Last Judgment

The following are the readings commonly used in our churches for Sunday, November 8, 2009.

God’s Word for This Week
In the end of the world, Jesus will come back in glory to judge both the living and the dead. Those who believe in him receive a verdict of “not-guilty”. Those who do not believe stand condemned to the eternal suffering of hell.

First Lesson (Malachi 4:1-2a)
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.  ² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”

1. What will happen to every “evil doer” on judgment day?
    
2. Those who revere God’s name will not suffer the punishment mentioned in verse one. Instead, they will receive healing from the “sun of righteousness.” What is that “sun of righteousness”?

Second Lesson (Hebrews 9:24-28)
²⁴ For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.  ²⁵ Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.  ²⁶ Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.  ²⁷ Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,  ²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

3. The Book of Hebrews demonstrates how Jesus is superior to every aspect of the Jewish religion. How is Jesus superior to the Old Testament priests and sacrifices?
    
4. According to verse 27, what happens to a person when he or she dies?

Gospel (John 5:19-24)
¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.  ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.  ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,  ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
²⁴ “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

5. According to these verses, what kind of relationship exists between God the Father and God the Son?
    
6. According to verse 22, what right has God the Father entrusted to his Son?

Answers:    

1. Every evildoer, i.e., every sinner will be punished with the eternal flames of hell. Eternal condemnation is often pictured in the Bible as fire and burning -- a fitting picture for the eternal torments of hell.
    
2. God and his glory are compared with the sun in Isaiah 60:1,19. Jesus is referred to as the “rising sun” from heaven in Luke 1:78,79. This “rising sun” that grants healing is none other than our Savior God.
    
3. Jesus did not enter an earthly tabernacle (or temple), but rather heaven itself. He did not need to offer sacrifices over and over again like the priests of the Old Testament. The sacrifice Jesus offered on the cross paid for sin once and for all. No other sacrifice needs to be made.
    
4. When a person dies, his body goes back to the ground and his soul goes before God to be judged.
    
5. God the Father loves his Son and shows him all he does. God the Son honors and obeys his Father in everything.
    
6. God the Father entrusts his Son with the job of judging the world in righteousness. In the end Jesus will come back with his holy angels to judge the living and the dead. As verse 24 says, whoever believes in Jesus and the one who sent him (God the Father) will be found innocent and given eternal life.

_{Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.}

 
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