Judgment Day

Well, we're going to continue our study in the book of Revelation this morning and
for those of you who are joining us Who are not regularly with us? We've been
going through this book for more than a year now with some pauses some breaks along
the way But we are at the end of chapter 20 Revelation chapter 20 So if you have
a copy of God's word nearby, I hope you do open it to Revelation chapter 20 And
we're going to look at the last last six verses, last five verses, 11 through 15
in this chapter. This is a time of year when we are often thinking about
commencement exercises, graduation coming up. When I think about graduation,
I always think back to my high school graduation, which was more significant, more
meaningful to me than my college graduation was. I don't know how it felt for you.
But high school for me felt like the end of an era and the beginning of a new
chapter. In fact, the reason that we refer to graduation exercises as commencement
exercises is because we are beginning a new chapter in life when we graduate.
And most times a graduation ceremony is designed to be a day of honor and
recognition for accomplishments, a day of celebration for the graduate. We want to
point to the graduate and say congratulations on what you have done. But I want you
to imagine, that's a thought experiment, imagine with me for a second, that your
graduation ceremony looked like this. Imagine your name is called and you walk out
onto the platform, but instead of being handed a diploma the principal or the
superintendent of schools whoever is officiating that day says John we're gonna we're
not gonna hand you a diploma today we're going to review together the last three
years of your high school experience we're going to share with everyone here what
your high school years have like. And we're going to be looking specifically at your
thoughts, your actions, your words. And we're going to start with a review of the
tests where you cheated, where you looked on somebody else's paper, or where you
cheated in some other way. Let's reveal that. And then while we're here this
morning, we'd like to show everyone your browser history for the last three years.
In fact those snap chats that you sent that you thought got deleted well guess what
we have those and we're gonna show those to everyone here as well. You thought they
went away we have them. The text messages from the last three years that you shared
with everybody we've got those and we're gonna review those let everybody see what
you texted about. We even have recordings of phone calls you've made over the last
three years and you're how you chatted with your friends and everybody else that the
times when you weren't honest with your parents about what you were doing we've got
that we're gonna share that with everybody as well I mean imagine three years of
your life being totally opened exposed for everyone to review and see and hear And
we think of this for high school students. It's not just high school students.
Imagine for any of us a day when we would stand before our friends and when the
last three years of our lives were exposed in that way, when the hidden parts of
us were revealed for everyone to see. How long would any of us be able to stand
with our whole inner life being exposed. How long before any of us would collapse
in shame?
We've arrived this morning to our study of the book of Revelation, which comes at
the end of the age. This is the final scene in the book of Revelation before we
turn and see, for the first time, the new heavens and the new earth. And this
scene is a bit like a commencement exercise. It is a judgment day.
It's a day that's coming in the future, when the rebellion of people against God,
which was initiated by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and has spread through
the entire human For millennia now when when all of that comes to an end.
It's the end of that era We've already seen in chapter 20 the final battle where
Satan is defeated and Where he is thrown into the lake of fire. He is judged The
lake of fire the Bible says where he will be tormented day and night forever
And now we turn our attention to the fate of all those from throughout history who
have turned their back on God and on his ways. All those who bought into the lie
of the enemy. This is the day where they will stand before the king of the
universe. So we're gonna read this passage and look together at these verses in
Revelation 20 this morning. But again, Lord, we turn to you asking for the gift of
illumination. We need your spirit to direct our thinking this morning, and we pray
that you would reveal your truth to us as we come to study your Word. We ask it
in your name. Amen. So here's the passage Revelation chapter 20 verse 11 through 15.
You follow along if you have your Bible with you as I read this passage. The Bible
says, "Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it.
From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, great, and small,
standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened,
which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the
books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in
it, death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged,
each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and hades were thrown
into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if any
one's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake
of fire. Amen. May God bless this reading of his word. The grass withers and the
flower fades. The word of our God will last forever.
Well, here's how we're gonna be walking through of this passage this morning.
