For We Must All Appear

Photo by Cristina Gottardi

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10 NIV).

Honestly, I find the thought of final judgment to be terrifying. Contrary to a good number of sermons I have heard in the past, there is no indication in the Bible that Christians will experience a different judgment from everyone else, whether one merely to determine what “rewards” we might receive for faithful service or any other kind.

Scripture does assure us that if we belong to God through the person of Jesus Christ, we can rest in God’s grace, know our sins will be forgiven, and confidently affirm that the final declaration of “righteous”—of being deemed to be “in the right” by God—is our present possession. This is good news indeed.

Nevertheless, Scripture also suggests that God’s final verdict of “righteous” will not preclude him from confronting us with our sins committed in this life—how we have fallen short of all that we could have been in Christ. For some Christians, the gap between their potential selves and their actual selves might be slim. For others, the gap might unfortunately be more significant. I believe I fair toward the latter.

In any case, the apostle Paul affirms that “each of us will be accountable to God” for what we have done (Romans 14:12 NRSV; see also Matthew 25:31–46 and Revelation 20:11–15).

What will the final judgment be like? Perhaps we will encounter God as a manifestation of love so brilliantly intense it will incinerate all self-centeredness, malice, and evil still plaguing us. Paul suggests something along these lines in his first letter to the Corinthian Christ community. Explaining the true value of one’s ministry through the metaphor of a builder and his/her buildings, he states,

“If anyone builds on this foundation [that is, Jesus Christ] using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:12–15 NIV).

The author of 2 Peter uses similar imagery to explain the fate of the entire present order of things—how on the day of judgment God will “dissolve with fire” all unrighteousness, as God then renews the heavens and earth (2 Peter 3:10–13 NRSV).

This “burning away” of that part of us still compromised by sin may very well be a painful process. And while the thought of this event is to me unsettling, I ultimately still desire it. Maybe I desire it in the same way that women desire to have children despite the pain of childbirth. What lies on the other side of judgment is a joy only the experience of God’s cleansing fire can deliver, regardless of any temporary pain accompanying it.

I also cannot help but to wonder about the fate of those who reject the grace of God in Jesus Christ. As it says in 1 Peter 4:17: “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’” (NIV).

Will the brilliance of God’s love for those who do not know him be experienced instead as sheer wrath—as a fire that consumes so much of them that the the pain will be overwhelming and, in the end, there will be nothing left?

While I do not know exactly how the final judgment will work, I pray nevertheless that as I strive to live more like Christ, the fear I continue to harbor over it will eventually be overcome by the love of God working in me.

“God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love” (1 John 4:16–18 NLT).