Vindication or Condemnation

The arrival of Jesus will mean vindication for the righteous, but judgment and punishment for the wicked.

The Son of Man will arrive “on the clouds with great power and glory” at the end of the present age. He will send his angels to gather his elect and “render judgment to each man according to his deeds.” Those men found worthy will hear Jesus declare, “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” – (Matthew 24:27-28, 25:34).

All the nations of the earth will likewise be “gathered before” as Jesus sits on his “throne of glory <…> and he will separate them one from another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Those found unworthy will be sent “into the everlasting fire which is prepared for the Devil and his angels” - (Matthew 25:31-46).

[Sunburst - Photo by Michael Kroul on Unsplash]

The arrival of Jesus will be a time of gathering and judgment, judgment of some men for punishment, and of others for reward. In his parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus provides us with a graphic picture of the judgment of the just and the unjust on that final day.

Likewise, Christ’s concluding words at the end of his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ provide an ominous warning of what will happen to men and women who refuse to obey his words, and believers are not exempt from his call to live righteously or the risk of condemnation for their failure to do so:

• “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and by your name cast out demons, and by your name did many mighty works? And then I will profess to them, I never knew you! Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness!” - (Matthew 7:21-23).

• “Therefore, be you also ready, for in an hour that you think not the Son of Man is coming. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, that he will set him over all that he has. But if that evil servant will say in his heart, My lord delays, and will begin to beat his fellow-servants, and will eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect, and in an hour that he does not know, and he will cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” - (Matthew 24:44-51).

Christ’s sudden appearance will be “just as it was in the days of Noah” when people were “eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage,” and otherwise going about their daily business. They took no notice of the impending danger until “the flood came and took them all away.” And so, it will be when the Son of Man appears, a day that will bring “sudden destruction” on the wicked and the unprepared, as the Apostle Paul would write to the Thessalonians using the same words:

• “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that anything be written to you. For you yourselves know accurately that the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and Security, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they will certainly not escape” - (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).

The unprepared and evil men will be overtaken by the suddenness and unexpectedness of that day. It will result in the separation of the godly from the ungodly – (Luke 17:26):

• “Then will two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left. Watch therefore: for you know not on what day your Lord comes” – (Matthew 24:38-42).

The Apostle Paul called this event “the Day of the Lord,” and he described how that day will bring destruction on the wicked, but glory and rest to the saints:

• “And to you that are afflicted release with us by the revealing of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his angels of power, in fiery flame; holding forth vengeance against them that refuse to know God and them who decline to hearken to the gospel of our Lord Jesus, who, indeed, a penalty will pay, everlasting destruction from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might, whenever he will come to be made all-glorious in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who believed, because our witness to you was believed, on that day” - (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

THE DAY OF THE LORD

In contrast to the wicked, faithful disciples will find themselves sanctified and “blameless” at Christ’s “arrival” or ‘Parousia’. Dead believers will be resurrected and reunited with fellow believers who remain alive. Together, they will be “seized on clouds for a meeting of the Lord in the air” as Jesus descends from heaven. They will then be with him forevermore - (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 3:13, 5:23, 4:13-18).

However, Jesus will not return until after the “Apostasy” and the “revelation of the Man of Lawlessness” occur. That lawless deceiver will be destroyed on the same day when Jesus arrives to gather his elect, namely, on “the Day of the Lord.” The wicked and the righteous will be dealt with decisively when Christ returns; vindication for his faithful disciples, condemnation and destruction for the unrighteous - (2 Thessalonians 2:1-9).

According to the Apostle Peter, Christ’s “arrival” will mean the judgment and destruction of the wicked. Peter was describing the Day of the Lord:

• “But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in the which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein will be burned up” - (2 Peter 3:7-10).

We as disciples of Jesus must “abide in him” so that, at his arrival, we “may have boldness and not be put to shame.” An inference from John’s statement is that believers who do not “remain in Jesus” will suffer loss when he comes in his glory, something the Apostle Paul says more explicitly - (1 John 2:28):

• “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if any man builds on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; each man's work will be made manifest, for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire. And the fire itself will prove each man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work will abide which he built on it, he will receive a reward. If any man's work will be burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved; yet so as through fire” – (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

The return of Jesus will be a universal event that affects all humanity and the entire creation. It will be marked by terrestrial and celestial upheaval. Jesus will send his angels to gather his people to himself, and the saints will inherit “everlasting life” and immortality. But the wicked will be gathered for judgment, and they will receive “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” along with the Devil and “his angels.”

The Day of the Lord will mean vindication and life for some, but condemnation and disaster for the unprepared and the unrighteous. Both results occur when Jesus arrives from heaven with great power and glory at the end of the age.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Just Judgment of God - (The arrival of Jesus will mean vindication and rest for the righteous, but everlasting loss for the wicked - 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)

• Coming on the Clouds - (The whole earth will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of Heaven, and he will send his angels to gather his elect –Mark 13:21-27)

• Gathering the Elect - (The saints will be assembled before Jesus on the Last Day, and the wicked will be collected for judgment and cast from his presence)

• The Day of the Lord - (Jesus will arrive and gather his people on the Day of the Lord, and in the New Testament, this event becomes the Day of Christ)