We're gonna try to see it the way John saw it when he saw this vision and the
way he conveyed it to his readers back in the first century. and we will see six
things as we walk our way through this passage. We'll see the throne that John saw
first. We'll see the fate of the physical world, of the earth. We'll see those who
are standing accused before the throne. We're going to see the two books that are
referenced here. We're going to see the charges that are levied against the accused,
and then we're going to see the verdict handed down, and punishment handed out as
well. So let's look first at the throne. That's in verse 11. John says, "Then I
saw a great white throne." Now the first time we saw a throne in the book of
Revelation was in chapter 4. This is where John is taken up into the throne room
of heaven, and he sees a throne, and he sees God seated on that throne. What John
was seeing then and what John is seeing here is a fulfillment of what we read
about in Daniel chapter 7. We're not going to turn there, but in Daniel 7 the
ancient of days is pictured as being seated on the throne with fire coming forth
from the throne and Daniel says the court sat in judgment and the books were
opened, so what Daniel saw in his day is the same thing that John is seeing here
in the book of Revelation in chapter 20, the throne room scene where the books are
open. I'll just mention this. It's not noted specifically in Revelation who is seated
on the throne, and there is some speculation about whether John is seeing God the
Father or God the Son seated on the throne, opening the books, and bringing
judgment. The reason for some of the speculation is because Jesus, in John chapter
5, verse 22, says, "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the
Son." And in 2 Timothy 4, the Bible says Christ Jesus is to judge the living and
the dead by his appearing and his kingdom. So some have speculated this must be
Jesus on the throne because of these statements, and yet it has always been God on
the throne in the book of Revelation. I think what we're seeing here, the reason
that no one is named as sitting on the throne is because we're seeing the Triune
God at work. We're seeing God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit actively
engaged together in executing the events of Judgment Day.
And the throne shows that they are acting with royal authority. They are seated on
the throne to indicate that their judgments have royal authority behind them.
The fact that the throne is The white throne signifies that their judgments are pure
and righteous judgments. That's the first thing John sees in this vision. There's a
throne and there is one seated on the throne, an unnamed one who I think is the
Triune God coming to execute judgment. The next thing John sees in this vision,
in the same verse in verse 11, he says, "From his presence, Earth and sky fled
away. There was no place found for them. We've seen this before in the book of
Revelation, back in chapter 6, when the sixth seal was opened.
In the seven seals, Revelation 6, the sixth seal was opened, and John said he saw
a great earthquake. The sun became a sackcloth. The full moon became like blood.
The stars fell of the earth, the sky vanished like a scroll that was being rolled
up. Every mountain and island was removed from its place. So that was a picture of
this day that John is seeing here in Revelation chapter 20, the day when the earth
collapses. Revelation 16, when the seventh angel came and poured out the seventh bowl
of judgment, the Bible says a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne,
saying it is done, and every island fled away, and the mountains were no more to
be found. This isn't just in the book of Revelation. You go back to Isaiah, the
prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah 51 -6. The prophet says, "Lift up your eyes to the
heavens, look at the earth beneath. For the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment, And they who dwell in it will die in like
manner, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be
dismayed." Again, that's Isaiah looking ahead to this day that we're reading about in
Revelation 20. Micah, the prophet. In Micah 1 he says,
"Behold, the Lord is coming out of his place. He will come down and tread upon the
high places of the earth, and the mountains will melt under him, the valleys will
split open like wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep place.
Here's the point. What John is seeing as the earth is dissolving is not something
that is new or unexpected. God's plan has always been to take His world,
the earth, and to restore or renew or recreate it.
And since the fall, since the first sin in the garden,
the earth has been under a curse. You remember the ground was cursed in Genesis
chapter 3. And Romans 8 tells us that all creation is longing for the day,
it's groaning, longing for the day of redemption. Creation wants to be restored to
the glory that God intended for creation. We look at creation and say, "This is
glorious." We have no idea the glory that will be revealed in the new heavens and
the new earth. The skies and the stars and the rocks and the trees today,
if they were animate, they would all be crying out to be liberated from the effects
of sin that creation is suffering under. And that day is coming according to
Revelation 20. Before God brings the new heavens and the new earth, he will purge
this earth. Now we don't know if that means total destruction or whether it means a
makeover. The earth will be destroyed with fire. We don't know if that's a cleansing
that's taking place or a destruction. We don't know if God takes it down to the
studs or if he starts all the way from the ground up removes the foundation and
builds everything new again. The point is on the day of judgment the earth will
dissolve and here's what's significant. That means that for for humans there's no
place to hide, no place to run, no place to find protection or shelter.
