In a previous post, The Judgment Seat of Christ, I identified a question that had been asked regarding the judgment of men. The passages put forth for discussion were 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, and 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. These each speak of judgment but the verses from the Corinthian letters are addressed to the Church while the section from Ecclesiastes is not. Therefore, these three passages (while all speaking of judgment), must be considered within different contexts. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiasties: Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).The question, then, is "Does Solomon speak of all men?" I believe he does, but all men do not have to be judged at the same time, and I believe that the Church will be judged long before unbelievers. According to the book of Revelation, the resurrection and judgment of the unbelievers will take place following the judgment of Satan at the close of the Millennium.
And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15, NASB)
From this passage it is certain that there is both a resurrection and a judgment. The question is who are "the dead" and why are they "judged . . . according to their deeds?" In The Judgment Seat of Christ, we saw that believers stand before the judgment seat of Christ. But at this particular judgment, all the unbelievers of all time stand before the Great White Throne. These are very different terms for very different judgments. Unlike believers who have salvation based on their free acceptance of the shed blood of Christ, unbelievers are doomed to eternity in the lake of fire because of their rejection of this same salvation offered by God to all mankind.
These people will be condemned for their rejection of the grace freely offered them. Acts 4:12 declares that there is no forgiveness apart from Christ. Scripture is clear that Christ died for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16, 1 John 2:2) and the fact of rejection of God's grace is the basis for their condemnation. Even those who did not hear the gospel will be condemned because they did not respond to the revelation of God in the natural world (Romans 1:18-20).
But, not all unbelievers will receive the same punishment. It is at the Great White Throne of Revelation 20 that the unbelieving dead will individually receive their just sentence; "judged . . . according to their deeds."
So, we can see that ultimately all men are judged according to their works; however, the judgments, either at the Judgment Seat of Christ or the Great White Throne, are not to determine whether someone will "get into heaven" or not, but rather to determine what that individual's eternal reward or punishment may be.
