| Christian Life and Doctrine | December 1974 |
Should We Fear the Day of Judgment?
“BUT the Lord shall endure forever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.”—Ps. 9:7
“Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son. He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.”—Ps. 72:1,2
“Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.”—Ps. 72:11
“Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.”—Ps. 96:10
“For he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.”—Ps. 98:9
“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”—Acts 17:31
The average person thinks of the day of judgment with fear. He has been taught that it is a doomsday for the earth and those who dwell on it. But this is not so! This tradition of a darker past is not supported by the Word of God. The texts that head this article are prophecies that the judgment day will be a time for establishing righteousness and equity in the earth; a time of rejoicing.
The conventional idea that the eternal destiny of each member of the human family is unalterably fixed at his death is scripturally unsupported. If this were true one would have to ask, just what purpose will be served by a future day of judgment? But if, on the other hand, the future day of judgment is a period, not of twenty-four hours, but of one thousand years, during which the whole family of man will be put on probation and then judged worthy or unworthy of a home and everlasting life upon this earth, we can see how all can rejoice in the prospect of that judgment day. And even though that prospect is not commonly believed, it is nevertheless true, according to the Bible.
Jesus said, “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I come not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the words that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”—John 12:47,48
The Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 6:2 asks the question, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” This is part of their special reward for faithfulness. Primarily, their reward will be a resurrection to spiritual life. After that they will reign with Christ, which means that they will be associated with Christ in the future work of judging the human family. Only thus can we understand the apostle’s question regarding the saints of this Gospel Age judging the world, in the last day.
The judgment day is not a time for gloom and Sadness, but a wonderful time of triumphant happiness for both the living and the dead, except for the few who reject the way of the Lord under full light and knowledge. To understand the day of judgment is to know that there is hope for the unsaved dead, who will be awakened from the sleep of death when the gloom of tradition will have given place to the time when “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”—Hab. 2:14