Robert Jeffress - Jesus the Judge - Part 2
Hi, I’m Robert Jeffress. Welcome again to «Pathway to Victory». People often say that the wicked will meet their just rewards. So is there really going to be a day of reckoning? And if so, who will be the judge? Today we’re going to examine what the Bible says about the various judgments that will occur at the end-time, and we’ll also discover why Jesus Christ has been appointed as the ultimate judge of all humanity. My message is titled «Jesus the Judge» on today’s edition of «Pathway to Victory».
There’s one way to heaven, it is through faith in Jesus Christ. And so before the Millennium, it is important to separate righteous Jews, those who have trusted in Christ, and the unrighteous rebels that need to be judged, those who have opposed the Messiah, and that’s what happens during the judgment of Israel. «It is a time to separate the righteous from the unrighteous». I could point to many Scriptures. Isaiah was one. Another one is Ezekiel 20, verses 37 to 38. God’s talking to Israel. He said, «I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant». In other words, they’re outside the covenant if they’re Jews and not believers. Abrahamic covenant, that was for believing Jews, not for every Jew, for believing Jews.
Paul said, not all those who claim to be Israel are really Israel. The only way you can be a true Israelite is to believe in Christ and be a descendant of Abraham. But he’s saying here, «I will make you pass under the rod, and I will purge you from the rebels, those who transgress against Me, and I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel». Here’s a group of Jews who will not enter the land, and it’s those who have rebelled against the Gospel. «I will bring them out of the land where they sojourned; they will not enter Israel. Thus you will know that I am the Lord». Jeremiah 23:6. «In his days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely».
That’s believing Judah, believing Israel will dwell securely. «And this is His name by which He should be called 'The Lord of Righteousness.'» And that closely fits in with the fourth judgment. Not only will Israel, not only will the Jews who survived the tribulation be judged to separate the righteous from the unrighteous, the Gentiles will be judged at this time, as well. The judgment of the Gentiles in many ways similar to the judgment of Israel, and that is it occurs in the interim period before the Millennium and it’s a way of separating the righteous from the unrighteous. Only the righteous will enter into the Millennium. Jesus talked about this judgment of the Gentiles in Matthew 25:31 to 33, part of the Olivet Discourse.
«When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and he will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left». Now when we talk about the Judgment of the Nations, listen to this; it’s not what we think. I used to think, used to hear people say, «Well, God’s gonna judge the United States of America and he’s gonna judge Great Britain and Scandinavia, there’s gonna be a Judgment of Nations because after all, that’s what it says». And you press them, «Well, why are these nations»? «Well, they’re primarily non-Jewish. There are a few Jews, but mainly it’s non-Jews, and so we’re gonna be judged by nations».
No, that’s not what it’s saying. That’s impossible. First of all, there are no eternal judgments of nations. We are judged individually, by our relationship with God. Now, a nation can be under God’s judgment. We see that in the Old Testament, Babylon. Because they practiced child sacrifice, and Israelites, because they imitated that, they were judged by God, they had dire consequences. I believe the same thing is true in America. I believe as long as we allow the murder of millions of unborn babies in the womb, we’re going to experience God’s judgment. And even righteous people, those who believe the right thing about life, have to suffer the fallout of living in a nation that doesn’t believe that. But that’s not what this is talking about.
The best way to understand the nations, the word is «ethne» in Greek. It’s simply referring to individual Gentiles, non-Jews. God is going to judge Gentiles just like he judged the Israelites, and Joel 3:2 talks about that. What will be the basis upon which he judges the Gentiles? That this is so misunderstood. Look at Matthew 25:34 40. He has just said, «I’m gonna separate the sheep from the goats, believers from unbelievers».
