The Doctrine of the Judgment Seat of Christ

Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The TREE OF LIFE is a weekly teaching summary.

Tree of Life 09/13/98

The Doctrine of The Judgement Seat of Christ..

Tree of Life for 09-13-98

There are seven major judgments from the time of the cross until the end of human history.
1) The judgment of Jesus Christ on the cross for all the personal sins of the world, this is the first of the seven major judgments in history.
2) Rebound (1JO 1:9; 1CO 11:31) which is the royal family's self judgment to recover from involvement in sin and in the cosmic system.
3) The Judgment Seat of Christ which entails the evaluation of all church age believers, 1CO 3:11-15; 2CO 5:10; ROM 14:10.
4) The judgment of the living Tribulational unbelieving Gentiles at the second advent. These ones are thereafter cast into the eternal lake of fire, MAT 25:31-46.
5) The judgment of the living Tribulational unbelieving Jews at the second advent, EZE 20:32-38.
6) The judgment of all fallen angels at the end of the Millennial reign of Christ, MAT 25:40 cf REV 20:10.
7) The Second Resurrection also known as the Great White Throne Judgment (GWTJ) which includes all unbelievers from the beginning of time. These are thereafter cast into the eternal lake of fire, REV 20:7-15.

Now, the word judgment can mean either condemnation or evaluation. The Judgment Seat of Christ is a technical, theological term used to designate the evaluation of the royal family of God at the end of the church age after the Rapture and the Big Genuflex. The judgment seat of Christ is the evaluation of what use we made of the logistical grace provisions, predestination, the ten problem solving devices, and the divine power which God made available to every church age believer. ROM 14:10 tells us that everyone will give an account for themselves. The purpose of the evaluation is to determine gain or loss of escrow blessings and rewards for our eternal state. Note that whatever takes you away from executing your personal relationship with God robs you of eternal rewards, (1Corinthians 3:15).

Gain comes from the exploitation of positive volition toward doctrine hence advancing in predestination. Loss comes from cosmic living hence failure to execute the spiritual life. At the judgment seat of Christ it is performance not salvation which is the issue, 1John 2:28.

At this point there is a temporary shame which will be experienced by loser believers who did not take advantage of all that God had provided for them. Therefore because of the judgment seat of Christ there is no equality in heaven. The exercise of our free will in time leads to varying decisions on the part of all hence some will use their freedom to chose for God's plan and others will use their freedom to ignore God's plan.

Freedom never leaves us the same as it found us. If you place Bible doctrine first in your scale of values the Lord will promote you. So, at the judgment seat of Christ the first issue you will face is how you used your freedom. Freedom refers to each individual's response and motivation. The believer must have his own scale of values and priorities and execute his values with discipline and an organized mind. Believers who fail to execute God's plan for their lives have no true standards, no effectiveness, no coordination meaning no orientation to God's plan, Isaiah 43:21; Revelation 4:11. They have no performance nor momentum leading to no execution of predestination, no utilization of the ten problem solving devices, no production of divine good, hence no glorification of God. This all adds up to a life without purpose! John 5:22 tells us that the evaluation of each believer is performed by the Lord Jesus Christ and what is it He uses to evaluate us? The word of God, John 12:48.

The purpose of the judgment seat of Christ is to evaluate the decisions the believer made in time for the distribution of eternal rewards. The believer must have acted in a greater power than human power while on earth. There are two types of power offered to the believer in life,
(1) Satan's cosmic system which promotes human power.
(2) God's pre-designed plan which offers divine power to the believer.
So, at the judgment seat of Christ both the invisible and the visible part of the Christian life is evaluated for the production, motivation, and functional virtues. The subject of virtue entails making right decisions and having right thoughts. Spiritual independence requires personal love for God and taking responsibility for one's own decisions. Personal love for God eventuates in impersonal love for mankind. But if you regard others with contempt this clearly indicates a lack of virtue-love and a lack of spiritual growth. The believer must learn to tolerate others and not become distracted by people.
The Christian life is a life of power and reward. At the judgment seat of Christ all good decisions made in the filling of the Spirit and deeds accomplished in the filling of the Spirit will be rewarded. All bad decisions and deeds made in the power if the flesh will be burned up as worthless, 1Corinthians 3:11-15. The loser believer who went through life via human power will be embarrassed at the judgment seat of Christ since he receives no rewards for his futile accomplishments. But the loss of rewards does not indicate a loss of salvation! Once saved always saved. The judgment seat of Christ deals with evaluating deeds, not sin. All sin has been dealt with and paid for on the cross! Shall payment be demanded twice?

