.for the Believers and for the Wicked.

Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

So when does this judgment happen?

Now take into account that the Bible speaks of a Judgment for the Believers as they lay claim to be worthy to be redeemed by Christ at His Second Coming.

1 Peter 4:17 For the time [is come] that 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 of God ?

Now we see again that the Bible speaks about a Judgment Day......

Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

And we see where God sets up a courtroom for judgement that is described in both Daniel and Revelation..

Daniel 7:9-10
9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, 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.
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.

Revelation 20:11-15
11 And 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.
12 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.
13 And 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.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Notice that the book life and books are mentioned as being used, its the same judgement event. But this cannot be for the saints as they have already been judged as Christ clearly lays out..

Matthew 25:33
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

So the house of God, the saints, are judged before they "inherit the kingdom prepared for you". And we see it says that "judgment was given to the saints of the most High" in Daniel before "the saints possessed the kingdom."..
Daniel 7:22
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

And its clear that Christ is who will judge, both the house of God and those who have chosen condemnation by continuing in the bondage of sin.

Now its clear that both the saints and the wicked will be judged by Christ as some claim they get by without it. Lets take a look at scripture:

Matthew 12.36-37
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
John 5.22
For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son:
5.27 And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Romans 14.10-12
We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
2 Cor. 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad.
Acts 3.18-19
But those things, which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Acts 17:30-31
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent: Because he has appointed a day, (can also be translated, time) in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he has ordained; He has given assurance of this to all men, by raising him from the dead.
Romans 2:15-16
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments" for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

We also find many that claim it's only the wicked that are judged, but the Bible clearly indicts that all will appear before the judgment throne of God, some will receive the judgment of condemnation, others will be judged worthy by the blood of the Lamb.
2 Thessalonians. 1:5
5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

Now notice what Peter says:

1 Peter 4:17-18
17 For the time is come that 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 of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

So its clear the saints will be judged before they are given their reward when Christ comes at the Second Coming, so now the question is when do the wicked receive their judgement.

When Christ stands up, investigative judgment is complete. The book of life contains all the names of the saved.

Daniel 12:1
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth 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.

Then the declaration will go forth as found in Revelation.

Revelation 22:11-14
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

The Judgement begins in 1844 and ends sometime after the 1000 year millennium. It has three phases.

1. Right now the pre-Advent or Investigative judgement is in session.
It's main goal is to verify who will travel to heaven with Jesus at the second coming. Who has overcome by the blood of the Lamb and faith in Christ?


The next two judgements are about the great loss of those who turned away from God's grace and provisions to be saved. Things about sin and its destructive force will be understood. God's love and work in drawing people out of sin, and unto Himself will be revealed. The people's choice in the matter will also be understood.

2. The thousand year judgment, when the saved will see why the lost (many of whom they loved) are lost. (Rev. 20:4, 1 Cor. 6:2)

3. Then the final judgment after the 1000 years, (Rev. 20:11-15) when again "the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life". While there will be a great multitude of saved in the city with Jesus, there will also be a great multitude as the sand of the sea, of people who will not have their names in the book of life. The other books will contain the record of their rejection and life of sin. That's when the lost themselves see how much God wanted to save them, but they turned away. They are lost because they turned their backs on salvation. They didn't relish a righteous life, desiring the temporal, fleeting excitement of sin, which only led to misery and death.

It's only after everyone is fully convinced that God's judgement is perfectly fair and righteous, and honors everyone's free choice, that the final eradication of all sin and sinners is executed.

THE JUDGMENT OF HOPE!

There has been opposition against the Investigative judgment. The one judgment that is a judgment of hope. The judgment that identifies the saved from the lost.

Especially the thought that all who have professed to be Christ's people will be judged, (1 Peter 4:17) has met with fierce opposition throughout the years, yet it only makes sense that a judgment will take place to separate the true from false. While God knows who the true are, people and even angels do not always know and can be quite deceived.
Indeed, the last great deception before the second coming is people believing the wrong is truth, and truth is wrong. Belief in God's justice can only be fully reached by all when everything is revealed. People could not sing, "Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.", if they still doubted God was fair.

Key texts for the pre-Advent judgment

In Daniel 7:9-11 the heavenly court scene is described.
What is Jesus doing during this court scene?
Daniel 7:13-14 describes Jesus, the Son of man, being brought in a cloud (of angels) to stand before the Ancient of Days. This is NOT the second coming, He is not coming to earth in those verses, He is appearing before God the Father, Who, just two verses previous had taken His seat in that heavenly court room. Jesus is given the title as king of this earth, regaining for mankind the dominion which Adam had lost.

We know from Revelation 3:3-5 that Jesus presents the names of those who will inherit this kingdom with Him, He presents their names before the Father and His angels, and all the "overcomers" will have their names retained in the book of life.

Some will argue-- oh but Daniel 7, is just about the "horn" being judged. True, the horn will be judged. But wait, who or what is the horn in Daniel seven? Is it not professed Christians, the self proclaimed "mother church" of the Christian era?
And also Revelation 3:1-5, isn't this talking about Sardis, the Protestant Church? Indeed all who have and are professing to be God's people will be judged to see if they are genuine believers or not. They have taken the name (Christianity) but are they dead spiritually, or alive? Jesus says, "You have a name (Christianity) that you are alive, but you are dead"..."there are a few names... who have not defiled their garments, they shall walk with Me in white for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life' but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Rev. 3:2-5