Telling the Truth for Women

Jill Briscoe: We are coming to the end of this series. We're going to talk about the Last Judgment, and next week we are going to talk about the judgment for Christians. Will Christians be judged? That's a big question. You know, people really are fascinated with this business of hell and Satan. Satan is alive and well on planet Earth, or perhaps we should say Satan is alive and sick on planet Earth because remember, his days are numbered. He is like a wounded beast, and wounded beasts are very frightening sorts of things to deal with.

He is the prince of the power of the air, Jesus said, but Jesus is the King, and we must never forget it. We know in Revelation 1 that Jesus said, "Don't be afraid." He's talking to believers. "Don't be afraid. I have the keys of Hades and heaven." So Satan doesn't have the keys. Satan doesn't rule in hell. God is the one that we are to fear with holy awe and fearfulness, for He has the power to dismiss, to exclude, to reject those who have rejected Him. "Those who deny Me, I will deny. Those who reject Me, I will reject," said Jesus.

We were thinking about Hades, Sheol, and hell. It was a somber time we had together. I'd like to pick up those thoughts and turn to Jude. It's the little tiny book just before the book of Revelation. There are some little pictures here that I think is a great place to start as we've been thinking of people that reject Christ and therefore reject their chance of heaven and end up in Hades awaiting the final judgment. Verse 12 of Jude says this: "These men," and he's talking about the lost, "they are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees without fruit and uprooted, twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever."

It's as if in Hades, it's that awful, dirty, dusky darkness that isn't quite pitch black. But Jesus had the sternest, most frightening words when he talked about outer darkness, when he was talking about the second death. Here we've got some little pictures that we can start with. People that are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind. Can you imagine how empty and helpless a cloud would feel without rain? Get behind the picture and see what the Bible is trying to say. That's hell: being as empty as a cloud without rain.

A tree without fruit and uprooted, twice dead. What a picture. Can you imagine a great big tree uprooted by a tornado? No fruit, twice dead. Interesting. No fruit, once dead. No fruit, and yet uprooted, not connected, twice dead. Wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame. I think this speaks of guilt. I have many women say to me, "I'm so ashamed I can't go out the door," especially immediately after a divorce, even if it's 99% one person's fault and it's 1% their fault. They still say, "I can't face people. It's just like waves of the sea. It just comes up and up and up." That's the idea. That's hell. To be so overswept like lying on a beach and having the waves coming over and over and over you, and the waves of guilt forever.

Then wandering stars, for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever. That's the one that really got to me. It means orbitless. Orbitless on a heavenly circuit. No heavenly circuit for this star. Can you imagine being a star without a circuit, just wandering around the entire universe of universe of universes looking for somewhere to belong? That's the picture behind it. Like a wandering star saying, "Where is my orbit? I don't belong anywhere." One of the things that I think people need more than anything else is a sense of belonging. If we spend eternity in hell, we will not belong to anyone. We won't belong to God. We won't belong to other people because we'll be isolated in silence, in blackest darkness. These are terrible, terrible pictures.

So, when will this happen? As soon as somebody dies, will they begin this orbitless existence? Well, they will be reserved for judgment, the Bible says. At the end of the world, the judgment will begin. Let me talk about the end of the world for a moment. In 2 Peter chapter 3: "First of all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They'll say, 'Where is the coming He promised?' They won't believe because of the delay that He hasn't come yet."

Then it goes on to describe in verse 10: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. The day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness."

A few things from that passage let me draw your attention to. First of all, it's delayed by grace. Scoffers might say to you, "So Christ is coming again? So the end of the world? That's just religious fanaticism." It's delayed by grace, not delayed because God is slack concerning His promise or He can't fulfill it. Do you know what grace is? G-R-A-C-E: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. That's grace. Something that we don't deserve one little bit.

I always remember my husband trying to explain to Pete, our youngest son, the difference between justice, mercy, and grace. It's a wonderful illustration. Pete was told to take the garbage out for how long, and he never did. Stuart was always getting on his back. One day he decided Pete hadn't done it yet one more time, so he sent him to his bedroom. He said, "Pete, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you, but I'm going to apply my hand to the seat of your learning." And so he did.