When there's an earthquake we run to something stable to try to find stability. When
there's flooding, like we've been experiencing, we go to high ground, you won't have
that opportunity on this final day of the Lord, because the earth will be dissolving
as well. When I was in high school, there was a folk song, Peter, Paul and Mary
recorded a folk song that we sang sometimes at camp, a song called "Cinermen." And
"Oh, sinner man, where are you going to run to? Oh, sinner man, where are you
going to run to?" "All on that day." "Run to the rock. Rock, won't you hide me."
But when the sinner man gets to the rock, the rock was melting. "Run to the sea.
Sea, won't you hide me?" "No, the sea is boiling." "Run to the moon. Moon, won't
you hide me?" "No, the moon is bleeding." And the song concludes with, "Oh,
sinner man, you should have been a -praying." "All on that
Douglas Kelly, who is a Bible scholar, writes about the destruction of the heavens
and the earth and says, "There is now nothing to hide any individual in an
assembled universe from the Almighty." That's the point as the earth disintegrates.
God is not only creating a new heavens and a new earth for his people to live in
eternally, but there's nothing left I'm this earth and you know what we've seen this
week with what's going on in the weather and what's going on in the stock market.
We've seen that if your hope, if your confidence, your shelter, your security,
your safety net is in what you own, the things of earth, if it's in your house or
your 401k, it's in the wrong place. It's all going to burn. There are two things
that will last forever. Hang on. I got to get something to drink here. Excuse me.
Excuse me for that. Two things are gonna last forever. The souls of people and the
word of God. That's it. And that's where our focus should be.
As we think about what's eternal what's gonna last the souls of people and the word
of God everything else will dissolve so in this vision John sees God seated on his
throne he sees the earth disintegrating we think when we sing amazing grace the
earth will soon dissolve like snow so he's seen that and then in verse 12 he sees
the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. Now I think it's significant
that he says he sees the dead. He doesn't say, "I saw all people." He sees,
I think, a subset of humanity who are the dead that he's referring to.
And to understand what's going on here and who's judged at the great white throne
judgment. We first have to understand the two books that are opened. Here's what I
think is going on on this final day. When God comes to judge the earth,
He will judge all people. But I don't think that what we're seeing here in
Revelation 20 in front of the great white throne, I don't think this is all people.
I think what we're seeing relates to the two books that are talked about in verse
12. Look carefully with me at verse 12. It says, "I saw the dead,
great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, multiple,
plural. It's not just a book, but it's books that are being opened." But then John
says then another book was opened, so we have the first group. It's a bunch of
books and then John says and then there's another book which was opened which is
the book of life. So a bunch of books followed by another book and this is
different than the one that he mentioned. This book is the book of life, the James'
Book of Life. John has already referenced this Book of Life in Revelation,
back in Chapter 3, when Jesus sent his letter to the church in Sardis.
He ended the letter by saying to the one who conquers, "He will be clothed in
white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the Book of Life." That's
the first reference in Revelation to this book of life. Revelation 13, where the
beast is revealed, John says, "All who dwell on earth will worship the beast,
everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the
book of life of the Lamb who was slain." And even outside the book of Revelation,
Paul writes about the book of life in Philippians Chapter 4, verse 3,
Paul asks the Philippians to help these two women, Yodians and Sintakee,
who were quarreling. He says, "These women who have labored side by side with me in
the Gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are
in the Book of Life." Now, I don't know that there's an actual big book in heaven
That has our names in it, but here's what I do know before God ever created the
heavens and the earth he recorded in a book or In a file,
I don't know where it's recorded, but he has it in his mind in his memory He has
recorded the names of every person in in all of humanity who he would adopt into
his family And once he writes that person's name in his book,
the name is there for good. That name can't be blotted out. It's permanent.
All on whom God will set his love, all who will come to him and believe in him
and follow him and worship him, their names are in the book and they will be in
that book forever. These are the ones who will persevere and overcome and remain
faithful all the way to the end. If you are in Christ, your name is in the book.
