Two eternal judgments

The Bible teaches two eternal judgments, one for unbelievers and one for believers.  All believers will enter into new life because of their faith in Christ.  All unbelievers will fail the judgment of their faith in Christ since their names are not written in the Book of Life. 

Scripture repeatedly states that all will be judged for their works.

Scripture teaches with unmistakable clarity that all believers in Christ will give an account of their lives to their Lord.  We will be judged by Him according to our works, both good and bad. The result of this will be the gain or loss of eternal rewards.

Scripture presents it as a monumental event in which things of eternal significance are brought to light and things of eternal consequence are put into effect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of[a]witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us - Hebrews 12:1

God wants us to have eternal rewards - and He has given us every resource in Christ to live the godly life that will result in those eternal rewards.





What Does the Bible Say About Eternal Judgment?

Eternal Judgment

44 Bible Verses about Eternal Judgment

God’s Righteous Judgment

Two Judgments

Two Masters

God's eternal prospectus bears a careful look in light of its guaranteed rate of interest.  Jesus promises an ultimate return of a hundred times - a 10,000 percent rate of interest that lasts forever.  What earthly investment compares to that?

Based on Christ's words, let's assume the role of 'eternal financial counselor' and offer some advice -- choose your investments carefully, compare rates of interest, and evaluate how your investments will be working for you a few million years from now.

I might have two jobs, three sisters or five friends, but only one spouse.  Some relationships by their very nature are exclusive.  The most basic of these is our relationship with God.  There's a throne in each life only big enough for one. Christ may be on that throne.  Money may be on that throne.  But both cannot occupy that throne.

Matthew 6:24

Luke 16:13

Serving Two Masters

100 Bible Verses about Serving Two Masters

Two treasuries

“Knowing the tendency of the human heart to become unduly attached to earthly goods, Christ warned against it. The "things" which the Father gives are to be understood as provisional merely and must never be considered our real treasure. The heart always returns to its real treasure, and if a man holds corn to be a real form of wealth his heart will be where his corn is. 

Many a man has his heart locked up in a bank vault, and many a woman has her heart in her jewel box or stored at the furrier's. It is a great moral tragedy when anything as wonderful as the human heart comes to rest on the earth and fails to rise to its own proper place in God and in heaven.

Treasure, incidentally, may be discovered by this fourfold test: (1) It is what we value most. (2) It is what we would hate most to lose. (3) It is what our thoughts turn to most frequently when we are free to think of what we will. (4) It is what affords us the greatest pleasure.”

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), excerpt from “The Transmutation of Wealth” in Born After Midnight (Harrisburg: Christian Publications, 1959).

When money and possessions are spent on heavenly treasure, the equation changes radically. The investment takes on eternal value. This because God, His Word, and people are eternal, what will last is what is used wisely for God, His Word and His people.

Christ's primary argument against amassing material wealth isn't that it's morally wrong, but simply that it's a poor investment. Even if they escape moths and rust and thieves, they cannot escape the coming fire of God that will consume the material world.

"I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity."
John Wesley 

“I place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of God. If anything will advance the interests of the kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving or keeping it I shall most promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes in time or eternity.” - David Livingston

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

 Jesus vividly described what it's like when we discover true wealth --

“The kingdom of heaven is like a [very precious] treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field [securing the treasure for himself]." Matthew 13:44

Note that the central focus is accumulation of heavenly treasures, not the renunciation of earthly treasures in Matthew 6:19-24.

"As he came naked from his mother’s womb, so he will return as he came; and he will take away nothing from all his labor that he can carry in his hand." - Ecclesiastes 5:15

Be not afraid when [an ungodly] man becomes rich,When the wealth and glory of his house are increased;
For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
His glory will not descend after him.
Though while he lives he counts himself happy and prosperous—
And though people praise you when you do well for yourself—
He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never again see the light.
A man [who is held] in honor,
Yet who lacks [spiritual] understanding and a teachable heart, is like the beasts that perish. - Psalm 49:16-20

Paul spoke about the Philippian church's financial giving --

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I do seek the profit which increases to your [heavenly] account [the blessing which is accumulating for you]. Philippians 4:17

God keeps an account open for us in heaven and every gift given for His glory is a deposit in that account.





The Two Treasuries

Two kingdoms

"I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess." - Martin Luther

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

In the greatest message ever preached, Jesus addresses the believer's proper relationship to money and possessions --

“Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal;  for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.

 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts].  But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!

 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord]. - Matthew 6:19-24

Jesus had two kingdoms in mind.  Two options and they demand one choice.  There is a default choice if "no choice" is made.  Unless the right choice is deliberately made and tenaciously clung to, the wrong choice will naturally be implemented.

 

Life Library — Two Kingdoms