Verse 34. «Then the King will say to those who are on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom which I prepared for you; For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or feed You or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick and in prison and come to visit You? ' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'»
Now, some people rip this passage out of context and say, «Well, that’s the mission of the church: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison. That’s what we’re supposed to do. That’s what Jesus said, and if you do that enough times, you get to go to heaven». Is that what Jesus is saying? No, remember the context. He’s talking about how Gentiles will be judged who live during the Tribulation, and Jesus is saying how they treat the brothers of Jesus. Who are the brothers of Jesus? Jews who are saved. He’s talking about the 144,000 witnesses. They’re the ones who are imprisoned and kept from eating because they won’t take the mark of the beast. He said, «To the extent that you show mercy to them and love for them, you’re showing love for Me».
How they treat the 144,000 witnesses is a proxy for their relationship to Jesus. That’s what he’s talking about here, the judgment of the Gentiles. There is a final judgment. And that is the great white throne judgment, and it is the judgment of all unbelievers from the beginning of time. I thought for a long time yesterday afternoon, how to explain this to you. But in the Bible there are two resurrections. The first resurrection, the Resurrection of all of the believers. Every believer is a part of the first resurrection. «As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each according to his order».
The first resurrection isn’t one event at a time in history, it’s a series of things that occurs. There’s a resurrection parade. Jesus is at the head. He was the first one raised from the dead. Following Jesus is the church. That’s you and I, when we are raised and given our new bodies at the Rapture of the church, and then the Old Testament saints will be raised, along with the Tribulation martyrs. They get their new body at the end of the Tribulation and then some in the Millennium. Yet, there’s at the end of the Millennium four different times, four different groups of people received a resurrection body, but they’re all part of the first resurrection. «Blessed is he who is part of the first resurrection, for over him the second death has no power».
But there is a second resurrection that it occurs one time, and it’s when all unbelievers who have ever lived are raised in judgment. Now listen to this. When believers die, they immediately go into the presence of Jesus to be absent from the bodies, to be at home with the Lord. Doesn’t matter whether you’re an Old Testament saint. You lived in Jesus time, you’re in the church age, whether you’re in the Tribulation, when a believer dies, he goes to be with Christ, but his body awaits a resurrection at the appointed time. When a non-Christian dies, since the day of Adam, he goes to another place called Hades. It is a temporary holding place for unbelievers. It is a place of terrible suffering. Jesus talked about it in the parable of the rich man in Lazarus in Luke 16, but that’s not their final destination. They are awaiting the one judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment, that will dispatch them to their ultimate destination.
So there are two resurrections. The first resurrection and then the second resurrection that John describes in Revelation 20, verses 12 to 13. Now you listen closely for the next eight minutes because what I’m about to tell you, will change your eternal destiny. Many of you, it determines your eternal destiny. So listen carefully. Revelation 20, verses 12-13, John says, «I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and the books», underline that, «the books were opened; and another book», underlying that singular book, «was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books», the books plural, «according to their», what? «their deeds, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds,» plural. What does it mean, «Death and Hades gave them up».
At the great white throne judgment, all unbelievers who have been waiting in Hades, perhaps for thousands of years, they will be raised in order to be judged. Now, what is the basis? How will non-Christians be judged? Notice, God keeps two sets of books. There is the book, singular, the Book of Life, that records the name of every person who’s ever trusted in Christ as their Savior. If you are a Christian today, your name is written in indelible ink in that Book of Life. There is the Book of Life, but there are also the books. There is a set of books that records your every thought, your every word, your every action. It records that for every human being who has ever lived.
Now, when an unbeliever stands before Jesus Christ at the great white throne judgment, he will be judged not by the book. His name isn’t in the book, he will be judged by what’s in the books. You see, the unbeliever has his name not written in the book of life out of his own choice. He has said, «I don’t need Jesus Christ to go to heaven. I don’t need God’s grace. I’m good enough. I’m not perfect, but I’m good enough to make it to heaven on my own. I don’t need God’s grace». God says, «Fine. If you want to be judged by your works, we’ll judge you by your works. Let’s open them up and see what they are». And every unbeliever will see a list of everything he’s ever done, said or thought. And he will come to an understanding. That the perfect standard of righteousness, Jesus Christ, means that he has fallen short of that perfect standard of righteousness.
