There is a day coming in which we will all stand in judgment before the Lord. “And as it is appointed for men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). We have two appointments, which we will definitely keep: death and judgment. These cannot be cancelled. When we draw our last breath our eternal destiny is sealed. We don’t know when we will die. We might drop dead of a heart attack or stroke in the next few minutes or be killed in a car wreck today. Life is uncertain. Judgment day is certain. There is no way to escape it. All of us will be there for this final appointment. “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 in the body, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11). No one will be excluded from the Judgment. Every person, who has ever lived, that is now living, and who will ever live, will stand before the Lord and be judged.

We do not know when Judgment Day will come. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” (2 Peter 3:10-11). We must be very serious about the Judgment. When God decides to end time, “the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written ‘As I live says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God’. So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10-12).

What will the judgment be like? “Then I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things written in the books…And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire…The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are. And they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:11-12, 15, 10). Being cast into the lake of fire with the devil is not very good company to be with forever and ever. Is your name in the Book of Life? Are you sure? Your eternal destiny of either Heaven or Hell will be determined by whether it is there or not.

The Lord is omniscient. He knows all things. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account” (Hebrews 4:13). The Lord will make no mistakes in the Judgment. “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). We can have no secrets from God. He knows everything about each one of us.

There will be only a few people saved, but the vast majority will be condemned to the everlasting fires of Hell. Our Lord tells us to “Enter the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). At the Judgment there will be two groups of people, the vast majority who are lost and the few who are saved. In which group will you be?

In the Judgment it will be determined where we will be spending eternity, whether in Heaven or Hell. Concerning Judgment Day Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23). Many will be shocked and terrified to learn that their sincerity, good works, and prayers will be to no avail if they have left out the essential component of obedience to God’s will. It is very wise to obey the will of God and only the will of God. No human creed written by men or convention of men will do us any good, but will only cause one to be eternally lost in Hell. God will not accept any of our excuses. Being religious is not enough, doing good works is not enough. We must submit to the obedience of God’s will, and not our will, or else we will hear the Lord say, “I never knew you, depart from Me” (Matthew 7:23). The Lord’s judgment will be final. There will be no appeal.

God will not accept anyone who is a member of any of the many denominational churches established by men. Jesus says, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted” (Matthew 15:13). Jesus has only promised to save His one church (Ephesians 5:23), the only one He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). All the foolish and false doctrines that men have devised in “handling the word of God deceitfully” (2 Corinthians 4:2) will cause billions of people to be lost forever in the burning fires of Hell. The only standard of our judgment will be God’s word as found in the Bible. Jesus says, “the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).

There will only be two verdicts: either 1) “I never knew you, depart from Me”…”you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 7:23, 25:41), or 2) “Well done, good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21). Our number one priority in this life is that we must be prepared to meet the Lord in judgment. If we miss Heaven and end up in Hell we can only blame ourselves. We chose to be there. There will not be a second chance. We have got to get it right the first time. The only thing that matters in this life is obtaining a home in Heaven; nothing else is as important. “Prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12). In the lessons to follow we will see what the Bible says that we must do to be prepared for Judgment Day.