Christians have knowledge about the judgment that will take place at the second coming of Jesus. Judgment is not a fictional incident rather it is real because we can see many scriptures in the Bible clearly demonstrate it. The Lord is holy so he demands his people to be holy.
He cannot tolerate unholily. In this present age, everyone can enjoy this world but after death, all have to stand before the judgment of the Lord. Before the fall of mankind, the Lord used to walk with them in the garden of Eden but due to the sin, mankind became unholy which is contradictory to his character.
He separated himself from his wonderful creation whom he created by his own image. The Lord will judge definitely as he requires holiness in his children. God will judge everyone according to his truth(Romans 2:2).
Past Judgement
In the past, the Lord had judged by his righteous judgement at various times. It is evident that God has judged in this present age for various purposes. The Lord did not spare the angels when they sinned against him. They were cast down into hell as they are reserved for the judgment (2 Peter 2:4).
The book of Jude 6 also confirms that the fallen angels who did not keep their position are reserved in everlasting chains for the judgment. Angels have created beings and they are superior to human beings. But the Lord is holy and he cannot endure sin. Lucifer was one of the most beautiful and brilliant angels among the rest but when he sinned against the Lord it brought a huge change in the kingdom of God.
The Lord also judged the people with the flood in the days of Noah. During that time all the people on the earth had gone from the Lord and when the Lord looked at them he found the wickedness of man was great and every intention of their hearts was only evil.
This made the Lord upset and he felt sorry for seeing immorality in his people. So, he decided to destroy the entire mankind from the face of the earth whom he created. But Noah’s righteousness made him change his decision. Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. Only Noah walked with the Lord while the rest of the people on the earth lived an unrighteous life.
The Lord asked Noah to prepare an ark so that his family can be saved from the wrath. The Lord brought a devastating flood that destroyed the earth and only Noah’s family was rescued by the ark(Genesis 6-7).
After the flood, the descendants of Noah had one language and they decided to live together in one place. But the Lord’s intention was different. He wanted them to be scattered throughout the earth so that the entire earth can be filled with them. But the people collected all the materials to build a city where they could live unitedly.
When the Lord viewed the city that the descendants of Noah had made, he confused them by giving different languages. When they spoke with unknown languages, the division took place among them and they were separated from each other. Thus the Lord divided his people by giving many languages. The city name was called Babel as the Lord divided them and scattered them over the face of the entire earth (Genesis 11:1-9).
The Lord judged the northern kingdom of Israel by sending her into captivity in Assyria as they were evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 17:1-6).
The Lord also judged the southern kingdom of Judah through the captivity of Babylon when the children of Israel had departed from his presence and started worshipping the idols ( 2 Kings 25:1-12).
In the book of Acts, we can see that the Lord also judged Ananias and Sapphira while they lied to the holy spirit. They sold their possession and kept back some money from that and his wife also was aware of that fact. Peter asked him the reason for keeping some amount behind. Peter told him that he did not lie to men but he lied to almighty God.
After hearing this Ananias fell down on the ground and breathed his last. This brought great fear among the believers (Acts 5:1-11).
Paul said that judgment came upon this earth at various times as the people of the Lord who lived an unrighteous life and as a result of that, the wrath of God came upon them (Romans 1:18).
Though we can see much judgement from the Lord throughout the scriptures, we should keep in mind that these are not the final judgement.
Final or Future Judgement
A final judgement or future judgement is connected with the second coming of Jesus. John 5:27-29 states that Jesus has the authority to execute judgement. In his second coming everyone will hear his voice from the graves. And the righteous will inherit the eternal life and those who did evil will be thrown into the lake of fire.
Jesus warned his disciples to follow him sincerely as they will be rewarded according to their deeds. If anyone desires to save his life will lose and whoever loses his own life for Jesus will gain it. The future judgment will be executed at his glorious second coming.
Entire mankind will taste the death on this earth and will stand before the judgment of the Lord (Hebrews 9:27).
John the apostle narrated the future judgment in the book of Revelation. All the dead will be standing before God and they will be judged according to their works which were written in the books. And whose name will not be found written in the book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
We should not judge our brothers who are living an immoral life rather we must evaluate ourselves every day because one day we shall all stand in front of the Lord for the final judgment (Romans 14:10). One will receive the reward according to his deeds. As we all will appear before the judgment seat of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The parable of the talents teaches us that the Lord has given us some talents to extend his Kingdom. Some of us will work for his Kingdom and some of us will work but will not prosper and some of us will not do anything for the expansion of his Kingdom. Through this parable, Jesus told us that at his second coming we will receive the reward from him if we really extend his Kingdom by our works.
In this parable, we can also see that the steward who did not do anything was condemned by his master. The same thing will happen to the children of God who will not participate in the expansion of God’s Kingdom by extending their hands to expand God’s Kingdom on this earth. Unbelievers and the backsliders will be condemned in the lake of fire forever by the judgment of the Lord.
The parable of the Minas (Luke 19:11-27) also gives us a lesson concerning the importance of faithfulness in our stewardship for the future judgment.
The everlasting fire has been prepared for the Devil and his angels(Matthew 25:41). This lake of fire was not created for mankind but those who will walk with the Devil will be thrown there.