The Last Judgment

I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: … and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Revelation 20:12.
Now Christ again appears to the view of His enemies. Far above the city, upon a foundation of burnished gold, is a throne, high and lifted up. Upon this throne sits the Son of God, and around Him are the subjects of His kingdom. The power and majesty of Christ no language can describe, no pen portray. The glory of the Eternal Father is enshrouding His Son. The brightness of His presence fills the City of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding the whole earth with its radiance.
Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the cause of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the burning, have followed their Saviour with deep, intense devotion. Next are those who perfected Christian characters in the midst of falsehood and infidelity, those who honored the law of God when the Christian world declared it void, and the millions, of all ages, who were martyred for their faith. And beyond is the “great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, … before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” Revelation 7:9….
The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and reechoes through the vaults of heaven: “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Verse 10. And angel and seraph unite their voices in adoration….
In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and heaven the final coronation of the Son of God takes place. And now, invested with supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence upon the rebels against His government and executes justice upon those who have transgressed His law and oppressed His people….
As soon as the books of record are opened, and the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin which they have ever committed.
Maranatha p. 339
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Prayer Requests
—– Friends are having trouble getting their foster girl’s meds. The MD here is trying to help – at least the clinic is. Hopefully we can get the meds so she doesn’t start seizing. Please pray. M
—–Please continue to pray for Eileen. She is still having severe back pain with limited movement. Rose
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Dear Friends,
I know someone who often feels too sinful to be saved. Although they had confessed their sins repeatedly, they came away from their prayer feeling no different than before they prayed. Often they would share with me their inmost thoughts and feelings. I would then remind them that we must have faith in the Word of God which tells us, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Then I told them a little parable to try to help them to understand. “Asking forgiveness, but not believing you’re forgiven is as if Ron were to take me to see a beautiful log cabin located by a mountain lake. This large cabin was exquisitely furnished even having new dishes, utensils, and linens. A baby grand piano was in one corner of the living room. Oh! How I wished I had a cabin like that. Taking me outside, he showed me a lightweight canoe with the finest paddles. Thoughts of hours of the pleasure we could have exploring every nook and cranny of that mountain lake filled my head. Then, to my amazement and joy, he told me that it was all mine. He had paid for it all. While he was away on a business trip, I was to move our personal belongings into this ideal place and enjoy it for it was to be my new home. ——Time passed. Ron’s business trip was over. With joyful anticipation, he returned to the cabin. To his distress, I was not there. Everything was the same as it had been when he had left. He panicked. What terrible thing had happened to me while he was gone? Driving as fast as he dared down the mountain road, he went to our former residence to see if he could find someone who had seen me.
Just as he drove into the driveway of our twenty year old mobile home, he saw me. With disbelief and shock written all over his face, he asked me why I was still living in that old run-down trailer.
I told him that I just couldn’t believe that beautiful cabin was mine, I couldn’t believe that I could really have anything so nice, and I felt like I wasn’t worthy of such a wonderful gift.
Then I asked my friend, “How do you think Ron would feel at my ingratitude and lack of trust?” I explained that when we confess our sins to our Dear Saviour but refuse to believe that our sins have been washed away, we are doing just as I did in my little parable.
How it must break our Heavenly Father’s Great Heart of Love when we do not believe His promises and declare to all around by word of action, “The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” when He assures us over and over of His great love and sacrifice for our salvation. He promises, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me.” Isa 49:14-16 “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” “And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.” Jer 31:34, 33:8 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa 1:18 “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die?” Eze 33:11
Isaiah shares his experience, “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Isa 38:17 Micah adds, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity. . . and thou wilt cast all [our] sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18, 19 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. . . . He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children, To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all.” Ps 103:8-19
May we believe His great promises and claim them. May we be filled with joy because of the complete forgiveness and cleansing that is ours for the asking. May we accept His free gift of salvation this very moment is my prayer.
Rose