The rewards which the winner believer receives at the judgment seat of Christ for executing God's plan in time and advancing to spiritual maturity consists of five crowns:
1) The crown of righteousness (2Timothy 4:8) distributed to church age believers who fulfill the plan of God and advance to SM thereby reaching occupation with Christ and producing divine good. This crown emphasizes functional virtue directed toward man and circumstances, hence the fulfillment of the royal family honor code (RFHC).
2) The crown of life (JAM 1:12; Revelation 2:10) given to the spiritually mature believer who passes evidence testing and glorifies God in the angelic conflict. This crown is given for enduring trials and still glorifying God.
3) The incorruptible crown (1Corinthians 9) issued for mastering your old sin nature through dedication to predestination. This requires discipline, faithfulness, and self motivation.
4) The crown of rejoicing (1TH 2:19) distributed for being a soul winner in time. This does not point to the amount of souls won but the accuracy in which you presented the gospel. Proverbs 11:30 tells us that he who is wise wins souls.
5) The crown of glory (1PE 5:4) this crown is awarded to winner pastors only for their dedication and willingness to feeding the flock of God.

Revelation 3:11 warns us to hang on to what we have that no one rob us of our crowns. This is simply a warning not to be distracted from the plan of God and eternal rewards. Aside from these five crowns there are other rewards distributed to the mature/winner believer at the judgment seat if Christ, the ultimate decoration is the order of the morning star named after our Lord's third royal title, Revelation 22:16; 2Peter 1:19. This award is given for the maintenance of spiritual maturity in an ultra super-grace status. Such a believer did not quit in the face of trouble and remained with the plan of God. There are seven privileges which accompany the order of the morning star:
1) The uniform of honor which is worn invisibly in time and is traded in at the judgment seat of Christ for the uniform of glory which is worn over the resurrection body and is quite visible and quite vibrant, Revelation 3:4-5. This uniform distinguishes winner believers for all eternity!
2) The winner's name appears on the honor's list in heaven. This list is presented in court before God and the angels while the Tribulation is taking place on earth, REV 3:5.
3) A new order of knighthood and eternal order of chivalry is awarded the winner believer, Revlation 2:17; Colossians 3:4-6. This new order is recorded in the Lamb's book of life forever.
4) Winners rules with Christ during the Millennial reign and forever in the eternal state.
5) The winner's name is recorded in the permanent historical section of heaven for all eternity, Revelation 3:12a.
6) The winner receives his own coat of arms of glory, Revelation 3:12.
7) The winner has specific privileges related to the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God, the gazebo in the garden, Revelation 2:7,14.

Let's go through the chronological order of events once again. First we have the Rapture of the Church, followed by the Big Genuflex which is a time of worship proceeding the judgment seat of Christ. Then after the judgment seat of Christ, at which all church age believer's deeds are evaluated, we have the second advent. The second advent of Christ is also known as the second coming of Christ and occurs after the great tribulation. While the seven year Tribulational period is taking place on earth the judgment seat of Christ is going on in heaven. After this seven year period is complete and the Jews time table is fulfilled, the second advent of Christ takes place. It is at this time Christ returns to the earth with His bride for the last campaign of world war in which Jesus Christ slaughters the anti-Semitic armies, EXO 14:14; Josh 5:13-6:2; ISA 37:36; EZE 38:16. This is known as Armageddon or the Gog/Magog war.

The word advent simply means the coming or arrival of something extremely important. And, the second advent needs to be distinguished from the first advent. The first advent began with the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and concludes with the resurrection, ascension, and session of Jesus Christ. The second advent is designed to reveal Jesus Christ as both battlefield royalty and Jewish royalty. The second advent of Jesus Christ ends the Jewish age. This is the time when Christ returns to the earth with His bride (the church) adorned in their resurrected bodies to claim His victory. This return is for the purpose of setting up the earthly kingdom of Christ. At this time all unbelievers are removed from the earth (baptism of fire), MAT 24:40-41. Satan and his cronies are bound for 1,000 years and perfect environment is instituted. The Millennial reign of Christ starts off with all believers and Jesus Christ Himself ruling the earth along with those winner believers from the church age. The Millennium introduces perfect environment on earth and:

1) Satan and his angels are removed, REV 20:1-3.,br>2) There is maximum spirituality on earth, ISA 65:24.
3) Israel is restored as a client nation to God, ISA 5:26-30; ZEC 2:28-29.
4) All unconditional covenants to Israel are fulfilled, DAN 9:24.
5) There is universal peace, PSA 46:9; ISA 2:4; HOS 2:18; Micah 4:3.
6) There exists universal prosperity, PSA 72:7,16.
7) There is perfect world government under Jesus Christ and the royal family winners, ISA 11:1-2; ZEC 14:9.
8) There is perfect objectivity in the administration of justice, ISA 11:3-5.
9) Nature changes radically and is released from the bondage which is presently shares due to man's original sin, ROM 8:19-22.
10) Flowers will abound, Isa 35; 11:6-9; 65:25.
11) There will be a population explosion and there will be no death except for capital punishment.

Then at the end of the Millennial reign of Christ, after 1,000 years of perfect environment, Satan is let loose from prison for the last time. He instigates discontentment toward Jesus Christ but to no avail since at this time his sentence of MAT 25:40 is carried out and he and his fallen angels are cast into the eternal lake of fire forever, REV 20:10. The GWTJ also takes place at the end of the Millennial reign, in which unbelievers are cast into the eternal lake of fire. Then the new world order is established and eternity commences in its full glory!