Final Judgment

God is a holy God. That is a fearsome thought. Because holiness, in all its glory, cannot fellowship with sin, rebellion, and darkness. So how does mankind deal with a holy God? Some simply deny that He even exists. That makes it easy to indulge in lust and pleasure without guilt. Others write their own moral code, and dutifully follow it, hoping that God will be pleased with their effort, and overlook a few mulligans. Neither of those mindsets will suffice when the day comes to stand before the great white judgment seat of the God of eternity. 

God created mankind, knowing full well that they would choose to live in sin and rebellion toward Him. He didn’t just know it, He allowed it. He gave Satan permission to “take his best shot”. But God loves the humans that He created, and desires to fellowship with them, But He could not just ignore sin, since He is holy. So He revealed a plan, based on his great love, to redeem men and women out of their guilty condition. That way, He could fellowship with them, both during their lifetime, and throughout eternity.

God’s redemptive plan was to send His Son, Jesus, to earth to die on a cross. Those who believe in Jesus have their sins washed as white as snow, and they are declared righteous before God. The most famous verse in all of Scripture tells us that they “will not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).  Their name is transferred from the book of deeds to the Book of Life -- saved and redeemed, they will live with God in His eternal kingdom, forever. That is good news -- really, really good news.

The bad news is this. All of mankind who choose not to believe in Jesus remain in their sin. They cannot abide in the presence of a holy God. Though God loves them, “not wanting anyone to perish” (2 Pet 3:9), He must judge them accordingly. Don’t believe the lie that God will not send anyone to hell, but will accept all mankind into heaven.

We must see and understand that judgment is a principle by which God has always operated. He judged the wickedness of mankind in the early stages of their existence with a flood. He repeatedly judged His chosen people, the Jews, to bring them to repentance and humble obedience. He will judge the Church, too, in preparation for Christ’s return. And He judges nations -- when they become oppressive. But these are all temporary and corrective judgments, not eternal punishment.

Revelation reveals that there will come a day of final judgment (Rev 20:5-6,11-15). When the second resurrection occurs, after the Millennial kingdom, all the dead, from all the ages will be resurrected. Resurrection involves the uniting of an eternal soul with a renewed, eternal body. The dead in Christ will be resurrected at the time of Christ’s second coming (I Cor 15). But the dead who rejected Christ will be raised later. They will go before the great white throne, the throne of Holy God. And their deeds will be read from the books. They will then be condemned and sentenced to eternity in the lake of fire, the same place where Satan will be consigned. Some like to think that the final judgment will simply be annihilation, where all existence, feeling, and thought, come to an abrupt and final end. But that is not the judgment that God spells out. And I certainly would not want to take my chances on spending eternity in a place where I am tormented (Rev 20:10; 21:8), where I wish for just a drop of water to quench my parched tongue (Luke 16:24).

You may ask, but what if I truly am a moral person? Will I be judged by Holy God just because I did not believe in Him and put my trust and faith in Jesus? Yes, I am afraid so. Even your self-righteousness is an afront to God. And your disbelief is unpardonable, as well. God loves each and every person, immensely. All He wants in return is your love and trust. Then your eternity will not be judgment, but rather everlasting joy in the glorious kingdom of Jesus. 

The Eternal Kingdom

Revelation, if we be honest, is full of bad news – judgment, beasts, the dragon, Armageddon, turmoil, death, and destruction. But it ends with really good news – a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21). But wait, let’s be clear. That good news is the blessed hope of the redeemed, those who have trusted in God’s grace, and been made righteous by the blood of Christ. The “good news” chapter makes it very clear that many people will not spend their eternity in the realm of God’s glory, under the reign of King Jesus. They will spend their eternity in the lake of fire (Rev 21:8).

The eternal kingdom finds its fullest description in Revelation 21. The description is quite symbolic, but we can get a real good idea of what our “forever” reality will be like. Most of us have become accustomed to calling the eternal kingdom by the name, heaven. But that is not technically correct, although there is no reason to argue the point. The only problem is that we think of heaven being up there somewhere, rather than here on earth.

You see, God’s redemptive plan is essentially a journey to the original condition (cf Rev 21:6, “I am the beginning and the end”). After the fall of mankind into the control and punishment of sin, pioneered by Adam and Eve, we have spent thousands of years dealing with the consequences. Things changed when God slammed the gates closed on Eden. I have to deal with weeds on my tree farm, constantly. Drought and insects seem to wipe out my crop every few years. And I deal with temptation and failure, guilt and shame. If it weren’t for forgiveness – both from God and from one another – this world would be a hopeless existence. But God’s intention from the beginning was to rescue and redeem mankind from this fallen state, and provide an Eden-like earth once again for those who choose to believe in Jesus, the central figure of His redemptive plan.

In the vision recorded in Revelation 21, John sees the Holy City, a new Jerusalem, coming down to earth form God’s Heaven. This city symbolically represents the bride of Christ, all the redeemed of the ages. The description of the city, while symbolic, is quite extensive. It is 1400 miles wide, long, and high. The footprint of the city is 1.9 million square miles, over 200 times the size of modern-day Israel. It is cubic, similar to the Most Holy place in the temple and the tabernacle. Main Street is paved with gold. The city will have 12 gates in the wall. Why it needs a wall, I do not know, since there will be no enemies. The description includes so many symbolic elements, all alluding to aspects of God’s long term redemptive plan of the ages – the gemstones from Eden, the twelves tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles.