Then Stuart said, "Now you sit here and think about what's happened." Pete asked if he could stand, and Stuart said yes. After a little bit, Stuart said to him, "You know, it was justice what happened to you, Pete. You knew you should do it. You disobeyed. I warned you and warned you and warned you, and I told you what the punishment would be. That's justice." Pete agreed. Stuart continued, "I only gave you five strokes instead of ten. That's mercy. Mercy doesn't give you everything you deserve." Pete agreed again. Stuart went downstairs and left him there for quite a while.

Then after quite a while, he called up and said, "Pete, I'm going to get some ice cream. Do you want to come with me?" Pete said, "Really, Dad?" That's grace. The difference between justice, mercy, and grace is all there. If we received what we deserved, we'd all be crucified tomorrow because that's what God thinks about sin. That's justice. Have you ever heard people say, "I just want justice. Do me justice"? Please God, they never get it, because we'd all be gone. Mercy doesn't give us everything we deserve, but grace gives us what we don't deserve.

Today is the day of salvation. "How shall we escape if we neglect it?" Hebrews 2:3 asks. In the last days, and the last days are from Christ's first coming on, we are living in the last days. The Old Testament was preliminary and preparatory. We are in the last days. Whether they're the last of the last or a bit of the last or the first of the last or the middle of the last, who knows? In fact, nobody knows. Jesus said, "I don't even know, so don't try and figure it out yourself. Just be ready and just occupy till I come." We must never try to fix dates and things when Jesus said only the Father knew that, and He'd be telling the Son when it was time for the Son to come back again.

The scoffers, of course, don't even believe that there's anything in the sense of a last judgment at all. In that Newsweek article that we've been quoting from, it said, "Missing from most contemporary considerations of heaven is the notion of divine justice." He was talking about many of the Christian creeds that would call themselves Christian creeds, Christian churches that would be named Christian churches. You go to some churches now and you can have a whole congregation that doesn't believe there's a last judgment, that everybody will go to heaven. Everybody. It'll all pan out in the end. We'll get there and maybe God will weigh it up and He'll forgive us if we didn't come up to snuff. Everybody can come in. There is no notion of divine justice.

Well, this passage of scripture explains that the divine judgment is delayed only by grace. It's like in the days of Noah when God waited 120 years for people to repent. God has waited how many thousands? Because He is not willing, it says here, for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. Do we really believe that about the Lord? That He is not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance?

That day will come unexpectedly as a thief in the night. It's called the Day of the Lord. It's a time of judgment and blessing as God intervenes decisively in the affairs of the nations. Isaiah 2:12: "The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that are exalted, and they will be humbled." It appears to be catastrophic. Peter talks about a great noise, fervent heat, things dissolving, everything going up in smoke, everything laid bare. It sounds a bit like nuclear war, but know this: man will not end the world without God allowing it, if that's the way He's going to do it. The world is reserved unto judgment. Man cannot press the button unless God wills it. It might just be that He takes the whole thing up in smoke without anybody pressing the button. He can do that too.

It interested me that on the top of Mount Carmel, they have found a glassy substance that they only found in Hiroshima. Of course, that is where Elijah saw the fire fall from heaven. So, in a sense, perhaps there was a nuclear explosion, a little baby one, that God sent to do that great miracle 4,000 years ago. Who knows? Maybe at the end of the world, by fire, it will be God's fire, not man's fire, or it might be man's fire and God's permissive will. But the world is reserved for judgment, and that should give us a feeling of confidence. God is in control. Man is not in control, even if man is out of control. God is in control.

All of this, of course, should stimulate holy living. We can also hasten His coming. What does that mean? How can we hasten His coming? How can we hasten the end of the world? Maybe we don't even want to hasten it; we're having too good a time down here. But how can we hasten it? Well, the bride is being formed for the bridegroom, and the bride is made up of many members: eyes, ears, feet, hands, as the Bible talks about. The bride is the church. When the last member of the church is in place, then the bridegroom can come for the bride. It always gives me a little funny feeling whenever I lead somebody to Christ. I just wonder, is this the last one? Sort of scary, sort of wonderful. But we can sure hasten His coming. Every tribe and tongue and nation has to know, and we know there are many tribes and tongues and nations that have not yet heard once about God's gift of Christ and salvation. We can hasten through mission. We can hasten through prayer. We can hasten in our own area bringing people to Christ.