God put it in the book before the foundation of the world. If you reject or ignore
Christ and you persist in that rejection throughout your life, then your name is not
in that book. John here sees one group of books being opened and before he explains
what's going on with that he says there was another book that was opened as soon
as the first group was open there's this Lamb's book of life that is open and then
it says the dead were judged by what was written in the books and now we're going
back to the first group of books that he opened up they were judged according to
what they had done. So this first group of books is a record of the deeds of
humanity for all time. You open up those books and you find every thought,
every deed, every word from every person throughout all of human history. And then
you open the Lamb's Book of Life and you find the names of those who belong to
the Lamb. And that takes you back to the first group of books. And if your name
is in the Lamb's Book of Lights, then your list of deeds in this first group of
books is erased. It's blotted out. It's covered up. God forgets it.
The Bible says he remembers it no more. On the final day, At the end of the age,
all human beings who have ever lived are brought together for this judgment day.
All who have experienced the first death will be given resurrection bodies on that
day. Those who are still alive when the Lord comes back will receive their
resurrection bodies at the same time that the dead are raised. And then these books
are open that contain the history of our lives, everything we've ever done. God has
a record of it all. But before anything is read from that group of books, the
Lamb's Book of Life is open. And those who are in Christ and whose sins have been
forgiven because of Jesus' death and resurrection, their names are listed there. And
if your names are in that book, in the Lamb's Book of Life, it means the other
set of books, the Book of Works, there'll be no record of your sins in there any
longer. Because there are no sins found for you in that first set of books,
then you are excused from what comes next, which is standing before the Great White
Throne judgment and experiencing God's judgment. What I'm suggesting is that those who
faced the Great White Throne are those who have rejected Christ. All who are in
Christ will not be there. Instead of believers standing before the great white
throne, believers have a different judgment seat that they will stand before. And
this is something we see in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. If you have your Bible
turned there with me, so I want you to see this. This is what's called the Bema
seat judgment. And there are some Christians who see the Bema Seat as happening at
a separate time from the Great White Throne Judgment. I think these are happening on
the judgment day, simultaneously. The Great White Throne Judgment for unbelievers and
the Bema Seat Judgment for believers. Here's what it says in verse 9, 2 Corinthians
5 verse 9, Paul writing to believers says, "We make it our aim to please him.
It's clear who he has in mind, believers. And then in verse 10 he says, again
talking to believers, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." That's
what's called the "beema seat." So we believers are going to all appear before this
beema seat judgment of Christ so that we may receive what is due for us,
what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Now,
what does that mean? Well, this is a reference to a judgment day when all who are
in Christ will be rewarded for how they have faithfully served Christ. This is not
a judgment that determines whether you can enter heaven or whether you will be
condemned for eternity. This is a judgment where rewards are given to honor
faithfulness to Christ. You're being rewarded for things you've done that were
honoring to Christ. Now if you've done things that were not honoring to Christ and
all of us have, you don't get anything. There's no reward for that.
And you may say, "Well, the things I've to Christ.
I'm due death for that. The wages of sin is death. That's true. You should receive
death for anything you've done that's not honoring to Christ. But Jesus endured that
death for you. As for the things that you've done in your life where your desire
was to honor and glorify God and to serve Him, there are rewards for those. On
that final day you will be rewarded for that. You won't be at the Great White
Throne Judgment hearing your sins announced. God has blotted those out, but you will
be at the Bema seat being rewarded for what you've done for Christ. Now I don't
know what those rewards are going to be like, but I do have a picture in my mind
that whatever crowns we get at the Bema seat we are going to lay them down at the
feet of Jesus. Any reward we receive we don't keep for ourselves, but we gladly
give it to him. Meanwhile, those whose names are not in the book of life,
the first set of books that are open, they hear the listing of their sins. Can you
imagine for just a minute what it would be like, or what it will be like for so
many, to stand and hear a recitation of all of the sins of your life,
all of the sinful things you've thought about, you've said, you've done,
even things you've done in secret that you thought nobody knew anything about. Your
secret sins revealed. Think, imagine for a moment that each of us only sinned once
a day. We sinned more than that, But just imagine that that's all you sin one time
a day. If you live to be 70 years old and you only sin one time a day,
that's more than 25 ,000 sins. How would you like to stand before the judgment seat
of God, the God of the universe, and have someone read aloud to you the 25 ,000
plus sins that you've committed the 25 ,000 plus ways that you have said to God I
know better than you I don't need you I don't want to have anything to do with
you I'm I'm taking care of myself I don't care about you
that's what John is seeing happen in Revelation 20. He is seeing those who have
rejected Christ or ignored Christ, he's seeing them face the reality of the weight
of their own sin. These are the ones standing before the great white throne.
