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God is real. He is great. He is great in intelligence. He is great in power. He is all-powerful. He is great in size. He is bigger than the universe with its billions of galaxies. God is not only great in power, size and intelligence, but He is great in holiness, purity and righteousness. He is infinitely righteous and pure and holy. The great and holy God and King will tolerate sinful people and fallen angels for a time, while He is working to redeem a chosen remnant of human beings who will become His sons and daughters who will live with Him forever. However, He will not tolerate Satan and the demons and unrepentant people forever. The Lord uses sinful people and fallen angels to accomplish His purposes. However, after He finishes His work of redeeming a chosen remnant of human beings, there will be a day of judgment, which will be followed by eternal life in the New Jerusalem for the righteous and eternal destruction in Hell for the wicked.
The day of judgment is real. It is certain. It is sure. These are the words of the Son of God, who knew the truth and spoke only the truth. Matthew 10: The Son of God said this to His disciples: If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. There are degrees of judgment, and rejecting the truth about Yeshua is the worst of sins. It will be more bearable on the day of judgment for wicked Sodom and Gomorrah, which represent extreme wickedness, than for the Jewish people in a home or in a town who heard the truth about Yeshua and rejected it and those who brought the message. Why? The Jewish people have been given more knowledge, and to whom more is given, more is required – and judgment is more severe. Rejecting the truth about the Messiah is a greater sin than the wickedness that occurred in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Matthew 11: The Son of God said this to towns in Israel in which He did miracles: Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you … And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. Again, there are degrees of judgment, and rejecting the truth about Yeshua is the worst of sins. It will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon, known for their paganism and evil practices, than for Jewish Chorazin and Bethsaida because in those cities, Yeshua did miracles that demonstrated He is the Messiah. It will be more tolerable for evil Sodom on the day of judgment than for Capernaum, where Yeshua did miracles that demonstrated He is the Savior sent by God.
Matthew 12: The Son of God said this to some scribes (Torah-teachers) and Pharisees who didn’t believe in Him: The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Again, there are degrees of judgment, and rejecting the truth about Yeshua is the worst of sins. The people of Nineveh, known for their paganism and cruelty, but who repented when Jonah told them to repent, on the day of judgment will be more righteous than those Jewish people who refused to repent when Yeshua told them to repent – because Yeshua is greater than Jonah and the prophets. And the people of Nineveh will express very strong disapproval of the generation that was blessed by Yeshua’s presence, but rejected Him. The queen of the South, who wasn’t a daughter of Israel, but who traveled very far to hear the wisdom of Solomon, on the day of judgment will express very strong disapproval of the Jewish people of Yeshua’s generation for not receiving His wisdom – because Yeshua is wiser and greater than King Solomon, who was the wisest of kings. Matthew 12: The Son of God said this: I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. God keeps a record of every word we speak. And He will judge us for every word we speak. Therefore, if we are wise, we will be very careful with our words. We won’t speak careless words, foolish words, words that contradict the truth. Instead, we will speak careful words – words that are true and wise, especially words that are true about the Father, the Son, the Spirit – words that express the truths of the Bible and the Gospel.
The Son of God repeatedly declared that there would be a day of judgment. Are you wiser than the Son of God? Know more than He does? Understand things better than He does? Dare you contradict what He said about the day of judgment? Call Him ignorant or a liar?
More about the day of judgment: This is the Word of the Lord coming to us through Paul, who wrote this to the followers of Yeshua in Corinth: We must all appear before the judgment seat of Messiah, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Corinthians 5). Believers will be judged by the Son of God for everything they did during their time on Earth. They will be rewarded for the good things they have done, and not rewarded, perhaps reprimanded or punished, for the evil things they have done. Makes me want to do lots of good things and not do anything evil. How about you?
In his letter to the Romans, Rabbi Paul wrote this about the day of judgment. Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well- doing (and well-doing is based on believing in and following Yeshua) seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self- seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. Makes me want to patiently do the things God wants me to do and obey the truth – and not live for myself, refuse to obey the truth and instead live a life of wickedness.
This is the Word of God coming to us through Peter in his second letter: The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. What happens to those who die, but refuse to repent, believe the truth about Yeshua and live according to the truth? They are kept in a state of punishment until the day of judgment. Not a pleasant thought. Makes me want to turn to God and live according to His righteous ways.
This is the Word of the Creator coming to us through Jude, the brother of the Lord Yeshua, in his letter: The angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Not just people, but fallen angels will be judged on the day of judgment.
The Word of the Lord repeatedly and clearly declares that there will be a day of judgment. On that day, every human being will appear before the all-powerful and all-knowing and all-righteous God and be judged for their actions, thoughts and words; how they used their time, talents and treasures; whether they lived for God or for the world; whether they lived for God or lived for self. They will be judged for what they did do, but shouldn’t have done; and for what they didn’t do, but should have done – sins of omission as well as sins of commission. And those who lived after the arrival of the Son of God and heard about Him will be judged by whether they believed the truth about Him and became loyal to Him and followed Him.
More about the day of judgment. John was given a vision of that great day. He described it this way: I saw a great white throne (white is the color of purity) and him who was seated on it. That’s great King Yeshua, who is the perfectly pure and righteous judge. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. From His greatness and holiness, even the Earth and sky had to flee. Which also means there is absolutely no place for anyone to hide to avoid His judgment. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Those are the books that contain the records of everything that everyone has thought, said or done. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done … And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. If your name is not written in the book of life, the book that records the names of those who will live forever, you will be judged, condemned and thrown into Gehenna, Hell, the lake of fire. If that happens, all of your accomplishments will be worthless. Your life will be worthless. You will be worthless.
And there is only one way to prevent that from happening. You must repent – turn from your own thoughts, your own ways, and living for yourself; and you must turn to God and God’s thoughts and God’s ways. And you must live for God. You must become loyal to the Son of God and prove it by living according to Messiah’s teachings. The day of judgment is real and it is certain. If we are wise, we will live in such a way that we will not be condemned and sent to Hell, but welcomed by King Yeshua into God’s eternal kingdom. Nothing else matters. What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? What will it benefit a man if he lives his life the way he wants but is sent to Hell when he could have lived forever in God’s eternal kingdom?
It’s foolish to deny the day of judgment; to ignore it; to not think about it; to not allow it to transform your values, your priorities, your goals and your behavior. That’s why it is written: It is better to go to a funeral than a party, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. And: Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. And: The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. And: Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! And: Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.