And the Bible, says because of his own choice, he will be judged by his works. And the Bible says if any man’s name was not found written in the book of life, look at verse 14. «If anyone’s name», verse 15, «was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire». What is the lake of fire? It is the eternal destination of those who are unsaved. If a person’s name is not written in the Book of Life, he will be cast into the lake of fire. Remember, it’s that place where the beast and the false prophet were cast at the Second Coming of Christ. It’s a place where 1000 years later Satan was cast. It is a place of darkness, of solitude, of loneliness, of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, Matthew 13:42, but the worst thing about the lake of fire is this.
Jesus said in Matthew 25:46, it is an eternal destination. He was cast into the lake of fire and tormented day and night forever and ever. You know that word forever is «aionios» in Greek, and it’s a word that describes the eternality of heaven. If you’re a Christian, you’re gonna be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4, on and on and on and on, no end to it, but the same word that describes the eternality of heaven is a word that’s used to describe the eternality of hell. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s the terrible truth about hell. When a person has spent 10 billion trillion years in that horrible place, he will not have lessened by one second the time he has left to spend there.
«I don’t believe that, Pastor. I can’t believe in a Jesus Christ who would sentence somebody to an eternity of suffering. I can’t accept that». Then you don’t believe in the Jesus of the Bible. You believe in the Jesus of your own imagination. Because the Jesus of the Bible said, «Hell is a place of eternal damnation». Jesus spoke more often of hell than he did about heaven because it’s a reality, and it’s a reality from which every sane person would find a way of escape if they could. And Jesus Christ is not just one way, he is the only way of escape. What does that mean for us today? Revelation 22:12, Jesus said, «Behold, I, the judge, am coming quickly, and I bring My reward with Me to recompense every person for what he has done».
For some people, that’s a rejoicing thought. That’s something to anticipate. If you’re living for Christ and your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life, you can look forward to rewards. But again, whatever they are, Paul said they’re worth sacrificing for and worth living for. Jesus is coming to reward the righteous, but don’t forget he’s also coming to judge the unrighteous at the Great White Throne of Judgment. The best thing you can do to be ready is to trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior today, because the judge is coming.
One of the most popular judges in America today is Judge Frank Caprio, who served as the chief judge of the Municipal Court of Providence, Rhode Island until recently. His rulings are televised on the program «Caught in Providence». You may have seen it on television. He’s known as a judge who’s especially merciful and compassionate, trying to offer help to those convicted to start a new way of living. But he wasn’t always a compassionate judge. In fact, on his first day as a judge, first day on the bench, a woman was brought to him who had $300 in parking tickets, and he tried to offer her a repayment plan. She said she didn’t have any money to repay the fine, and he grew so angry at her that he ordered that her car be seized and sold at an auction.
After he finished that case, he was feeling pretty good about himself. His dad happened to be in the courtroom that day to watch his son and his first day as judge. Judge Caprio came up to his father. «Well, how do you think I did, Dad»? His father said, «Lousy, you didn’t do too good at all». Frank said, «What do you mean»? He said, «Frank, that woman was scared. She had no hope. You intimidated her. You can’t treat people that way». And from that point on, Judge Caprio decided to be a compassionate, a kind judge, but in a recent interview, he said, «Nevertheless, my primary role is to do justice».
You know, we have a compassionate Savior named Jesus Christ who loved you and me so much, he voluntarily came and gave his life for the forgiveness of our sins. He’s a compassionate savior, but he’s always a just judge, as well. And one day he’s coming to render justice to everyone who doesn’t know Christ as Savior. How can you be ready for the coming judge again? Do you know for sure your name is in the Book of Life? Do you know for sure you’ve trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior? Trust in Him today. Accept him today. Because ladies and gentlemen, the truth is you either accept him as your Savior today or you face him as your judge one day.