The Damage of the Second Death, week 3, Sunday, chapter 3

English

THE DAMAGE OF THE SECOND DEATH –

Reflections on the Millennium

Chapter 3

DISCIPLINE IN THE KINGDOM (1)

WEEK 2 – SUNDAY

Bible Reading: Mt 12:32; 1 Tim 1:18; 2 Tim 4:16

Read and pray: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive according to what he has done in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor 5:10)

RECEIVING THE THINGS DONE THROUGH THE BODY

Now let us read 2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive according to what he has done in the body, whether good or bad.” All readers of the Bible must know that the judgment seat of Christ will be in the air. Therefore, those who will stand before the judgment seat will be the ones who have been raptured.

And who can be raptured? The Bible tells us that only Christians can be raptured. Those who are not Christians cannot be raptured. If a man is not saved, he is not a child of God and is not yet qualified to be judged at that judgment, for that will be God’s judgment within His own family.

The Second Epistle to the Corinthians 5:10 tells us what we will face at the future judgment seat of Christ: We will be rewarded for the things done through the body. In other words, we will be rewarded for the things we have done while living on earth, whether good or bad. If you do good through the body, you will receive a good reward. If you do evil through the body, you will receive a bad reward.

The Word of God clearly shows us that at the judgment seat those who do good will receive a reward, and those who do not do good will lose the reward and will be recompensed according to the evil they have done. Because there is a future judgment, the apostle Paul prayed for mercy in the future.

The Second Epistle to Timothy 1:18 says: “May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day! And you know very well how many services he rendered at Ephesus.”

Here Paul expresses the desire that Onesiphorus may find mercy from the Lord on that day. If, in the future, when standing before the judgment seat, a Christian merely loses his reward and is not punished or disciplined, then this word has no meaning.

Paul hoped that the Lord would be merciful to Onesiphorus in His judgment, for he had greatly helped Paul and had spread the gospel together with him. If there were any shortcomings that Onesiphorus had committed, Paul hoped that the Lord would be merciful to him.

Therefore, we see that Christians not only need forgiveness but also the mercy of God at the time of judgment at the beginning of the millennium; otherwise, they will be subject to God’s punishment.

In chapter 4 of the Second Epistle to Timothy, there is another verse we must read. Verse 16 says: “At my first defense no one stood by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!” This is another prayer.

When Paul was in Asia, all there abandoned him. When he stood before the king to be judged, many Christians hid out of fear of death. Although they abandoned him, Paul prayed that such sin would not be counted against them. Therefore, we see that in the future God will still judge our sins. Paul prayed here that this sin would not be charged to them.

There is sufficient light in the Bible showing us that if a saved person is not disciplined for his careless conduct in this age, or does not repent after discipline, he will not only lose his reward but will also be punished in a specific way.

In Matthew 12, the Lord Jesus specifically mentions blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. All sins can be forgiven, all words spoken against the Son of Man can be forgiven; however, the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. For this sin there will be no forgiveness in this age, nor in the age to come (v. 32).

In the Bible, the age to come always refers to the kingdom. In the original language, the word “age” is aion, not cosmos. If the word were cosmos, it would refer to the organization of the world. But since it is aion, it refers to a period of time. Therefore, it has been translated as “age.”

Today’s age is the age of grace. The next age will be the age in which the Lord will come to reign for a thousand years. Reading Matthew 12, you see that the forgiveness of sins is divided into two periods. Some sins are forgiven in this age and others will be forgiven in the age to come. Some people, through discipline, are forgiven in this age. Some people may not have acted well today, but they will be forgiven in the kingdom.

Some people are forgiven when they are saved, but their subsequent sins will not be forgiven in the kingdom; on the contrary, they will be severely punished. This is the biblical teaching concerning punishment. The punishment for the Christian in this age is sufficiently clear. Some Christians who sin, whose problems are not settled before God today, will receive punishment in the future.

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