Day 362 – Revelation & the Final Judgement

3 days to go! Today’s passages are hard to read though, so I suggest reading with someone else if you can.

• Before we hit the awesome glory of Heaven, as described in Revelation 21, we’re first going to spend two days, this being the first, looking at God’s judgement of His people. Today’s focus is on the uncomfortable message that all will be judged, and  – as nobody is sinless (Romans 3:19) – we will all be found guilty.
• Look at the brief words from Revelation 20. The 1,000 years, by this point, are complete, and Satan is forever gone. All the dead are raised – those who followed Jesus in their lives and those who didn’t. Everyone who has ever lived “awakes” to face the great white throne of God in His ultimate courtroom.
• What do you think this will be like? Can you picture it?
• There are two books described in Revelation 20:12. One of the books has everything we have ever done in our lives. The other is the book of life. What do you think each of these books says about you?
• It’s important to say that, even as followers of Jesus, we will still face this judgement and be found guilty. Does the idea of God’s judgement of your life scare you? It scares me. Look at the opening words of Romans 2. They’re frightening. Verses 1-5 tell us that our evil hearts, our hypocritical lives and our rebellious inclinations are storing up God’s wrath against us.
• What does Romans 2:6 say God will do in response to our sin?
• Spend a moment praying about this. There might be sin in your life which you have half-heatedly tried to give up, but failed. How can you use Paul’s stark words to jolt you into taking that sin seriously?
• Romans 2:12-16 talk about the law under whom people will be judged. In summary, it says that we, as gentiles, might not be judged under Judaic Law, but we will still be found guilty.
• How, in Romans 3:10-18, does Paul sum up the state of the people who will face that coming judgement throne?
• You might be feeling thoroughly ill by this point. How, in a wonderful change of tack, does Paul change message to one of glorious hope in Romans 3:21-26? How does Paul explain the gospel message of righteousness by faith alone, for both the Jew *and* the Gentile?

These words, perhaps more than any others we have read this year, should move you to praise God for what He has done in your life.

Your sin, and my sin, is leading us to judgement, and the penalty that comes from being found guilty. But here we see one of the reasons that Jesus came and died for us – so that right at this moment, He can stand up in that courtroom and say that He has taken the punishment in our place, with the scars on His hands to prove it. And we can be made free from the penalty, have our past washed clean, and be welcomed into the arms of God.

Wow.