Subject 12 : The Faith of the Apostles Creed
● Sermon on the Holy Son 6 : The Lord Will Return as The Lord of Judgment
(Revelation 20:11-15)
“Then
I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were
opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the
dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were
written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death
and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged,
each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written
in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
This
world will be judged by the Lord for its sins. In particular, we must
pay attention to the fact that the Lord Himself will be the Executor of
the Last Judgment. Like this, the Apostles’ Creed confesses, “(I believe
in) He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the
Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the
dead.”
In
all things, if there is a beginning, then there must be an end. As God
Himself, Jesus therefore is both the Creator and the Judge. Because the
Lord is the Savior of mankind, He is also the Judge. He is “the first
and the last.”
The
Bible tells us that there is the due season for everything under
heaven. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To everything there is a season, A
time for every purpose under heaven,” and Acts 17:31 says, “because He
has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by
the Man whom He has ordained.” Like this, God will most certainly judge
the sins of mankind. The standard of this judgment is measured by
whether or not one had believed in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, and everyone will be judged based on this criterion.
The Time of Judgment
The
Day of Judgment will come when God has completely spread the gospel of
the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world (Matthew 24:14).
This will be the final day of this world, the day of its end. This is
the day referred to by Revelation 20:11, which says, “Then I saw a great
white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.”
It
is also stated in 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a
thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great
noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and
the works that are in it will be burned up.” Moreover, not everyone can
escape the judgment of God, but it can be avoided only by believing in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord. The Scriptures
refer to this day as the “Day of Judgment” (Matthew 11:22, 12:36; Acts
17:31) and the “Day of God’s Wrath” (Romans 2:5; Revelation 16:1).
The Purpose of God’s Judgment of This World
Psalm
97:2 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His
throne.” Like this, the purpose of God’s judgment of this world is to
reward the righteous and to punish sinners.
Only
the omnipotent and omniscient Lord of righteousness will clearly
separate His sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:32), and His wheat from
the chaff (Matthew 3:12). Like this, when the last day comes, those who
believe will be unmistakably distinguished from those who do not.
The
first half of Revelation 20:11 says, “Then I saw a great white throne
and He who sat on it.” This tells us that no one can hide his/her sins
from Him. Like this, people must either receive the remission of all
their sins once and for all, by believing in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit given by the Lord, or otherwise they must be destroyed. Who
can ever pretend to be righteous before the Lord (Psalm 143:2)? Let us,
therefore, confess our sins and believe in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit. God has told us in Proverbs 28:13, “He who covers his sins
will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have
mercy.”
The Nature of Judgment
The
nature of God’s judgment of sinners can be understood when we first
comprehend the essence and attributes of the Lord, who is this very
Judge. This judgment is a judgment rendered within God’s mercy, and
therefore there is no other mercy. If God were to judge sinners without
first having blotted out their sins with the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, He would indeed appear to us as a terrifying God. But because
Jesus has blotted out all our sins of the world through His baptism and
the blood of the Cross, it has been determined by God that those who
believe would be saved and those who do not would be judged.
This
is why Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once,
but after this the judgment.” In Matthew 25:31-33, Jesus Himself said,
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will
be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on
His right hand, but the goats on the left.” He also said in verse 46,
“And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life.”
Because
we are finite mortals, even as we believe, in our lack of understanding
and impetuous disposition we wish that all the problems of this world
would be resolved. But Jesus will judge those who do not believe in the
remission of sin that He has given them.
Revelation
20:12 states, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before
God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the
Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the
things which were written in the books.”
There
are two kinds of books before God, and they are the Book of Life and
the books of deeds, that is, the Books of Judgment. These are the
benchmark of judgment. The books in the above passage refer to the books
in which all the deeds of mankind are recorded. The Law points out
sins, and it teaches us that whoever does not believe in the gospel of
the water and the Spirit given by the Lord will not be able to be saved
from all sins. That God would thus judge mankind with His books of deeds
and the Book of Life is the righteous judgment. Depending on whether we
believe in Jesus Christ as God, and whether we believe in the gospel
Word of the water and the Spirit that He has given us, our names are
written in the book of deeds or in the Book of Life. And based on this
record, we will be either rewarded or punished.
When
Thomas Edison, the king of invention, heard his own voice played back
from the phonograph that he had invented, he said, “Even man can hear
his own recorded voices. Would God, then, not have recorded all our
deeds without fail?” Although such world-renowned celebrities as Gary
Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, and Bruce Lee have passed away this
world long ago, their voices, expressions, and acts are still seen
through TV sets, just as lively now as in their past. When mere mortals
can achieve this with their limited knowledge and technology, wouldn’t
the Almighty God be able to accomplish this?
Like
this, the question of one’s faith—that is, whether one believes in the
baptism of Jesus and the blood of the Cross—is more important than even
the question of his/her life and death. Why? Because depending on
whether this person believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
or not, he/she will either receive the remission of sin from God, or
face the condemnation of sin from Him.
The
Law of God enables us to recognize our sins. And going before the
presence of Jesus Christ, His baptism and blood lead us to believe in
the remission of our sins. When measured by God’s Law, no mankind can
ever be said to be sinless. But once people believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, they can then no longer be said to be sinful.
This is so because the Law of God not only sees outward acts of sin, but
it pierces into the deepest recess of the human heart. The Law says,
for example, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.” Likewise, even if we had not
actually killed anyone, if we had hatred, jealousy, or envy that forms
our murderous motivation, the Law tells us that we have already killed
(Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28).
Moreover,
even if we had kept God’s Law well, when we break it even once, then we
are deemed to have broken all of it. This is why mankind must believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord.
God
has therefore given to mankind Jesus Christ, who has completed the
righteousness of God for all of us apart from the Law (Romans 3:21).
Whoever believes that this Christ, obeying the Law completely, was
baptized, shouldered the sins of the world, and died on the Cross can be
saved from all his/her sins, just by believing in this truth. This is
the covenant of salvation received by faith (Romans 5:19).
By
accusing our hearts with the sins of the world, the Devil tries to drag
us to hell. But by the advocacy of Christ, those of us who believe are
forgiven of our sins and therefore enter Heaven. This is why 1 John 2:1
states, “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous.”
In
this light, the eternal judgment between Heaven and hell is not decided
by our good or evil deeds, but it is decided by whether or not we
believe in the baptism and blood of Jesus Christ, and whether or not we
believe Him to be God. Like this, the most important truth is that
everyone should believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit while
he or she is alive.
Our
Lord Himself said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John
3:14-16).
Jesus,
who was baptized by John to take upon the sins of mankind and to
fulfill all righteousness, carried these sins of the world to the Cross.
Those in this world who believe in Jesus Christ are saved from all
their sins. Because Jesus was baptized to vicariously bear the sins of
mankind and died on the Cross, even a murderous robber like Barabbas was
also saved. Like this, mankind can avoid judgment only by returning to
Christ as soon as possible and believing in Him.
While
living, all human beings are standing at a crossroad, where they must
choose between the two ways to the opposite destinations—eternal
destruction and eternal life.
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