One of the amazing thoughts about God’s Judgment is that His people will be eyewitnesses to it. That does not mean we should attempt to hurry God to judge people. God’s Judgment is on His timetable. The disciples of Christ were hoping to see God’s judgment in their day. That’s why they asked Jesus this question before His death and resurrection:

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? Matthew 24:3

The disciples asked a similar question after the Lord’s death and resurrection:

 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Acts 1:6

The disciples of Christ were Jews and knew from the Hebrew Bible that Messiah’s restoration of the Kingdom to Israel would include God’s judgment on their enemies. Our Lord’s answer to their question was direct and purposed:

And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8

Jesus’ answer to the question after His resurrection was a bit different from His answer to the question before His death and resurrection. Jesus went into great detail about the end of the age in Matthew 24 and 25, and in Luke 21. His answer included how He would judge the nations when He returned to establish His earthly Kingdom. However, in Acts 1, Jesus did not even mention judgment of the nations. Instead, He told His disciples to go to the nations as “witnesses” about what He had done for sinners

Witness Waiting

I call this “witness waiting.” What I mean by that is we know Jesus is going to judge the world. We read the Bible and see clearly what’s coming. Jesus is going to judge the nations. We know a lot about what’s coming because God wants us to know. Notice I wrote the word “coming,” not “here and now.” God is patient and long-suffering. He is slow to anger, but He is angry and that anger will one day reach a point where God will pour out His wrath on the world.

Jesus answered His disciples’ questions, but told them to wait and witness. Here’s how the Apostle Paul explained the process of “witness waiting” –

If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Romans 12:18-20

Judgment Day is coming, but we have important work to do while we wait. You can read previous parts of this series for more details about that.

Witnessing Judgment

What I’d like to address in this part of the study is how Christians will witness God’s judgment. I know we will witness Christ’s judgment of nations on the earth and His judgment of all humanity in Heaven because of what I read in several passages of the New Testament.

The Apostle Paul saw things in Heaven that he was not allowed to disclose (2 Corinthians 12). According to the timeline of when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians and his detail of seeing Paradise and hearing things there “fourteen years” earlier, tells us that this event occurred before Paul began his missionary journeys. One of the earliest of Paul’s letters was to Christians in Thessalonica, one of the cities where Paul established a church. He had to leave Thessalonica after only a brief time of preaching and teaching (Acts 17), so the new Christians there became confused about some things Paul had taught. Paul responded to their questions and concerns by letter. we know that letter as 1 Thessalonians. Here’s what Paul wrote about where Christians will be in the future –

 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

“And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” That means Christians will be where Jesus is in the future. Paul wrote something similar to another church a few years later –

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:1-6

We are “confident” Paul wrote, that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. While Paul may have been addressing “soul” presence in 2 Corinthians, he was certainly addressing “body and soul” presence in 1 Thessalonians 4 and in 1 Corinthians 15 –

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.”The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:42-57

What this means is that we will see Jesus Christ in Heaven in all of His Glory. Read the Book of Revelation and the “what is to come” portion is what we will witness. Depending on your particular interpretation of prophecy, you may believe you’ll go through some or all of the Tribulation period. You may believe you won’t go through any of the Tribulation period. However, whatever you believe about that, we should be able to agree that Jesus Christ will return to earth with the saints to establish His earthly Kingdom (Revelation 19).

  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ treading “the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Revelation 19).
  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ when He destroys the armies of the world and judges the nations.
  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ when He has the beast and false prophet thrown into the lake of fire, and Satan into the bottomless prison.
  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ when He rules the earth with a rod of iron during the Millennial Reign.
  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ when Satan is released from his prison and goes out to deceive the nations to gather together to fight against “the saints and the beloved city.”
  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ when fire comes down from Heaven to devour the rebels.
  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ when Satan is cast into “the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are” and where “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ judging “the dead, small and great.”
  • Christians will be witnesses of Christ as “anyone not found written in the Book of Life” is “cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20).

Christians will witness all of these things. As Paul wrote, vengeance belongs to God and He will repay. He will repay in His time. That time is not for us to know now. We have work to do. We have the Gospel to preach. Truth to teach. Christ-like lives to live before others. We know what’s coming, so we can take comfort in knowing that Christ is in control of all things.

A Question About Witnessing Judgment

I’ve been asked when teaching on this subject about how Christians will handle witnessing Christ judging fellow human beings. That’s a fair question and one I want to address with humility and appreciation.

By humility, I mean that I know my eternal salvation is because of what Christ did on the Cross, not anything I did. To think that we played any role whatsoever in being saved is a big mistake – in my humble opinion. I believe I can support that from God’s Word, and have written and taught on that subject throughout my 55 years of being saved.

By appreciation, I mean that I am forever thankful to the love, grace, and mercy of Almighty God for saving me. Knowing that I had nothing to do with my salvation causes me to be both thankful and forever indebted to Christ for His great gift of eternal life.

With that said, I believe I and other Christians will feel humbled and grateful as we witness Christ’s judgment of the nations on earth and His judgment of the dead in Heaven. Our bodies and minds will be both immortal and incorruptible at that time, so there may be things I cannot fathom about what I will think and feel at those judgments. I believe all Christians will understand that God’s judgment will be righteous and just.

I will admit, as someone now living in the flesh, being a bit conflicted about witnessing the judgment of people I know now or have known. I know that God will be right in judging people. Interestingly, the Apostle Paul wrote that Christians will participate in judging the world and angels (1 Corinthians 6), so that shows that the change we go through in the resurrection of saints will prepare us for the work God has for us to do in that context. However, I wonder what it will be like to see loved ones face an angry God.

The upside to my conflict is that I can do everything possible during my life on earth to tell family and friends about God’s love for them. I don’t think of John 3:16 as just a T-shirt to wear or a sign to hold up at a sporting event for others to see. I really believe that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” I really believe that God is “rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses” (Ephesians 2:4-5). I believe that sinners can be saved and receive the gift of eternal life “by grace through faith” in Christ.

Once we witness the “great white throne” of Revelation 20, the time for preaching the Gospel to unbelievers is finished. God is now withholding His judgment so that we can be witnesses of God’s great love for us through His Son who shed His blood to save us from our sin, and rose from the dead for our eternal future.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-3

Next Time

We have one more part of this study to share with you. What happens when God’s Judgment is finished? What then? We’ll see in the conclusion of our special series, God’s Judgment: How It Works.

Judgment and Justice

God’s future judgment will be based on His justice. That’s why we have connected this series with one titled God’s Justice: How It Works. You can read the first part of that series here.

If you have not read all of the parts of this study we’ve published so far, we invite you to do that now for the Scriptural background to Christ as Judge.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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