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Sermon on the Holy Son 7
Who Will Be Subjected
to Judgment?
As Apostles’ Creed states, “(I believe
in) from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead,”
the entire mankind, from its father Adam to the end of the world,
will be subjected to God’s judgment. Hebrews 9:27 says, “And
as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”
As such, if it is true that all who are born as human beings must
die, then it cannot be anything but true that the judgment would
follow after this.
At the beginning of Revelation 20:12,
it is stated, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing
before God.” Here, the phrase “small and great” does not mean
adults and children, but the “great” refers to kings, presidents,
and other such high-ranked politicians and the powerful, while the
“small” refers to ordinary citizens and common people.
Also, at the beginning of Revelation
20:13, it says, “The sea gave up the dead who were in it.”
This means that all those who died of accidents will also stand
before the throne of judgment. No matter where people might die,
whether in the sea, the air, or the land, because the whole heaven
and earth are in God’s hands, no one can avoid His judgment.
In the middle of the above verse 13,
it says, “Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them,”
and continuing on with verse 14, it says, “Then Death and Hades
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
Sin is the unchanging law that puts
people to death, and Hades is the prison that confined the dead.
But now, when the judgment comes, even these will be changed and
release the dead in obedience to the law of resurrection. In other
words, when eternal life and destruction are determined by the Last
Judgment, there will no longer be the rule of death and Hades. This
is why these two things are cast into the lake of fire.
Put differently, that Death and Hades
are cast into the lake of fire means that the sinners standing before
the throne of judgment will be cast into the lake of fire. This
is when death, the last enemy of life, will be destroyed (1 Corinthians
15:26), and it means that the Beast and the false prophets will
first be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20), followed
by Satan, the head of demons, who will also be cast into hell (Revelation
20:10).
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Tertullian, a Church Father, warned
of the impending judgment of the Romans who fed the believers to
hungry lions in public arenas and coliseums, or crucified and burnt
them, and who watched and enjoyed such spectacles, by saying to
them, “You love spectacles. Wait in anticipation, for you will see
the Last Judgment, the greatest spectacle of all.”
Indeed, there will be no greater spectacle
than this, for every mankind who ever lived on this earth, high
or low, and from the ancient to the middle and into the present
times, will face the Last Judgment and either enter Heaven of eternal
life or cast into the destruction of soul.
Revelation 20:15 is the conclusion.
It says, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was
cast into the lake of fire.” Whoever wants to have his/her name
written in the Book of Life must be born again of the water and
the Spirit spoken of by the Lord. To be born again of water and
the Spirit, we must pass all our sins onto Jesus through His baptism,
and we must die on the Cross with the Lord. Only then can we be
born again of water and the Spirit and receive eternal life.
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