Lesson 5: The Day of Judgement

Before you do this lesson, read these verses from the Bible:

Revelation 5:9-14 -- And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" 14 The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Revelation 20:11-15 -- Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:1-8 -- Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Revelation 22:1-5 -- Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Now read the lesson and do the test at the end. The lesson explains what you have read in the Bible.

Trouble is increasing everywhere in the world. People are afraid. We wonder what will happen next. We wish we could find a way to stop trouble.

The Bible says that trouble will keep increasing until the Day of Judgement (Matthew 24:3-13). At the Day of Judgement the world will be destroyed, and a new heaven and a new earth will be made. God's Holy City which he has made in heaven will come down to earth. The Holy City will be filled with the love of God.

God has revealed some things to us about the Day of Judgement. Much of the last book in the Bible is about the coming of God's Holy City and the Day of Judgement. This book is called Revelation. The disciple John wrote the book of Revelation. God revealed the truths in Revelation to John when he was a very old man. John wrote what God showed him about the future of the world.

The Messiah is Judge (Revelation 5:9-14)

In the book of Revelation we read that God has appointed Jesus the Messiah to be judge at the Day of Judgement (2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 5:5). The heavenly beings will be very happy when they learn that the Messiah is the Judge. They will sing a great song of praise to the Messiah saying something like this (Revelation 5:9-14): You have the honour Jesus, because you gave your life in sacrifice so that people were saved from sin for God from every people on earth, and you have made these people become the true people of God. Other forms of heavenly and earthly life will praise the Lord too. Many thousands of angels, all people both small and great, all animals, insects, and birds will begin to praise God. Their voices of praise will grow louder and louder until the earth, sea, and heavens will be filled with the praises of God. They will say: Jesus is worthy "to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and praise" (Revelation 5:12). Everywhere in heaven and earth there will be joy because God has chosen the Messiah to be judge on the Day of Judgement.

The Day of Judgement (Revelation 20:11-15)

Some day the Messiah will return to earth as Judge. When he comes, he will come quickly, like sudden light. The sun will turn black and the moon will look like blood. The stars will disappear, and the sky will roll together like a great piece of paper. The earth will shake, the mountains will fill, and the islands will move.

The great people and the small, the rich and the poor, the kings and the slaves, everyone who does not love God will run to the mountains and the holes in the ground to hide. They will cry, "Fall on us and hide us from the eyes of the one who sits on the throne..." (Revelation 6:12-17).

All the people who have died since the beginning of the world will come out of the graves. They will all stand in front of the throne of judgement. Books will be brought before the Judge, who is Jesus the Messiah. When the books are opened the Judge will find in them the truth about every person. Nothing will be hidden that will not be made known at that time (Mark 4:22).

There will be another special book, which is the Book of Life. The Book of Life contains all the names of those whose sins have been forgiven. These have accepted the Messiah whom God sent into the world to save us from our sins.

Then the Messiah will make judgement. He will say to everyone whose name is found in the Book of Life: Come, you blessed of my Father, welcome to heaven which has been made ready for you. But to those whose names are not found in the Book of Life, the Messiah will say: Go from me, you evil people, into the eternal fire which was made for Satan and hisangels.

God's Holy City (Revelation 21:1-8; 22:1-5)

At the Day of Judgement, the Holy City of God will appear. Those people whose names are found in the Book of Life will be with God in his Holy City. There will be no more sorrow or pain in God's City. There will be no sun, for God himself will be the light of that Holy City. A tree of life and a river of life will be in the Holy City. There will be no more death.

We cannot understand now the full glory of God's Holy City. The Bible says, "What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him " But we know that God's Holy City, which is sometimes called heaven, will be a happy place because sin and evil will never enter there. God and all the people whose sins have been forgiven will be there.

We Need to be ready

All people everywhere who accept Jesus the Messiah as Saviour and Lord become the People of God on earth. On the Day of Judgement the Messiah will welcome the People of God into God's Holy City where they will live with God forever. We need to be ready (Revelation 22:20). The Messiah said: "Yes indeed! I am coming soon." The Church answers: "So be it. Come, Lord Jesus!"

 

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