What will happen to every person born on the earth?

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Each of us will be revealed before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

The King James translation reads: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."

Today we speak of people appearing in court, and so we transfer that thought to II Corinthians 5:10. This is somewhat misleading.

The concept here is that we will be revealed, made manifest, at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

When an individual appears in court today he may or may not be made manifest. He may be successful in hiding what he is and what he has done. He is not necessarily revealed or made manifest.

The translation should read: We all must be made manifest before the Judgment Seat of Christ. This is what will happen.

Notice carefully what is to take place at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad (II Corinthians 5:10).

We shall receive the things we have done while in our mortal body, whether they were good things or evil things.

The directness of the reward is surprising. We tend to think of the verse as meaning that we will be rewarded according to our behaviour. This may be the meaning. But what it states is more direct. The statement is, we shall receive what we have done; not we shall be rewarded according to what we have done, but we shall receive the things we have done.

If we were to interpret this in its exact form we would say that if we have practiced love we will receive love itself; not a reward for love but love itself. If we have practiced hate we will receive hate itself.

This well may be the case. It may in fact be true that we will receive a change in our personality according to what we have done, a corresponding change in our appearance and body, and a corresponding destiny.

Some of the translators have added the thought that we shall receive a reward appropriate to our behaviour and not the behaviour itself. It is possible that this is what Paul meant. However, it usually is wise to follow the Scriptures as closely as possible. Things may be different in the Day of the Lord from what would be the case today.

We may observe that Satan practiced rebellion. As part of Satan’s judgment, God has given him a spirit of rebellion from which he cannot escape. Satan no longer is capable of obedience. Therefore his appearance is unimaginably horrible and his destiny frightful beyond words. "He who is filthy, let him remain filthy" (Revelation 22:11).

If such is the meaning of II Corinthians 5:10, the believer who keeps on striving for righteousness will be given a spirit of righteousness, a body of eternal righteousness and life, and a glorious future of nearness to God. The believer who battles lust, denying himself and carrying his cross, will be given a spirit of holiness, a body of eternal righteousness and life, and an inheritance of people to love.

The believer who is neglectful and lazy, will be given a spirit of sluggishness, a weak, lazy body, and a destiny in outer darkness.

It is believed commonly that if a person makes a profession of faith in Christ, receiving Him as the sacrifice for sins and believing that He rose from the dead, there is little else of significance to do as far as redemption is concerned, other than to wait for His appearing. Then, when the believer is presented before the Judgment Seat of Christ, he is to affirm his belief in the atoning death and victorious resurrection of the Lord. On this basis he will be ushered into glorious rewards of blessings, and rulership over the nations.

This is the understanding of the new covenant held by the majority of Christian believers of our day. It is incorrect.

One does not need to be a Greek scholar to perceive that this is not what II Corinthians 5:10 teaches. When the Christian appears before the Judgment Seat of Christ he will be revealed for what he truly is. God will not "see him through Christ."

If he has laid hold on the grace of God so that the sufferings of Christ and the power of the resurrection are abounding in him, Divine life, light and glory will flow from him at his unveiling before Christ.

If his Christian discipleship has been occupied with the satisfying of his flesh, the things of the present world, then the poverty of his threadbare soul will be uncovered before Christ. He will be ashamed, naked, found wanting. There is no question here of the correctness of his theology concerning the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The question concerns the things he has done while in the flesh and the corresponding condition of his inner spiritual nature.

The first part of the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians has to do with reaping what we have sown.

If the believer, when he is made manifest before the Judgment Seat of Christ, has pleased God by his decisions and actions, he will be clothed inwardly with the Spirit of righteousness and outwardly with the body of indestructible life, also having righteous tendencies.

If the believer has occupied himself with the things of the world, has indulged in sin, has followed his personal ambitions rather than taken up his cross and followed the Master, then his inner corruption, self-centeredness, and love of the things of Satan will be revealed before the Judgment Seat of Christ. The believer will be found to be without spiritual clothing.

Is it your understanding that Christ will clothe an immature, half-hearted "believer" with an all-powerful body, assigning him to a post of rulership over the nations of the earth, on the basis of his statement of faith in the Person of Christ?

If he is half-hearted, not seeking the Lord with all his might, does he really believe?

Will the careless Christian be saved at all?

Only God knows the outcome of each individual.

The teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ are stern, and we must take heed to them because they do apply to us.

Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:28-30).

Notice that in the Day of the Lord, Christ does not raise the question of one’s belief. The issue is, rather, what the believer has done with the things of the Kingdom of God that have been given to him.

Those who believe and teach that our inheritance in the Kingdom of God depends on our profession of belief rather than on our behavior will stand one day before the Lord with their followers. They then will give an accounting of their manner of life in the world, before the eyes of the Judge of all the earth.

Having read in the Gospel accounts the teachings of Christ, how will they answer?

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