Calvary Road Baptist Church
“THE SEVENTH OF CHRIST’S JUDGMENTS, THE JUDGMENT OF MILLENNIAL SAINTS”
John 5.22
This message is the seventh of the proposed eight messages dealing with the future judgments the Lord Jesus Christ referred to when He declared in John 5.22,
“For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.”
The purpose of authorizing the Son of God to sit in judgment upon all God’s intelligent creatures seems to follow immediately in John 5.23:
“That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.”
And is it not the case with so many who claim to believe in God and who insist that they honor God while disrespecting the Son of God? Local ministeriums will gather for their monthly meetings or will stand together on a dais at a public event, in their display of ecclesiastical goodwill and propriety as men and women of the cloth who have in common their belief in God as one of them delivers a nonsectarian prayer.
Yet, whether they are the imams of Islam or the rabbis of Judaism, the ministers of Unitarianism or the practitioners of Religious Science, they will make pious sounding and lofty statements about the goodness of humankind (while making no reference to the incongruity of the speaker from Planned Parenthood scheduled to address the audience) and the wonder of God (Mother Earth’s kindness toward them through the blessings of the environment) and the need for social justice,[1] but they will studiously avoid making mention of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who explicitly declared that God the Father wants every member of the human race to honor. They will not so much as mention the One God wants to be honored, ignoring the reality that by dishonoring the Son they dishonor the Father.
But, of course, neither those members of the clergy nor most others who comprise the human race will honor the Son, and thereby honor God. So many members of the human race congratulate themselves for being willing to consider the possibility that God even exists, so great is their self-admiration. They give little thought to honoring the Son. Alas, it has always been this way and will always be this way, in the main.
Therefore, perhaps to ensure that the Son of God will be honored, God has assigned to His beloved Son the sole responsibility of sitting in judgment of all intelligent beings, be they men or angels. I assure you that every individual who stands before the King in all His glory to be judged at that time will, most assuredly, honor Him Who reigns in majesty supreme.
There seem to be two orders of intelligent beings who will be judged by the Lord Jesus Christ; men and angels. Further, it seems that there will be in each order those of differing status and dispensation. Of those who are human beings, the Lord Jesus Christ will judge both saved and lost who have died and who have not yet died. Of those who are angels, it seems likely that though we know, fallen angels will be judged, the holy angels will also be subject to evaluation (though the Bible is admittedly silent about any judgment of holy angels).
These things understood, let me walk you through the judgments that we have considered thus far, proceeding in chronological sequence:
First, there is scheduled to take place the Judgment Seat of Christ. The next event on the prophetic calendar will be the Rapture of the Church Age believers in Jesus Christ, including all who have trusted Christ between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel, presently more than 2,000 years. It will be a pretribulational judgment. After the Rapture in which all believers, both those who have already died in Christ and those who are alive and remain until the coming of Christ in the air to fetch us to Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ will in heaven sit on a throne of judgment to evaluate those He has raised up in resurrection glory who are Christ’s at His coming.[2] This will be a judgment of the Christian’s works done in the flesh following conversion to Christ, and an appropriate rewarding of Christian obedience. Will those who have trusted Christ, who in turn stand before Him for judgment and rewards in heaven at that time, and who will comprise the bride of Christ, honor Him on that occasion? There can be no doubt that they will.
Second, there will come Christ’s judgment of Old Testament saints. Like those judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ, these from the Old Testament era will need to be raised up in resurrection glory, since they will have suffered physical death at least 2,000 years ago. However, they will not be resurrected for a judgment in heaven. They will be raised up to be judged on earth, after the final regathering of Israel to the land promised to Abraham, and following the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the complete destruction of the world order, making it a posttribulational judgment. This judgment, in my opinion, will take place before our glorious Lord establishing His millennial kingdom and sitting on the throne of His father, David. This judgment will take place somewhere here on earth during the 75 days that elapse from our Lord’s Second Coming and the establishment of the millennial kingdom.[3] Do you think the Old Testament saints, whose faith looked to God’s future Provision for their salvation, who dwelt in Abraham’s bosom after they died until Christ took them to heaven with Him at the time of His ascension, will honor Him? Oh, they will certainly honor Him.
Third to be conducted is Christ’s judgment of Tribulation martyrs. Those of this number will be comprised of individuals with saving faith in Christ who died after the Rapture and during that seven-year period known as Daniel’s 70th week that concludes with Christ’s visible and conquering return to earth.[4] Those judged then will have come to faith in Christ and subsequently starved to death or were beheaded for the cause of Christ.[5] It will be Christ’s third judgment of believers, His third judgment of those raised from the dead who previously died in faith, but His second judgment to be conducted here on earth following His return and before He establishes His millennial kingdom. I place it chronologically after Christ’s judgment of Old Testament believers raised from the dead, during that same 75-day span of time already referred to. Is there any question that these who died horrible deaths for Christ will at the time of His judgment of their works for Him greatly honor their present conquering King? Not that I can imagine.
The fourth of Christ’s judgments will be the first judgment in which none who stand before Him will have died. All will be Jewish people who survived the seven years of tribulation following the Rapture and ending with Christ’s physical return. This judgment will take place here on earth in that 75 day period mentioned, like two of the three previous judgments and after them. However, this will be the first of Christ’s future judgments in which some who stand before Him will not have come to faith in Christ. Some will have survived the previous seven years in unbelief only to find themselves standing before the One they have rejected while others among them are standing before the One they have trusted. Those Jewish unbelievers will, at that time, be summarily executed while the Jewish believers will become citizens of Christ’s millennial kingdom. Do you think those Jewish people who stand before Him, both saved and lost, will on that occasion exhibit honor toward Him? As much as a lost person can honor the Lord of glory, they will honor the Lord of glory.
