The Judgment Seat of Christ
"Every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
Romans 14:12
It may be well to make a few remarks with reference to the judgment seat of Christ, as we have found many souls confused and troubled on this subject.
First: The person of the believer can never come into judgment; he has passed from death unto life (John 5:24). He is justified from all things. Christ was delivered for his offenses and where are they? All gone and gone forever. Praise His name! He was raised again for his justification and what then? Being raised up together with Him, he is associated with a risen Christ, in this eternal life, and in His acceptance before God. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).
The believer himself, then, can never be brought into judgment. Besides this, when be is brought before the tribunal of Christ, he will be in his body of glory. He will then be like the blessed Lord Himself. "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Phil. 3:21). How very far this glorious truth removes all thought of judgment as to the person of the believer, I need not say. He is glorified before he is called to the judgment seat and knows well that he is a coheir with Christ in the same glory with Him.
Second: The sins and iniquities of the Christian can never be brought into judgment. Christ has already borne their judgment on the cross, and put them all away by the sacrifice of Himself.
There “will be no second judgment of the believer's sins. A full end has been made of all sins confessed by us and borne by Jesus (Heb. 9:28; 1 John 1:9). “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body I on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). So complete and so perfect was the work of Christ on the cross, as the substitute for His people, that not the least question as to sin was left unsettled. Every question was forever closed when He exclaimed, "It is finished.”
On the ground of this gloriously finished work, divine love meets the chief of sinners in all the riches of the grace of God. So great is this love toward the sinner, who pleads the name of Jesus before God and trusts only to His precious blood, that not only are his sins and iniquities all forgiven, but they are not to be remembered. "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 10:17). "For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (vs. 14). Such is the power, the potency of love over all our sins, that they are gone from the recollection of Him who loves us and they can never come into judgment.
Third: Although neither the person nor the sins and iniquities of the believer are the subjects of God's judgment at that day, his works must all be brought before the tribunal of Christ.
Hence the faithful word of warning by the Apostle, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stead fast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cot 15:58). He had been dwelling at great length on the resurrection of the body; now he touches on what may be called resurrection of works. "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (1 Con 3:13). But this trial of the quality of our works should not be thought of with fear and dread, but as one of our greatest privileges, because then shall be fulfilled that precious word, "Then shall I know even as also 1 am known" (1 Cor. 13:12).
A. Miller
Let us delight in dependence—that a Person above us
should minister to us and care for us.
Questions and Answers
QUESTION: Will the Lord be able to say to any of His own: "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt. 25:23; see also vs. 21)?
ANSWER: The Lord say to His disciples amid all their failures: "Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations" (Luke 22:28), when they could not impute faithfulness to themselves. He, knowing their hearts' earnest desire to please Him, though hindered by weakness and all that belongs to the flesh, could say it of them. We are His servants and His friends also. It is our portion to serve in the devotedness of friends. And in glory "His servants shall serve Him" (Rev. 22:3). There will be no mixture of self in it then.
Notice how Matthew 25:23 reads: "His lord said unto him; Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." It does not say that anyone was faithful in everything. What encouragement this is to seek to please Him in all that we can. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God" (1 Cor. 4:5).