Last Judgment, Day of the Lord

General Information
The concept of a final judgment on humankind at the end of history is found in Judaism and Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism. It holds an important place in Judaic tradition, in which God's judgment is regarded as operative both within history and at its end. The consummation of history is called the Day of the Lord, which is a day of judgment upon all who are unfaithful to God.

Christian Eschatology owes much to this Hebrew tradition. The New Testament freely employs the language and imagery of Jewish Apocalyptic Literature. It affirms the expectation that (in the language of the historic creeds) Christ "will come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead." Many different interpretations of the meaning of this affirmation have been offered and, in particular, of the symbolic language employed in the New Testament to describe the indescribable. But there is little doubt that the apostolic writers believed in the Second Coming of Christ and the Great Judgment Day as a manifestation of Christ's eternal victory.

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Final Judgment

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Final Judgment is the sentence that will be passed on our actions at the last day (Matt. 25; Rom. 14:10, 11; 2 Cor. 5: 10; 2 Thess. 1:7-10). The judge is Jesus Christ, as mediator. All judgment is committed to him (Acts 17:31; John 5:22, 27; Rev. 1:7). "It pertains to him as mediator to complete and publicly manifest the salvation of his people and the overthrow of his enemies, together with the glorious righteousness of his work in both respects." The persons to be judged are, (1) the whole race of Adam without a single exception (Matt. 25:31-46; 1 Cor. 15:51, 52; Rev. 20:11-15); and (2) the fallen angels (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6).

The rule of judgment is the standard of God's law as revealed to men, the heathen by the law as written on their hearts (Luke 12:47, 48; Rom. 2:12-16); the Jew who "sinned in the law shall be judged by the law" (Rom. 2:12); the Christian enjoying the light of revelation, by the will of God as made known to him (Matt. 11:20-24; John 3:19). Then the secrets of all hearts will be brought to light (1 Cor. 4:5; Luke 8:17; 12:2, 3) to vindicate the justice of the sentence pronounced. The time of the judgment will be after the resurrection (Heb. 9:27; Acts 17: 31). As the Scriptures represent the final judgment "as certain [Eccl. 11:9], universal [2 Cor. 5:10], righteous [Rom. 2:5], decisive [1 Cor. 15:52], and eternal as to its consequences [Heb. 6:2], let us be concerned for the welfare of our immortal interests, flee to the refuge set before us, improve our precious time, depend on the merits of the Redeemer, and adhere to the dictates of the divine word, that we may be found of him in peace."

(Easton Illustrated Dictionary)

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Judgment

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Because we are born in sin and therefore cannot live up to God's righteous standards, condemnation (damnation, the older synonym, has other connotations today) hangs over our heads like the sword of Damocles (II Pet. 2:3; Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:5-6; Col. 3:5-6). God himself is the one who condemns (Job 10:2; Jer. 42:18; John 12:48). His condemnation is based on his justice, and such condemnation is deserved (I Kings 8:32; Rom. 3:8; Gal. 1:8-9). Condemnation comes to the wicked and unrepentant (Matt. 12:41-42; Luke 11:31-32; John 5:29; Rom. 5:16, 18; II Thess. 2:12; Rev. 19:2) and results in eternal punishment (Matt. 23:33), but no OT believer who trusted in God (Ps. 34:22) or NT believer who trusts in Christ (John 3:18; 5:24) will be condemned. Jesus came to save rather than to condemn (John 3:17), and he frees us from final condemnation (Rom. 8:1-2).

Conscience may cause us to condemn ourselves (I John 3:19-21), but no one can justly condemn the righteous if God is on his side (Isa. 50:9; Titus 2:7-8). In fact, the Lord prevents or reverses unfair condemnation by our enemies (Pss. 37:33; 79:11; 102:19-20; 109:31). Self-righteous people should avoid condemning others (Job 32:3; Luke 6:37; Rom. 8:34; 14:3) because quickness to condemn may recoil on their own heads (Job 15:6; Ps. 34:21; Luke 6:37; Rom. 2:1; Titus 3:10-11). Needless to say, it is the height of arrogance and folly for sinful people to condemn a just and omnipotent God (Job 34:17, 29; 40:8).

