Biblical Essays
THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST
We have received a few earnest email requests for help regarding the solemn subject of the judgment seat of Christ. One wrote: “I am in a difficulty. A friend is unhappy in the thought that, at the judgment seat of Christ, every secret thought and every motive of the heart will be made manifest to all there. She says that she has no fears or doubts regarding her eternal salvation or the forgiveness of her sins, but she shrinks with horror from the thought of having the secrets of her heart revealed.”
Another writes: “Remembering those blessed and eternally important truths in John 5:24; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:12 and Hebrews 10:1-17, I wish to know how you understand the following texts which I shall transcribe in full, to point out the particular words to which I refer. ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad’ (2 Cor. 5:10). ‘So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God’ (Rom. 14:12). ‘But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong he hath done: and there is no respect of persons’ (Col. 3:24-25). It is on the above texts that I am anxious to be correct as to interpretation and application. I have thought it probable that you would not regard it as trespassing on your time if I were to ask your opinion on the subject.”
We have been interested in looking into the various reasons for the perplexity that seems to prevail in reference to the solemn subject of “the judgment seat of Christ.” The passages that our correspondent quotes are so plain, pointed and definite on the question that we have only to take them as they stand, allowing them to have due weight on heart and conscience. “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ.” “Every one of us must give account of himself to God.” “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong he hath done.”
These are plain statements. Should we desire to weaken their force, to blunt their edge, to turn away their point? God forbid. Rather, we should seek to make a holy use of them by keeping a pressure on human nature in all its vanities, lusts and tempers. The Lord intended we should use these verses in such a way. He never intended that we should use them in a legal way to shake our confidence in Christ and His full salvation. We shall never come into judgment regarding our sins. John 5:24, Romans 8:1 and 1 John 4:17 are conclusive pertaining to that point. But our services must come under the Master’s eye. Every man’s work shall be tried pertaining to what sort it is. The day will make everything manifest. All this is solemn and should lead to great watchfulness and carefulness regarding our works, ways, thoughts, words, motives and desires. The deepest sense of grace and the clearest apprehension of our justification as sinners will never weaken our sense of the deep solemnity of the judgment seat of Christ or lessen our desire to so walk that we may be acceptable to Him.
It is well to see this. The apostle labored that he might be accepted. He kept his body under God’s hand, lest he should be disapproved. Every saint should do the same. We are already accepted in Christ, and as such, we labor to be accepted of Him. We should seek to give every truth its proper place. The way to do this is to always be in the presence of God, viewing each truth in immediate connection with Christ. There is always a danger of making use of one truth while, at the same time, displacing some other truth. This should be carefully guarded against. We believe there will be a full manifestation of everyone and everything before the judgment seat of Christ – everything will come out. Things that looked brilliant and praiseworthy, that made a great noise among men down here, will all be burned up as so much “wood, hay and stubble.” Things that were blazed abroad and made use of to surround the names of men with a halo of human applause will be submitted to the searching action of “the fire” and reduced to ashes.
The counsels of all hearts will be made manifest. Every motive, every purpose, every design will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. The fire will try every man’s work and heart, and nothing will be stamped as genuine except that which has been the fruit of divine grace. All mixed motives will be judged, condemned and burnt. All prejudices, erroneous judgments, evil surmising concerning others – all these and such like things will be exposed and cast into the fire. We shall see things then as Christ sees them; judge them as He judges them. No one should be better pleased than us to see all our stubble consumed. Even now, as we grow in light, knowledge and spirituality, as we get nearer and more like Christ, we heartily condemn many things that we once deemed all right. How much more shall we do so when we stand in full blaze of the light of the judgment seat of Christ?
What should be the practical effect of all this on the true believer? Should it make him doubt his salvation? Should it leave him in a state of uncertainty regarding whether he is accepted or not? Should it make him question his relationship to God in Christ? Surely not. What then? It should lead him to walk in holy carefulness from day to day, as under the eye of his Lord and Master – to produce watchfulness, sobriety and self-judgment; to induce faithfulness, diligence and integrity in all his services and ways.
Consider a simple illustration. A father leaves home for a time. When taking leave of his children, he appoints a certain work to be done and a certain line of conduct to be adopted during his absence. When he returns, he may have to praise some for their faithfulness and diligence, while he blames others for the reverse. But does he disown the latter? Does he break the relationship? By no means. They are as much his children as the others, though he faithfully points out their failure and censures them for it. If they have been biting and devouring one another instead of doing his will; if one has been judging another’s work instead of attending to his own; if there has been envy and jealousy instead of an earnest-hearted carrying out of the father’s intentions, all these things will meet with well-deserved censure. How could it be otherwise?
But some “shrink with horror from the thought of having the secrets of the heart manifested to all there.” Well, the Holy Spirit declares that “the Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor. 3:9). He does not say to whom they shall be manifested; nor does this affect the question, because every true-hearted person will be far more deeply concerned about the judgment of the Master than about the judgment of others. Provided we please Christ, we need not trouble ourselves about man's judgment. If we are more troubled about the idea of having our motives exposed to the view of man than we are about them being exposed to the view of Christ, it is plain there must be something wrong. It proves we are occupied with self. To shrink from the exposure of “my secret motives,” means that secret motives are not right, and the sooner they are judged the better.
What difference would it make if all our sins and failures were made manifest to everybody? Are Peter and David any less happy because untold millions have read the account of their shameful fall? Surely not. They know that the record of their sins only magnifies the grace of God and illustrates the value of the blood of Christ, and hence they rejoice in it. So it is in every case. If we were more emptied of self and more occupied with Christ, we would have more simple and correct thoughts about the judgment seat as well as about everything else.
May the Lord keep our hearts true to Him in this time of His absence, so that when He appears we may not be ashamed before Him. May all our works begin, continue and end in Him, that the thought of having them weighed and estimated in the presence of His glory may not disturb our hearts. May we be constrained by the “love of Christ,” and not be fearful of judgment – living unto Him who died for us and rose again. We may safely and happily leave everything in His hands, seeing He has borne our sins in His own body on the tree. We have no reason to fear, because we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. The moment Christ appears we shall be changed into His image, pass into the presence of His glory, and there review the past. From that high and holy elevation, we shall look back on our course down here. We shall see things in a totally different light. Perhaps we shall be astonished to find that many things we thought to be a great deal down here will be found defective up there. On the other hand, many little things which were done in self-forgetfulness and love to Jesus, will be diligently recorded and abundantly rewarded. In the clear light of the Master’s presence, we shall also be able to see many mistakes and failures that had never previously come within the range of our vision. The effect of all this will be evoking from our hearts loud and rapturous hosannas to the praise of Him who has brought us through all toils and dangers; borne with all our mistakes and failures, assigning us a place in His own everlasting kingdom, there to bask in the bright beams of His glory, forever shining in His image.
We shall not dwell further on this subject, but trust sufficient has been said to relieve the mind of those dear friends who have consulted us on the point via email. We always regard it as a happy service to communicate on any question that may present difficulty to the heart and mind. We can truly say our desire is to be a help and blessing to the souls of His people everywhere, that the name of the Lord Jesus may be magnified.