So, it will come unexpectedly. It's called the Day of the Lord. It appears catastrophic. As soon as the end of the world has happened, we'll all be outside time then. We have to turn to Revelation 20:11-15 to read what will happen. This is one of the places that the great judgment is talked about. There are many places right through the Bible, but perhaps this is the most well-known passage of scripture.

"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to what they'd done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. And each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Notice it doesn't say if anyone had committed murder, he was thrown into the lake of fire. If anyone had committed adultery, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The amazing statement of scripture is if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. I think as you read that, it's very hard to take in. If you really want to get a feel of it, look up things like Ezekiel's vision, John's vision of heaven, Daniel's vision, and read them. They all saw the same thing. They all saw the throne. A great throne, they all said. Isaiah chapter 6. The throne speaks of power and authority, justice, and judgment. They saw the great white throne. Whiteness they were trying to use as a human word for holiness, agelessness, timelessness, wisdom.

When John saw a vision of Jesus in Revelation 1, glorified, he fell at His feet as dead. This was the same man that laid his head on the human Christ's breast at the Last Supper. So he had known Him as Savior and laid his head on His breast, and then he saw Him as Judge and fell at His feet as dead. That was Jesus Christ's best friend. So we have to understand that Jesus can be known as Savior now, or will be met as Judge then.

The Last Judgment is a time when God will intervene in human history, bringing the world to a close, bringing history to an end. He will determine the eternal fate of human beings, placing them in surroundings spiritually adapted to their final condition. Just a couple of things about judgment. Judgment is a compliment. People argue with you about judgment; just know it's a compliment. If you never reprimand a child, it never knows it's important, because if what it does doesn't matter, then it doesn't matter. But if you want it to be accountable to you, then what it does matters, and therefore who he is matters. So judgment is a compliment. God thinks it's worthwhile judging our lives, our thoughts, our actions, our motives, the things we have done, the kindnesses, the good things, and the bad things. He can't judge one without another.

If my acts are worth evaluating, I am of value. Judgment, of course, is right. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? It's when wrongs will be righted. Don't you think wrongs should be righted? Injustice should be dealt with. People shouldn't get away with anything, they say, unless it's them. People shouldn't get away with anything. But there is an intrinsic knowledge inside every human being, whether they're a believer or not, that somebody ought to put everything right. Somewhere, someday, somebody ought to see about all those Nazi people, oughtn't they? Now, where did we get that sense of justice from? Well, we're made in the image of God. Where do you think you got it from? That's where. Judgment is right, and God, according to this passage, is that right Judge. He will do the right thing. You don't need to worry about that. If you will do the right thing, He will certainly do the right thing.

"Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" is one of my favorite verses. "Lord, true and righteous are Thy judgments," the scriptures say. Now the interesting thing is God is going to judge the world by Christ. We think of Him as Savior. We don't think of Him as Judge. In fact, He said Himself, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." And yet it says that God will judge the world by that righteous one, Christ Jesus.

This was the little poem I'll share with you: "Judge Jesus."

"Look again, Judge Jesus, please.

You must have overlooked my name.

It begins with a P. It must be there.

I know it is; in fact, I wrote it in myself, in my mind,

When I forgave me all my sins and declared me all right.

Well, not all right, but better than him or her.

Look again, Judge Jesus, please.

Perhaps it's missed the angel's eye. Maybe he forgot to put it in.

Angels forget, you know.

'What you know about angels, little man?

You didn't even believe in them till one came to bring you here.

There are no bad memories in heaven. Everyone remembers everything.'

But it should be there. I mean, it's not fair if it isn't.

Let me look for myself.

Why, what's her name doing here? And his?

Well, I don't know if I want to come to heaven after all.

'You have no choice in the matter now. Choices were for earth.

Now My will reigns, not yours. This is My house.'"