I think the Bible is telling us that it's the dead, the spiritually dead who are
here, those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. In fact, in verse 13,
in the passage we looked at, it says, "The sea gave up the dead who were in it.
Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in it." This is talking about those who
are, who have physically died and gone. So in the sea, in the ancient world,
they saw the sea as a place of danger, foreboding. It was hellish.
If you died at sea and your body was tossed overboard, or if you'd drowned in the
sea, it was a frightening thought for them. They had no idea what happened to your
body as it sank down to the bottom. They didn't know what was at the bottom. They
hadn't explored the bottom. So John is saying here in verse 13, whether you died at
land or at sea, it doesn't really matter, you are going to face this final day
when your sins will be exposed and revealed. Meanwhile, those whose names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life will not be there, not experiencing what the dead are
experiencing. And I should say here, I don't know whether John is seeing in this
vision a picture, what kind of a picture he's seeing of this last day.
I don't know if there, if God will be on a throne. I don't know if there's a
throne and if it's big and white I don't know if there are books lots of books a
big book I don't know if they're actually opened I don't know if someone's sins
will be recited I mean if you think about the number of people who have died apart
from Christ and their sins being numbered that would go on for quite some time the
vision that John is seeing whether it's painting a portrait of an actual event or
not, is a vivid picture of what the effect of that day will be, what it will feel
like, what it will be like for those who die apart from Christ.
Before anything happens to them, though, it says death and Hades are cast into the
like of fire. Death and Hades are synonyms here. Death is the force that ends your
life. Hades is the abode of the dead. Death, the Bible says, is the final enemy
and death captures its prey and takes it back to its lair to Hades.
So the passage here says that after the books have been opened and read, death and
Hades are called forward and they are judged. This power,
you know, death was not a part of God's plan from the beginning. God did not
design his creation to include death. Death came into the world because of Adam's
sin. We read that in the Bible. It says, "In Adam all died, since by man came
death," the Bible tells us. So in the garden with Adam and Eve there was no death.
There would have been no death had there not been sin. Once the record of all sin
has been presented at the end of the age, death has had its last say.
It's played out. It's time for death to come to a fitting end. God is trampling
over death by death. He's putting death to death. Death will be no more.
Hades is being padlocked and shut down for good. It's out of business,
because of what Jesus has done in conquering death and hell.
And I think we should note here, we often talk about people spending eternity in
hell. People don't spend eternity in Hades. People spend eternity in the lake of
fire. Hades is a holding cell. The lake of fire is the eternal destiny of the
wicked, which is not to say that Hades is a mild punishment. It's a place of
torment, but the lake of fire is the final destination. So God passes judgment on
death, condemns death to death. Death is anti -God, so is Hades,
and they're both cast into the lake of fire. And then the passage wraps up with
this chilling conclusion if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life
he was thrown into the lake of fire now honestly when we read a statement like
that when you read a statement like that if you're like me you don't want to spend
a whole lot of time thinking about what that means it is too horrible to think
about we all know people who have rejected Christ all the way through their life
and who will face this day in eternity. This is their destiny.
And if the thought of that is not troubling to you, something's wrong. It's easy
for us to ask ourselves why is it that God would eternally punish my neighbor who
is a nice, sweet, unbelieving neighbor. They do kind things.
They're generous. They just don't believe in God. It feels wrong to us that God
would bring eternal punishment on someone who was kind in this life,
but just didn't believe in God. And here's the truth. We don't see unbelief the way
God sees unbelief. We don't see it as the wicked sin that it is. We think that
unbelief is just a consumer choice, but God does not see it that way. The God who
has revealed himself and who sent his only Son, who looks at the unbelief of
people, he sees it for what it is. It's wicked rebellion against the God who loves
them and created them. The Bible's answer to all of the nice people who are facing
eternal punishment for their in? The answer is that these nice,
sweet, unbelieving people, you know, are covering, they're masking by their behavior,
a wicked, evil, hard heart. It's the same kind of heart that you and I had in us
before God came and gave us a new heart. Behind the niceness,
the sweetness, there is a heart in them that was once in us that said I want all
glory for myself. I will not share my glory with anyone or anything.
God gets no glory from me. It's all for me. Remember in first Samuel chapter 16
the story where Samuel comes to the house of Jesse.
