Selie Visa
1. The final judgment:
The final judgment is the sentence that will be passed on our actions at the last day. The persons to be judged are the whole race of Adam without a single exception whether living or dead and the fallen angels.
2. Three examples of judgment: “Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” -- Jude 1:5-7
Jude states that his readers already know what he is about to say but that he will remind them of it. So he gives them three examples of the Lord's judgments:
(1) on the unbelievers at the time of the Exodus,
(2) on the fallen angels and
(3) on Sodom and Gomorrah. In each instance the objects of judgment are notable rebels against the Lord. What do we learn from these three examples of Jude?
A. Eternal punishment awaits all who do not believe and obey.
B. When we talk of God’s great love for us, we must not forget truth and justice.
3. Righteous judgment of God: "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes." -- Deuteronomy 10:17
The Lord is the God of angels and authorities, these are his creatures. They act for him and under him, and are accountable to him. He is the Lord of lords of kings and princes of the earth, who have their crowns, sceptres, and kingdoms from him. They are all subject to the authority and control of God.
The extensiveness of God's dominion in heaven and earth proclaims his greatness. He is mighty and powerful to help, protect, and defend his people. He is terrible to his enemies and also to the adversaries of his people. There is no partiality in God. He takes no bribes to avert threatened and deserved judgments. God is righteous and he will judge the world in righteousness.
4. God is a consuming fire:
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. -- Deuteronomy 4:24 God’s holiness is the reason for his being a consuming fire, and it burns up anything unholy. The holiness of God is that part of his nature that separates him from sinful man. Only the righteous can withstand the consuming fire of God against sin, because sin is an offense to God’s holiness.
God is love. His very nature is love. We have a tendency to think that God is all loving and forget his truth, justice and holy nature. God is holy and he opposes all sinful or unholy things. God, as a consuming fire, describes his very nature. “Consuming fire” is God’s holiness manifested in judgment.
5. The essence of eternal life: Eternal life comprises the whole future of the redeemed and is opposed to eternal punishment. It is the final reward and glory into which the children of God enter.
The newness of life which the believer derives from Christ is the very essence of salvation, and hence the life of glory or the eternal life must also be theirs. It is the gift of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The life the faithful have here on earth is inseparably connected with the eternal life beyond, the endless life of the future, the happy future of the saints in heaven.
6. Eternal torment in hell: Eternal death is the miserable fate of the wicked in hell. The Scripture clearly teaches the unending duration of the penal sufferings of the lost. Those that perished means they have been rejected, and "there remained no more sacrifice for sins".
7. Be purified by the blood of Christ: As the Scriptures represent the final judgment as certain, universal, righteous, decisive and eternal as to its consequences, let us be concerned for the welfare of our immortal interests, flee to the refuge set before us, depend on the merits of the Redeemer, and adhere to the commandments of the divine word, that we may be found of him in peace.
The righteousness we need is found through faith in Jesus Christ. He died on the cross for the sins of all who would ever believe in him. We need not fear the consuming fire of God if we are covered by the purifying blood of Christ.
