Three Eternal Destinies of Man? THE JUDGMENT-THEIR NEED for A SAVIOR (part 2)
David
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These considerations start to give understanding of the judgment in
Revelation 20:
And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose
presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the
throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is
the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were
written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were
in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their
deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is
the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
(Revelation 20:11-15, NASB)
This judgment is based on deeds. Books are opened, which are the
individual records of people's deeds, as recorded in their
conscience. What is written in each book is according to their deeds,
not their religious beliefs. On that basis, a person's name is either
kept in or erased from the book of life.[6]
What we see in Revelation 20:11-15 is the separation of two types, or
categories of people. They are all outside of the realm of John 3:18,
having never been faced with the opportunity in John 5:25:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the
dead[7] will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will
live."
They never heard the voice of the Son of God, either in person or
through someone He has sent.[8] They may have heard similar words
spoken by those who claim to represent Him, but are actually seeking
their own glory. For this the hearer is not accountable:
"He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking
the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no
unrighteousness in Him." (John 7:18)
Those who stand in the judgment of Revelation 20:11-15 are the ones
spoken of in John 5:28:
"Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in
the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the
good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil
deeds to a resurrection of judgment."
So there are two categories of man clearly described in the judgment of
Revelation 20, each with their own destiny. They are men living
according to the knowledge of good and evil they were born with. They
will go to a second life in the nations of the eternal age,[9] or a
second death in the eternal Sea of Fire.[10]
Their Need for a Savior
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The point of this is not to justify those who have done good deeds and
say that they don't need a Savior. Apart from having a sacrifice for
their sins, all men have an appointment with death:
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus [Yahshua] our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
As it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.
(Hebrews 9:27)
Doing good does not mean that one does not die, but just that his death
would not be eternal, and there would be a chance for a second life
after one has paid the just wages of his sin. Of course, for a person
to present his good works to God as a justification for rejecting His
Son's sacrifice for him would be as the stench of filthy rags.
Man's righteousness is not comparable to the righteousness of God
that is through faith in Christ, as Paul described:
...And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own
derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. (Philippians
3:9)
That righteousness is only found through the Son of God. In fact as
good as men can be when they strive to live by their conscience, they
still remain in the enemy's camp, needing to be made friends:
All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies
into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends
also. Our message is that God was making all mankind his friends
through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has
given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends. Here we
are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his
appeal through us. We plead on Messiah's behalf: let God change you
from enemies into his friends. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20, TEV)
No truly good man would choose his own righteousness over receiving
God's righteousness. He would not reject the opportunity to be
God's friend. Those who reject God's kindness and mercy betray the
true condition of their heart.[11] And this rejection of God's
righteousness and friendship puts them in the category of the cowardly
and unbelieving in Revelation 21:8:
But for the cowardly and unbelieving, and abominable and murderers and
immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part
will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the
second death.
(Excerpted from "Three Eternal Destinies of Man?" found at
http://www.TheLitmusTest.org
Part one, "THE CONSCIENCE", can be read by new group members at the
above link)