Some of the important points to glean from this chapter are these. God said, “I am making all things new”. The old earth will be burned up (2 Pet 3:7) and a new earth formed. There will be no more tears, death, or pain, since the old is gone. Not only the earth will be new, but we will have resurrection bodies (I Cor 15:35-54). There will be no temple in the New City (which distinguishes the eternal kingdom from the Millennial Kingdom; cf. Ezek 40-44). And there will be no need for the light from the sun or moon, since the glory of God and of Jesus will be the light and the lamp of the eternal kingdom. And it seems there will be nations and kings from around the world that will visit the Holy City (Rev 21:24-27), probably the inhabitants of New Jerusalem disbursed around the globe --holy people and nations, governed by holy kings.

Glory, Hallelujah! God is so good to those who love Him. Jesus said, ^“My Father’s house has many rooms…. I am going there to prepare a place for you…. I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn 14:2-4). What we can look forward to, eternally, is security, peace, happiness, living water, and the glory of the God we have come to know in this life.

Islamic Jihad and Armageddon

 

The Battle of Armageddon is a significant component of the Book of Revelation. The attack on Israel triggers Christ’s second coming. And Messiah’s victory is instrumental to establishing His earthly kingdom, the Millennial kingdom.

Armageddon is described in both Old and New Testament prophecies. Ezekiel wrote that Gog, from Magog, would lead a massive army against Israel. Paul wrote that the man of lawlessness would rise to power and lead a massive rebellion, referring to this same end-time battle. And Revelation 17 describes this army as an eighth beast, represented by ten horns, who will rule for “one hour”. This ten-nation alliance will wage war against the Lamb when He returns as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Who are these enemies of God, and enemies of the Jews? The Bible identifies them for us. Since the time of Abraham, the Arabs have been a thorn in the side of God’s chosen people, the Jews. They are descended from Abraham, just like the Jews, but they were not God’s chosen race. So, with spite and hatred they rejected the God of Abraham and despised the descendants of Jacob. They hated the Jews from the very get-go, and they still do, nearly 4000 years later. The Arab race and the Islamic faith eventually morphed into one. The hatred at the end of the age, then, will not just be racial, but will also be fueled by the Jihad teachings of Muhammed.

How is it possible to identify the enemy of Jesus at Armageddon as the Arabs? First, the Old Testament makes it clear that it is the Arab nations that will be judged at the Day of the Lord. Many of the prophecies of judgment upon Arab nations, in context, were not intended for near fulfillment They will be accomplished by the Messiah, at His second coming. Then secondly, the Arabs are identified in Revelation 17, by a key phrase, which is somewhat cryptic but shockingly accurate and relevant. “The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction” (17:7, 8 and 11). The Arabs dominated the world scene for a long time, but “not now” (at the time of John’s writing), and they would indeed rise up again, in the seventh century, with the help of Muhammad’s teachings. The Ottoman Empire took the helm and ruled for centuries. The Arab-Islam coalition, under the banner of Jihad, is clearly the eighth beast described in Revelation 17.

The beliefs of Islam confirm what the Scriptures teach. Islam teaches that their “Messiah” will come at the end of the age, whom they call the Mahdi. The Mahdi, besides being Allah’s divine presence, will also be the political leader of the Arabs. He will be the long-awaited Caliph, restoring the Caliphate that ended with the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. Jesus, who they call Isa, will also return at the end of the age to defend the Jews from Jerusalem, and lead the “infidels” into battle against the Islamic Jihad. And Muslims believe that Mahdi will defeat Isa.

Many Muslims are sincere in their faith, truly seeking God. Only a small handful of Muslims are terrorists, now, but that number will swell once Mahdi convinces them that they must submit to him and to all of Muhammed’s teachings, including the call to Jihad. The intent of Jihad is to bring all people of the earth into the Islamic faith, and subject to Sharia law, by force. Any who resist will be slain by the sword. Some say that Jihad is not condoned in the Quran, but that is not true. Muhammad wrote that Allah will “smite terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, then you smite them above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them” (Q. 8:12; cf Q. 2:193, 216; 9:14, 39, 111). Where Jihad is promoted, most, is in the Hadith, the divine teachings of Muhammad, including the Book of Jihad.

The Islamic command for Jihad is what motivates the enemy that surges in mass against Israel and their Messiah at Armageddon. It is the hook in their nose to draw them into the valley of decision, their meeting with judgment. Believing the Mahdi’s host of lies, millions will be drawn into Jihad. The massive army will be hell-bent on accomplishing world domination and annihilation of the Jews, by force and by the sword. The groundwork for Islamic Jihad is unmistakable in the resounding slogan of the Houthi regime, “Allah is great; Death to America; Death to Israel; A curse upon the Jews; Victory to Islam”.

We can expect to see, soon, the unveiling of the Islamic Caliph-Mahdi. His great surge of deception and his rebellious war preparation will portend that Armageddon is soon to start. And then it won’t be long until the second coming of King Jesus.