He's looking for the king who is going to replace King Saul. God has sent him and
said go and I'll show you who he should be. Samuel gets to Jesse's house and he
sees Elieb who is one of Jesse's sons and as soon as Samuel sees Elieb he thinks
that's got to be the king. And in 1 Samuel 16 7 the Lord says to Samuel do not
look on his appearance are on the height of his stature because I've rejected him
for the Lord sees not as man sees man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord
looks on the heart
God sees the hearts of our unbelieving unsaved friends we see their demeanor we see
what they cover what they mask and we all wear masks at some level but you You
have to realize, if you were somehow free from your own indwelling sin,
and you could see what God sees about your friend, and you knew what God knows
about your friend, you would agree with God's judgment related to your friend.
We'll see that one day. It will be clear to us. We will understand God's judgment
on unbelievers, And we will say, it makes sense now. I can see why this had to be
the destiny for my kind, nice, unbelieving co -worker or neighbor.
And until that day, we just have to trust that God is good and he's right and
he's just, and that what he does is good and right and just.
And I wanna point out to you here, I think this is important. The basis for God's
judgment is the works of his people. In fact,
I'm going to say something that as soon as I say it, some of you are going to
say that that's heretical. That's wrong. Hear me out. The Bible teaches that you are
saved by works. The only way anyone can be saved is to live a life of direct
obedience and righteousness. Your works will either save you or will send you to the
lake of fire." In what the text we just read said, the dead were judged by what
was written in the books according to what they had done. They were judged by their
works. Their works either saved them or left them condemned, and the same is true
for all of us. Our works either save us or leave us condemned which should leave
you saying I'm in big trouble then because if I'm judged by my works I'm condemned.
It's true you are and me too which is why the gospel is good news because God
says your good works will give you no hope of eternal life.
You don't meet the standards. God's standard is perfect holiness.
In fact the Bible says your best works on your best day. Your best works are
filthy rags. Mind to it. It's not like you score a B + with your best works when
you hand them in. You get a failing grade for that. And I know you think well
nobody's perfect. No one can be saved and that's true. No one can be saved by
their works and God knows that. So to save those whose names he wrote in the book
of life, God sent Jesus to live the perfect life that we should have lived and
then to die in our place and catch this. Jesus not only lived the perfect life and
died in our place. But in dying in our place, he took the eternal lake of fire
punishment that we deserved. He took it on himself so we don't have to. And then
by grace through faith, he offers to you credit for his perfect obedience.
The theological word is he imputes his righteousness to you. He sends it to your
account so that when God looks at you, he sees you white and clean and spotless
before him. It is amazing. It's it's beyond amazing.
How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure,
that he would give his only son to make a wretch his treasure.
Anytime I find myself wondering why didn't God write this person's name in his book
or that person's name in his book, I quickly find myself asking a second question,
which is Why me?
Why did he write my name in his book? It's not because of anything commendable
about me. It's because of his great love with which he chose to love us,
not because of goodness in me, according to his mercy, according to the counsel of
his own will. He took his son, who knew no sin, to be sin for me.
He sent him to the lake of fire, where he endured the punishment I deserve, so
that I could become the righteousness of God. In the last book in the Old
Testament, the book of Malachi, the prophet refers to the coming commencement ceremony
that we're talking about here. The day of God's final judgment. He calls it the
great and terrible day of the Lord. It will be a great day for all who have given
their lives to Christ, for all who live their lives for His glory. It will be a
terrible day for all who refuse Him, who reject Him, who ignore Him,
who choose to live for their own glory. What kind of day is that day going to be
for you? A great day or a terrible day.
Let's pray.
Father, this is a sobering passage to review this morning as we think about this
coming day.
Lord, I pray that all who are watching, who are hearing this, would be ready for
that day, that they would surrender their lives to you, they would commit themselves
to living for your glory and not for their own. They would seek first your kingdom
and your righteousness.
And Lord, we pray that on that great and terrible day your purposes would be
accomplished, evil would be vanquished as you prepare for the new heavens and the
new earth being created.
Lord help us to be sobered by what we've heard today not only as we think about
our own lives but the lives of our friends and family members. Help us to be bold
to urge them to be ready for that day to give their lives to you.
I pray for a work of your spirit in our own hearts and in the hearts of all who
need to hear the gospel that they would repent and believe. I ask it in Jesus'
name.