Divine judgment is God's method of displaying his mercy as well as his wrath toward individuals and nations (Exod. 6:6, 7:4; Eccles. 3:17; 12:14; Dan. 7:22; Joel 3:2; II Cor. 5:10). As God is the one who condemns, so also he is the true and only Judge (Gen. 18:25; Ps. 82:1; Eccles. 11:9), an office and function shared by the Father (Gen. 31:53; John 8:50; Rom. 3:6) and the Son (Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom. 2:16). Retributive or negative judgment is a direct result of sin (I Sam. 3:13; Ezek. 7:3, 8, 27; Rom. 2:12; Jude 14-15) and is therefore both just (Ezek. 33:20; II Tim. 4:8; I Pet. 2:23) and deserved (Pss. 94:2; 143:2; Ezek. 18:30). Rewarding or positive judgment relates to the believer's stewardship of his talents and gifts and is therefore characterized by divine compassion (Matt. 25:14-23; I Cor. 3:12-15; I Pet. 1:17). Although we experience judgment initially in this life, all of us are judged ultimately after death (Isa. 66:16; Jer. 25:31; Joel 3:12; John 12:48; Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:16; Rev. 20:12-13) at the judgment seat of God (Rom. 14:10) or Christ (II Cor. 5:10). Self-judgment, another manifestation of the same activity, is brought about by rebellion and willfulness (Rom. 13:2; I Cor. 11:29; I Tim. 5:12).

It is not only human beings who are judged, however, God also judges other gods, real or imagined (Exod. 12:12; Num. 33:4; Jer. 10:14-15), and angels as well (II Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). The devil himself is not exempt from such judgment (I Tim. 3:6). And although in the final analysis God is the only judge, he has chosen to allow us to participate with Christ in judging the world (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30; I Cor. 6:2; Rev. 20:4), including the angels (I Cor. 6:3).

The story of Noah's flood contains several principles concerning divine judgment that are worth careful consideration. (1) God's judgments are never arbitrary. Man's sin is God's sorrow (Gen. 6:5-6). The Lord is not capricious when he judges. He makes a considered and deliberate decision before unleashing his punishment. (2) God can be counted on always to judge sin (Gen. 6:7). No sin escapes his notice; his judgment on sin is inevitable (Rom. 2:3; Heb. 9:27-27). (3) God always announces judgment beforehand (Gen. 6:13). He informs us that our evil deeds are condemned by him and will be judged by him. (4) God always gives sinners an opportunity to repent before judging them (see Acts 17:30-31; Rom. 2:4; II Pet. 3:9). There was a period of 120 years of grace for the people of Noah's day (Gen. 6:3). (5) God always follows through on his decision to judge (cf. Gen. 7:4 with vss. 12 and 23), once he has announced it and once people have had an opportunity to repent. His judgments are irreversible. (6) God's judgments always lead to death (see Jer. 51:18; Hos. 6:5). Gen. 7:17-24, the only paragraph in the flood narrative that does not contain the name of God, reeks with the smell of death. When judgment results in death, God is no longer there.

But the flood story teaches us also that (7) God's judgments always include elements of both justice and grace. Though the story of the flood begins with judgment, it ends with redemption; though it begins with a curse (Gen. 6:7), it ends with a covenant (9:11). If judgment always issues life. Judgment is never God's last or best word to those who believe in him, because "mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).

R Youngblood
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)

Bibliography
L. Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment; R. Youngblood, How It All Began; F. Buchsel, TDNT, III, 921-54; W. Schneider et al., NIDNTT, II, 361-71.

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Last Judgment

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Judgment at history's end is the climax of a process by which God holds nations and persons accountable to him as Creator and Lord.

The OT centers ultimate judgment in the day of Yahweh (or the day), when the Lord rids his world of every evil: haughtiness (Isa. 2:12-17), idolatry (Isa. 2:18-20), compromise with paganism (Zeph. 1:8), violence, fraud (Zeph. 1:9), complacency (Zeph. 1:12), and all that brands people as sinners (Isa. 13:9). Both the nations (Amos 1:2; Joel 3:2) and Israel (Amos 9:1-4; Mal. 3:2-5) are targets of judgment, which the OT sees as purification of God's people and world so that his creative and covenantal purposes are fulfilled: "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9).

The intertestamental period focuses on the punishment, usually by disaster, of God's enemies, human and supernatural (Eth. Enoch 10:6; 105:3-4). Where such judgment did not take place in history, where the wicked flourished and the righteous suffered (cf. Pss. 37; 73), divine justice was questioned. The problem was solved with the view that judgment was not limited to history but could occur after death (Ps. Sol. 3:1ff.; Eth. Enoch) when God or the Son of man would execute judgment in the last day (II Esd. 7; Eth. Enoch).

