God’s ‘judgment’ of the earth with all its nations and people is certain. That is a primary theme of this series. If this is the first time reading God’s Judgment: How It Works, I invite you to click on individual chapters or the four free eBooks at the end of this study. Those chapters will help you understand what I’m about to share.

Judgment Confirmation

The entire Bible, Old and New Testaments, confirms that God will judge all of the nations and peoples of the earth. We can trust that ‘confirmation’ because it comes through those through whom God speaks – the prophets and Jesus Christ, who is God the Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of all Scripture, which is further confirmation that the ‘judgments’ written about in the Bible are true.

The ‘ages’ as we understand them will come to an end. Time will come to an end. Those humans who serve God will enter into an ‘unending’ relationship with Him.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:1-4

And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 21:25-27

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 22:1-5

God’s people will reign with Christ ‘forever and ever.’ The nation’s will be healed and those who are saved will walk in the ‘Light of the Lamb.’ The ‘kings of the earth’ will bring their glory and honor to Christ as He rules the new heavens and new earth from the New Jerusalem.

God’s judgment will be finished at that point. It ended at the ‘great white throne’ –

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15

Judgment Conclusion

That raises an important question. What happens when God’s Judgment is finished? What then? What will life be like for the saved who live on the new earth? What will life be like for the saved who live in the New Jerusalem?

It will be AWESOME! Christians will REIGN with Christ. The idea of ‘reigning’ means that we will have something to ‘reign.’ The Apostle Paul wrote that ‘If we endure, We shall also reign with Him’ (2 Timothy 2:12). The Apostle John wrote, ‘And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth’ (Revelation 5:9-10). I believe that includes both the old earth (current earth) and the new earth. We will reign with Christ to the glory of God the Father.

The New Jerusalem will certainly be an amazing place to live, as will the new earth. Even the greatest of earthly kings have never built any city that comes close to the size or beauty of The New Jerusalem. The new earth will also be a place of perfection for all who live there. The New Jerusalem will have –

  • a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb
  • In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the ‘tree of life,’ which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations
  • And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads
  • There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever

It will be a type of new ‘Eden’ where God’s people will rule and reign with Him. That’s the most important thing. We will BE WITH GOD! We will see His Face, and His name will be on our foreheads. We will belong to Him, serve Him, and reign with Him forever.

I wrote a short eBook titled Revelation 23 – Our Future Reign to answer the question about what we’ll be doing ‘after’ Revelation 22. I recommend you read it if you’d like to dig deeper into the question. In short, we will be serving God. That means we’ll be going in and out of The New Jerusalem, visiting the ‘new earth’ to do whatever it is that God wants us to do there as we ‘reign’ with Christ, and possibly going on new adventures with the Lord as He creates and rules – possibly new worlds that do not currently exist.

I also believe we will ‘fellowship’ with family and friends. I look forward to seeing people I know in this life who will be both ‘immortal’ and ‘incorruptible’ in Heaven (1 Corinthians 15). I look forward to meeting people from my family who died long before I was born who will share in reigning with Christ. I look forward to all of the phenomenal experiences that await us after God’ finishes ‘judging’ the world.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this study as much as I have enjoyed researching and writing it. It boils down to the Eternal and Holy Purposes of God, and how we will ‘be with the Lord’ forever and wherever He goes.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 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. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

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.

eBooks

God’s Judgment: How It Works – Part 1

God’s Judgment: How It Works – Part 2

God’s Judgment: How It Works – Part 3

God’s Judgment: How It Works – Part 4

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

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