Four Characteristics of the Bema Seat
Every Christian can take comfort in four characteristics of the judgment seat of Jesus Christ when He will evaluate our lives in light of Eternity.First – We are going to be judged fairly.
We know this will be true because Jesus Christ—the Anointed One who loves us and died for us—now sits as judge. He is going to be eminently fair. Not one single fact will be overlooked; everything will be taken into account, and nothing will be hidden.
Our rewards will be dependent not on what we did after our first birth, but what we did for Christ after our second birth. Just consider the Apostle Paul. He sought to kill Christians before his conversion. So, like him, no matter what your past was before your conversion, you are going to be judged by what you did and how you lived after your conversion. And Jesus, our Savior and our Brother, wants us to do well at the judgment seat, so we can depend on His fairness.
Second – We are going to be judged individually.
That is precisely what the text says. “Each one [will] be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done” (2 Corinthians 5:10). In Romans 14, Paul warns us not to judge one another, for “each one of us will give an account for himself to God” (Romans 14:12). There will be no one to stand beside us and make an excuse for us.
Right about now, some people might think, “Oh, I sure hope my friends aren’t going to see this. I hope that it’s going to be totally private.” I would simply say this: First, we’ll all be in the same boat. But secondly, I really believe that when we stand before Jesus, we will not care if the whole universe (including our spouse, our family, our friends, or people before whom we made ourselves look much better than we really are) is watching. The only thing that we will care about is Jesus’ judgment and whether we will hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Third – We’re going to be judged thoroughly, whether good or evil.
The evil deeds are covered by the blood of Christ and will be burned away as wood, hay, and stubble. The question will be whether there will be any gold, silver, or precious stones left over. Again, that’s why Scripture reveals that “each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward” (1 Corinthians 3:13-14). Some people will find that all of their supposed works are burned up, but that they are saved “yet so as through fire” (v. 15).
The Bema Seat Judgment: Your Day of Reckoning (Part 2 of 2) | The Christ in Prophecy Journal
Let's unpack the seriousness of what awaits every believer on our final day of reckoning—the Bema Seat of Christ.
christinprophecyblog.org