The NT builds on OT and intertestamental teaching, expanding it in light of Christ's incarnation. In the Synoptics, Jesus announces himself as the eschatological judge (Mark 15:62) and calls attention to the day of judgment (Matt. 10:15; 11:22, 24; 12:36, 41-42; 23:33), describing it as a final separation of the evildoers from the righteous (Matt. 13:41-43, 47-50). Jesus' parables indicate that his purpose is not to frame an eschatological timetable but so to teach the fact of judgment that his hearers face their present decisions for or against the kingdom with utter seriousness. In the longest judgment parable Jesus' point is that the ultimate outcome will be determined by whether the nations receive or reject his "brethren" who come to them with the gospel message (Matt. 25:31-46).

John's Gospel underscores the tie between present human decisions and future divine judgment: believers do not go through judgment but have already crossed from death to life (5:24); the disobedient will not see life but are already under wrath (3:36). Final judgment, committed by the Father to the Son (5:26-27), will follow the resurrection of both the evil and the good (5:28-29), sealing the decree that human faith or disobedience has already determined.

Paul amplifies these themes: judgment is connected with Christ's coming and the resurrection of the dead (I Cor. 15:22-25); Christ is judge (II Tim. 4:1); Christians share in the judging (I Cor. 6:2-3); judgment is fair (Rom. 2:11), universal (Rom. 2:6), thorough (Rom. 2:16); through justification, judgment is robbed of terror for believers, whose sins have been judged on the cross (Rom. 3:21-26; 8:1, 31-34); believers' judgment consists of rewards for good works (Rom. 14:10; II Cor. 5:10) manifested when the purging fires clear away all dross (I Cor. 3:13-15); final judgment of unbelievers, exclusion from God's presence, is a recurrent theme, much of it stated in OT language (I Thess. 5:3; II Thess. 1:9; Phil. 1:28; 3:19; Rom. 6:21); divine judgment is both present and future reality (Rom. 1:18-32).

Jude and II Peter use some of the Bible's fiercest language to depict the fate of the wicked teachers (incipient Gnostics?) who misled the faithful by mocking their hope of a second coming and encouraging licentious living because they did not fear a final judgment (II Pet. 3:3-7; Jude 3-4). These letters see the final judgment as the ultimate act in a historical pattern (II Pet. 2:4-10; Jude 5-7), an act that should prompt righteous living by its cosmic power to destroy even the very heavens (II Pet. 3:11-13).

Revelation pictures a tribulation poured out on the earth as a judgment just before the final judgment (seven trumpets, 8-11; seven bowls, 16). As the first step in the final judgment the evil leaders whose blasphemous activities sparked the tribulation are captured in battle by the triumphant Christ and consigned to the lake of fire (19:20-21). Next Satan, the ultimate source of evil, is seized and bound for the duration of the millennium (20:1-3). His release results in further deception of the nations, a clear sign that God's final judgment is deserved, even after a thousand years of Christ's perfect rule the nations persist in their sin. The throne and the books symbolize a careful, accurate process based on well-kept records (20:11-15). The scene is cosmic in scope: earth and sky flee to be replaced by a new heaven and earth (20:11; 21:1); the damage to creation done by human sin is reversed, as the OT prophets foresaw (Isa. 11:6-9; 65:17-25) and Paul depicted (Rom. 8:22-23).

The theological implications of the biblical teaching are that final judgment is (1) the ultimate triumph of God's will and the consummate display of his glory in history, the sign that all he intended has been accomplished; (2) the cosmic declaration that God is just, all affronts to his glory are punished and all recognition of it is rewarded; (3) the climax of Christ's ministry, as the Apostles' Creed affirms; (4) the reminder that human and cosmic history move toward a goal, measured by the purposes of God; (5) the absolute seal of human accountability, all believers are held responsible for their works, all unbelievers for their rebellion; (6) the most serious motive for Christian mission, in the face of such judgment the world's only hope is Christ's salvation (Acts 4:12).

Belief in the last judgment was uniformly endorsed in the early creeds and the Reformation confessions. Except where the various ancient and modern forms of universalism have held sway, Christians have accepted the fact of final judgment, though its form and timing have been strongly debated.

D A Hubbard
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)

Bibliography
D. G. Bloesch, Essentials of Evangelical Theology, II, 211-34; A. A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future; G. E. Ladd, A Theology of the NT; J. P. Martin, The Last Judgment; W. Schneider, NIDNTT, II, 361-67.

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