From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part seven of a series. Read part six.

Believers in Christ may look toward the Last Judgment with confidence of our security in Him.

Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the West, immediately you say, 'a shower is coming'; and so it is. And when you see the South wind blow, you say, 'there will be hot weather'; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time?

"Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite." (Luke 12:54-59)

The Position of the Believer at the Last Judgment

Jesus' evangelistic parable proclaims a message of the greatest comfort to the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. You will come to the Last Judgment having already settled out of court as it were, by having already appropriated the redemption accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and by having already been brought to repentance and faith by the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit, who is the one who applies the salvation accomplished at the cross by Christ to the soul of the condemned Son of Adam.

It is all of grace. It is none of us.

"The Man With the Rent"

I am reminded of a story that Charles Spurgeon told. He had heard that an elderly widow in his church was about to be put out of her house because she could not pay the rent. And so Spurgeon took some money, put it in an envelope, put it in his pocket, and made his way to the door of her house. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. And so he knocked again, because he knew that she was there. Still there was no answer. And so he knocked, again and again and again.

Finally, the widow came to the door and opened it just a tiny bit. When she saw that it was Spurgeon standing at the door, she threw it wide open with a look of great relief. "Oh pastor, I'm sorry I didn't answer the door. I thought that you were the man coming for the rent."

Spurgeon said to her, "No, my dear, it is not 'the man for the rent' - but the man with the rent" - and handed her the envelope.

Dear friends, that is an illustration of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot "pay the rent". We cannot pay the penalty for our sins. We cannot pay our way into the glories of the New Heavens and New Earth. There is no way we can do that. But Jesus is "the man with the rent." Jesus is the God-man who has paid our sin-debt in full. He offers, fully and freely, salvation that is entirely of grace.

The Believer's Guaranteed Destiny

And so, believer in Christ, when you come to the Day of Judgment - as you surely will - immediately your Lord will place you on His right hand. You will immediately be welcomed into the kingdom that was prepared for you from before the foundation of the world. Let me remind you of the words of Matthew 25 with which we began this series:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world..." (Matthew 25:31-34)

At the beginning of this series I also quoted Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27. We read there that "it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the Judgment..." But that is not the end of the sentence. There is more to the writer's inspired thought.

He says, yes, "it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the Judgment," but furthermore - verse 28 - "So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time" - that second time being the Day of Judgment - "apart from sin, for salvation."

Think of it: You will appear, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, at His judgment seat, "apart from sin, for salvation." The sense of the Greek words translated "apart from sin" in this verse bear the sense that we shall appear "fully detached from sin, our sin having been rendered null and void." There can be no greater words of comfort to anyone in this world.

In January of 2013, I began to awaken from a coma after a massive brain hemorrhage. I had been unconscious for several days. A machine was breathing for me. I could not move or speak. I had no idea what had happened to me. At first, in the fog of that moment, I wondered where I was. But by the grace of God my wondering was limited to this: Am I on earth, or am I in Heaven? On the authority of the Word of God and on the firm foundation of the merits of Jesus Christ, I knew that for me, those were the only two possibilities. I was assured of the promise, at the end of Romans chapter 8, that I would never be separated from the love of God in Christ. I must tell you that those God-given thoughts, at that moment of abject physical distress, were an incredible comfort. I do not think I have experienced that sense of comfort so overwhelmingly before or since. God gave me that comfort, based on the assurance of my security in Christ, at the moment of greatest need.

To Christ Be All Our Praise!

Christ's evangelistic parable, and His description of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25, remind us of this great fact: We who have believed on Him for eternal life shall appear at the Last Judgment clothed in the robe of the righteousness of our Lord. Indeed, in the eyes of God, we wear that robe even now:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

And so we who are trusting in Christ - having agreed with our Adversary on the way to Judgment, now bedecked in the robe of His righteousness, our sin-debt having been paid in full by His person and work, having been already declared "not guilty" because He has born our guilt - we may sing this great hymn, looking forward to the Last Judgment with heartfelt thanks and confident anticipation:

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
my beauty are, my glorious dress;
'midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
with joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in Thy great day,
for who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am,
from sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

Lord, I believe Thy precious blood,
which at the mercy seat of God,
forever doth for sinners plead,
for me, even for my soul, was shed.

Jesus, be endless praise to Thee,
whose boundless mercy hath for me,
for me a full atonement made,
an everlasting ransom paid.

When from the dust of death I rise
to claim my mansion in the skies,
even then this shall be all my plea,
Jesus hath lived, hath died, for me.

O let the dead now hear Thy voice;
now bid Thy ransomed ones rejoice;
their beauty this, their glorious dress,
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness.

 - Jesus, Thy Blood And Righteousness, Nicolas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1739), translated from the German by John Wesley

Next: A Severe Warning to the Unbeliever

sas0054

Copyright 1998-2024

TeachingtheWord Ministriesmmmmmwww.teachingtheword.org

All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirety only,
for non-commercial purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included.

We also suggest that you include a direct hyperlink to this article
for the convenience of your readers.