as we really are. The date of this day is not known to man. God has reserved it for Himself. In the same way we do not usually know the day of our approaching death, but we know that after that day will come the judgment.
- How will it be judged
When a person dies they are immediately taken to one of two intermediary states to await the final judgment. The first place is for the souls of those who have died in the Lord - that is in a saving relationship with Christ Jesus. This place is known as heaven. Heaven is not the final destination of the saints, because they still await the redemption of their bodies as well as their souls (Rom. 8:23). The final destination is the new heaven and the new earth which the saints will enter after the second coming of Christ, the millennium and the White throne judgment. For now however we know that for a saint to be absent in body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8).
The second state is the state of the lost, who go to an intermediary place called hell. Here they experience all sorts of mental and physical anguish (though not corporeal because their bodies are not yet present with them). Descriptions of this suffering are found in many places in the scripture some of the most vivid being Ezekiel 32:17-32 which shows how people are grouped in hell with those they were associated in life, and remain as they were in life to their eternal shame – the warriors still have their weapons with them, but it only shows their powerlessness; and Luke 16:19-31 which gives the story of Lazarus and the rich man and shows the difference in the state of the righteous and the wicked as it was before the time of Christ's resurrection when He led captivity captive and took the Old Testament saints from Abraham's bosom into heaven. On the final day, all the wicked dead will be reunited with their bodies and cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14-15). This is the final doom of all the wicked.
As we are closing this brief look at eternal judgment I would like to notice a few things. In the story told by Jesus, the rich man is not named, but Lazarus is. The righteous have an everlasting name and everlasting remembrance, but in the new heaven and new earth the former things will not be remembered (Isa. 65:17). In the same way the number of years of life are given for all of the godly line of Seth (Gen. 5), but not the number of years for the line of Cain (Gen. 4:17-24). The righteous may have had falls, and may have wasted some of their earthly years, but in the end even those wasted years were used by God to form some character in them which remains for all eternity. However Cain's descendants who were ungodly had wasted lives, we are not given the length of them, but ultimately the length does not matter because their lives were spent apart from God and ended apart from God. Let us have lives that count for eternity!
Before closing this series I would like to do one more post looking at the Phrase "if God permit."
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