The end has come, the dead are raised, and the Great Judgement seat of Christ comes into the view of all mankind.
As well as the untold billions who have ever lived, every angel will be present.
There is a binary separation between the elect and the non-elect (or reprobate), figuratively described as sheep and goats.
Yet for the goats, the congregation of Satan, there will be degrees of punishment. Contrary to the hierarchy of sin which we might construct, it is those who have rejected the clear gospel who will fare the worst in this dispensing of justice. The men of Sodom, with all their history of all types of deviancy will suffer but also marvel as they witness far more respectable people in even worse torment. For these people were those in the countries of the Bible who heard the gospel many times and ignored it, a gospel which, had it been preached in Sodom, would have resulted in mass conversions to Christ.
The believers, too, will be judged but in a different way. The kingdom of Satan observes that, after thousands of years of hard work, they were not able to bring down even one of God's elect. God saved every one.
Any works of men not done in faith will be burned up. The few good works remaining will be the evidence in the courtroom of God that their faith was genuine, and they will inherit everlasting life. |
