Is there a future judgment for those who persist in behaviour and attitudes contrary to the will of God?

By Robert Brow - June 1999 (web site - www.brow.on.ca)

As I see it, the Bible sets out the judgment of God in two quite different ways. The Old Testament has hundreds of references to wrath, but there is not one case of this taking place in some future judgment in heaven.

Repentance is turning to God, and seeking his help in amending one's ways to that one will not suffer imminent wrath in this life. This seems to be the meaning Paul has in mind in Romans 1:18. I believe most of the references in the NT to an imminent day of the Lord coming in judgment refer to the day of the Lord in AD 70.

The judgment of God in an eternal sense is explained carefully by Jesus in John 3:19 "This is the -krisis- that the light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than light." God uses wrath judgment in this life to help us turn to the light, but our eternal destiny depends not on any kind of good or bad works. The only thing that counts for heaven  (as C.S.Lewis pictured allegorically in The Great Divorce) is whether our heart would enjoy being there. That is not Universalism, since there seems to be a proportion who wouldn't want the love and joy of heaven at any price.

Nobody will be end up in heaven except through the work of the Son of God (John 14:6), but our getting there is by grace alone and nothing we do or don't do counts for or against us.


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