The fifth judgment will be Christ’s judgment of the Gentile survivors of the tribulation period. Christ will judge all Gentile survivors of the seven years of tribulation just as He immediately before judged the Jewish survivors. Again, these will be those who have not experienced physical death. Also again, there will be in their midst both believers and unbelievers. As well again, those Christ judges who already are saved will be evaluated and will gain admission to His millennial kingdom. Those Christ judges who are not already saved will not be saved. It will be too late. When judgment comes, it is already too late. It is always already too late to be saved when judgment comes. Just like the unsaved Jewish survivors of the tribulation period, the unsaved Gentiles will then be summarily executed. As much as a lost person can, Christ will then by them be honored before they are executed. Those who are His will, of course, properly honor Him.
The sixth occasion when the Lord Jesus Christ will sit in judgment is for the judgment of fallen angels. That fallen angels will be judged is certain, as Second Peter 2.4 and Jude 6 discloses to us. As to where, it is likely to be outside the bounds of the physical universe since angels are incorporeal beings, spirits without material substance. As to when it is likely to be just before they are cast into the lake of fire. What about the judgment of the holy angels, that two-thirds of the heavenly host that did not follow Lucifer in his rebellion? Though God’s Word is silent about any judgment of holy angels, it does not seem inconsistent that our Lord Jesus Christ would judge them, because judgment has to do with accountability and all of God’s creatures are shown to be accountable for our actions. Will the angels honor Him? The angels will honor Him.
It seems that we have accounted for all intelligent creatures being judged by the Lord Jesus Christ, except those who are born after the King of kings establishes His millennial kingdom, and also the unsaved dead throughout human history. The first citizens in the millennial kingdom, both Jewish and Gentile believers, whose judgments we have already considered, will live in their natural bodies and will reproduce normally, giving birth to children in the millennium. Some of their children will come to faith in Christ, and some of their children will not come to faith in Christ. How can we be sure? Revelation 20.7-10:
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
How can we be sure that children will be born to believers in the millennium, with the curse no more, when Christ sits on the throne of His Father David and rules with a rod of iron, and when the angels and glorified saints of past ages can be seen entering and exiting New Jerusalem positioned above the earth?[6] Because despite these millennial realities many will stubbornly reject the claims of Christ. Such as these will not be the believers who first entered the millennial kingdom, but must be their unregenerate offspring born to them with the passing of time. Notice three strong and conclusive pieces of evidence that occur at the end of the millennium when Satan is loosed from his prison. I am persuaded God looses Satan to show proof positive the spiritual condition of many born during the thousand years of the millennium, still lost and unrepentant even when living in the best possible and most convincing of circumstances:
First, in verse 8, Satan succeeds in deceiving the nations (showing their lost condition), and he proceeds to
“gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.”
Thus, there will be an astonishing number of unsaved rebels against God and against Christ living in the millennium, born to godly Christian parents who were the first citizens of the millennium at the beginning of the thousand years. Unable to live in open rebellion against God and Christ, they will chaff under Christ’s millennial rule with a rod of iron until Satan’s release, at which time they will jump at the chance of overthrowing the rule of Christ, regardless of how irrational their rebellion obviously will be.
Next, verse 9, they wage war against believers in Christ in the millennium, where they are described as “compassed the camp of the saints about” to fight them. Thankfully, God intervenes to protect His people:
“fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”
Exodus 15.3 declares,
“The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.”
Thus, God killed those who sided with Satan against Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the people of God referred to as “the saints.” Is this a fulfillment of Psalm 97.3, the passage of Scripture read during this morning’s worship service? Perhaps:
“A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.”
Finally, verse 10 contains conclusive evidence of a large population of unsaved offspring of millennial believers by referring to them once again as being deceived by the devil. So, what happens with the devil? In Revelation 20.10 we are told
“the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.”
The passage that follows deals with Christ’s judgment of all the unsaved dead from throughout human history, which we will deal with next time, Lord willing.
The question remaining at the end of the millennium, with a large population of believers in Christ living natural lives and facing the onset of eternity after all the unsaved alive at that time, have been devoured by fire from heaven and the devil being cast into the lake of fire, has to do with the judgment of those believers who are still alive. I would suppose that the millennium saints will be transformed and given glorified bodies suitable for eternity. I would also suppose that they will be judged by the Lord Jesus Christ as every other believer before them will have by then have been judged.
What will be the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ’s final judgment of believers, the millennial saints? Remember, the unbelievers living in the millennium were devoured by fire from heaven for their revolt against the rule of Christ when they were deceived and sided with Satan. So, they are dead and gone. Thus, the judgment of the millennial saints will almost certainly be an evaluation and commensurate rewards for service and ministry the millennial saints engaged in on behalf of the King of kings. This is because every child of God who is saved through faith is God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, Ephesians 2.8-10. Therefore, it is very reasonable to presume that in some manner similar to the Judgment Seat of Christ their service to and for Christ will be evaluated and rewarded.
The purpose in judging the millennial saints before they enter the eternal state will be to fulfill John 5.23, to provide in His judgment of His millennial disciples a grand opportunity to honor Him, and by honoring Him to honor the Father. After all, if you do not honor the Son you do not honor the Father, and you cannot honor the Son while rejecting Him while refuting His claims, and while denying His right to your allegiance and trust.
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[1] Of course, the phrase “social justice” was coined by cultural Marxist practitioners of critical theory who have descended from the Frankfurt school and has little connection to the concept usually attached to it by those who naively support its advance.
[2] 1 Corinthians 15.23
[3] Daniel 12.2, 3, 11, 12
[4] Revelation 19.11-21
[5] Revelation 13.17; 20.4
[6] Luke 1.32; Isaiah 11.6; 65.25; Revelation 3.12; 21.2, 10
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church