What Does the Bible Say About Judgment

Reading through all the texts it becomes somewhat difficult to define "the day of Judgment" if we group them all together.
There are many "days of Judgment in scripture.

1) historic "days of judgment".

THE FLOOD SHOWS GOD FIRST INVESTIGATING, THEN EXECUTING JUDGMENT

Gen. 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

SODOM AND GOMORRAH SHOWS GOD FIRST INVESTIGATED THEN EXECUTED JUDGMENT

Genesis 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
18:21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
18:32 And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
19:25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

THE FALL OF BABYLON GOD FIRST INVESTIGATES THEN EXECUTION JUDGMENT FOLLOWS.

Dan. 5:1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
5:5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
5:25 And this [is] the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
5:26 This [is] the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
5:27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
5:28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
5:30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
5:31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom

There are more examples of historic judgments, but those three suffice to show that category.

GOD INVESTIGATES BEFORE EXECUTING JUDGMENT

The clearest text is seen in Daniel 7
7:9 I beheld till the thrones were set down, and the Ancient of days took His seat, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
7:26 For the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his (the horns) dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Other texts in this group showing an investigation prior to execution of judgment:

Zechariah 1:12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.

Psalms 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knows the secrets of the heart.

Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

The next verse suggests an investigation was completed and deliverance (also an act of executing judgment) is done of all whose names were found written in the book of life.

Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

JUDGMENT IS NOT ALWAYS A FRIGHTENING THING, IT CAN BE A DESIRABLE THING

Psalms 7:8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
7:9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God tries the hearts and reins.

Psalm 26:1 [A Psalm of David]. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.
26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
26:3 For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.
26:11 redeem me, and be merciful unto me.

Psalms 35:23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
35:24 Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.

Psalms 51:1 Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.
54:2 Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
54:3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul:

Daniel 7:22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was made in favor of the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. (NKJV)

Rev. 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

THREE OTHER JUDGMENTS TAKE PLACE IN THE FUTURE.

1. The Executive Judgment at the second coming.

2. Another more "investigative" type judgment during the 1000 years.

3. The Great White Throne Judgment after the thousand years.

To try and determine which texts are speaking of which judgment, or even if scripture supports those three judgments, we first should determine WHO is present at each -- to see if they fit?

1. The second coming -- present are all who are living at that time (saved and unsaved) of that generation. Also a small resurrection apparently takes place of those who actively killed Jesus. Matt. 26:64 Jesus predicts the priests sentencing Him to death would see Him coming in the clouds of glory. And Rev. 1:7 predicts those that pierced Him will see Him coming.

2. An investigative type of judgment during the 1000 years. Only those people who are in heaven would be present.

3. At the Final White Throne Judgment of Revelation 21, EVERY person who ever lived will be present.

Now let's look at some of the passages that deal with some form of judgment.

MATTHEW 25

Matt. 25 The five wise and five foolish bridesmaids. "So while the five foolish bridesmaids went to buy oil, the bridegroom came. The bridesmaids who were ready went in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast. Then the door was closed and locked.

This passage is set in the wedding motif.
Revelation 19 also gives us the wedding motif --
19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.
19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Thus we can be quite sure this is either at or prior to the second coming.
The emphases is on "being ready".
The foolish bridesmaids are still trying to "get ready" at the last minute, but when they return the "door is shut".

To me this points to the close of probation when Christ leaves the heavenly sanctuary and prepares to receive His bride.

A similar theme is found in Luke



Again we have the master stand up and shut the door
Again this points to the close of probation when Christ leaves the heavenly sanctuary and the door of mercy is shut.

The most important aspect of any discussion on "judgment" is this point -- come to Christ NOW, while probation's door is still open.

The sad part in both these stories is that those left outside were not atheists or agnostics, they were people who professed to be followers of Christ.

Either at the second coming when
"he (Christ) shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other 24:31"

Or at the great White throne judgment of Rev. 21,
after the 1000 years. These people will see the redeemed in their glorified state.
There is the sad irony in these verses as Jesus speaks to the children of "Abrabam, Jacob and Isaac" that they will see their ancestors in the kingdom, but miss out themselves.

But that sad irony isn't just for them -- it is also a warning for us.

Nice work. Thank you. Jesus, like the Ten Commandments, is holy, just, and good. Naturally, therefore, a fair trial always precedes punishment.

There are some other interesting texts that I wonder where they fit in:



Here we have converts from lands that didn't really know much about scripture, who rise up in the judgment against those who rejected Christ in spite of their great light.

If this means they are literally present and active in the judgment, it would place the scene during the 1000 years.

It would be during the time when these verses in 1 Cor. take place:


When will the saints judge?

EGW comments on the verse writing: "At this time the righteous reign as kings and priests unto God. John in the Revelation 20:4 says, “I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.” “They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” It is at this time that, as foretold by Paul, “the saints shall judge the world.” In union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their acts with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every case according to the deeds done in the body. Satan also and evil angels are judged by Christ and His people.—SW, March 14, 1905

"... and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works." (Rev. 2:23)

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