The Judgment Seat of Christ

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

The two phrases, “the things done in the body” and “whether good or bad” can only refer to those who have received Christ and those who have not received Christ. Same as, “They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29).

This judgment will involve the receiving from doing “good” or “bad”. For the saved, “good” is vicariously imputed to them of Christ, who is the “Judge”, and they will receive the “resurrection of life”. For the unsaved who have not received Christ, “bad” can only be attributed (Titus 1:15) and they will receive the “resurrection of damnation”.

“And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them” (Rev 20:11). Here, the “face” is that of Christ, “For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22); “it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42).

“They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev 20:4). I believe these represent all the saved who were, “eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:23). “This is the first resurrection” (Rev 20:5, 6), but the chronology of its occurrence is not clear, which could have been as early as prior to the tribulation. The chronology of the second resurrection is given and is assigned to a period following the completion of the Millennium (Rev 20:12-15), which involves those who “lived not again until the thousand years were finished” (v 5). These are not as the “blessed and holy” who had their “part in the first resurrection” (v 6), but are solely those of the unsaved who “were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev 20:12). I believe the presence of the Book of Life at this time represents evidence to the fact of the absence of their names in it.

The difference between those who “lived” and “lived not” is in the chronology of the “redemption of their bodies”. “They lived with Christ” (Rev 20:4) means they were in their resurrected bodies and therefore, “lived not” (v 5) means they have not yet been resurrected. To resurrect does not mean to bring the spirit back to life, because it cannot pass from existence (Mark 9:46), but intends the unification of spirit and an indestructible body. Thus, “the dead, small and great” who “stand before God” (v 12) are now alive in their resurrected bodies, which are “the rest of the dead” who “lived not again until the thousand years were finished” (Rev 20:5).