“Who are they that will have to appear before the throne of judgment? All. The godly will not be exempted, for the apostle here is speaking to Christians. They covet the judgment, and will be able to stand there to receive a public acquittal from the mouth of the great Judge. – Note the word “appear.” No disguise will be possible. Ye cannot come there dressed in masquerade of profession; off will come your garments. Oh, what a day that will be when every man shall see himself and his fellow, and the eyes of angels, of devils, and of God upon the throne, shall see us through and through! – What will be the rule of judgment? Not our profession, our boastings, but our actions. This includes every omission as well as every commission. Matt 25:1-46. All our words, too, will be brought up, and all our thoughts, for these lie at the bottom of our actions and give the true color to them good or bad. Our motives, our heart sins, shall be published unreservedly. “Well,” saith one, “who then can be saved?” Ah! indeed, who? Those who have believed in Jesus. Rom. 8:1. “That every man may receive the things done in his body.” 1. The Lord will grant unto His people an abundant reward for all that they have done. Not that they deserve any reward, but that God first gave them grace to do good works, then took their good works as evidence of a renewed heart, and then gave them a reward for what they had done.” CH Spurgeon
Okay, a disclaimer! I’m not in the habit of reading or quoting Spurgeon, and I only came across this because I was looking for some thoughts on the teaching of rewards, and I suppose that I found them, in this, to me, an unlikely place? Who besides myself after reading the above paragraph about a future judgment for believers where all their thoughts are revealed and exposed to a gainsaying world, and rewards meted out on the basis of those works which the LORD worked through them is ready to crawl under a rock and die? Psalms 119:120.
What if Nathan the prophet after informing David, {penitent and broken before the LORD, as freshly awakened to the enormity of his transgressions, “I have sinned against the LORD, &c.,”} that “the LORD also hath put away thy sin,” II Samuel 12:13, that this putting away of sin was only a temporary transaction, but that at some future date all his sins would once again be brought to remembrance? David’s sin, along with the sins of all the elect of God are put away! “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14. They are not swept under the rug, not conditionally retained, not shelved for later reconsideration, nor set aside until some future tribunal when they all are resurrected under the scrutinizing ‘eye’ of HIM “with whom we have to do,” Hebrews 4:13, but fully, finally, and forever removed.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12. This verse is a declaration of the absolute and irreversible removal of sin from God’s people. The phrase “as far as the east is from the west” communicates infinite separation. Unlike north and south, which have fixed poles and endpoints, east and west never meet, which conveys not merely forgiveness in a limited or temporary sense, but a complete, eternal, and irreversible putting away of sin. Isaiah 53:6 declares, “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The result is not partial pardon or the possibility of future condemnation, but full satisfaction of God’s justice.
In John 5:24, Christ declares that the one who “heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” This speaks of a present possession of eternal life and a decisive transfer from judgment to life, already accomplished. It’s not just a future hope, but a present reality. He says such a one “shall not come into condemnation.” Not now, not ever! Why? Because the believer has already passed from death unto life. The judgment due for sin has been fully borne by Christ, and the transfer is complete. “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26. There remains no wrath, no curse, no unfinished business. The elect, for whom Christ died, will never face judgment for their sins, because those sins were judged at the cross. The believer’s justification is settled, eternal, and irreversible.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1. “No condemnation” means the legal verdict of ‘guilty’ no longer applies. If there is no condemnation now, there can be no condemnation later. Final judgment for sin has already been executed at the cross, on CHRIST, their Surety. Hebrews 7: 22. Justice was satisfied at the cross! This is a gospel declaration of forensic finality. The sins of the elect have been judicially removed, cast behind God’s back, plunged into the depths of the sea, and separated from them eternally by the infinite span of east from west. To speak of future judgment for such sins would be to impugn the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement and to deny the finality of His priestly work. Matthew 1:21.
From the cross, Christ proclaimed, “it is finished.” John 19:30. Nothing remains unfinished! Judgment was borne in its entirety, sin was put away, and righteousness was secured, for all on whose behalf Christ gave Himself. The work there was forever settled. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Romans 8:33. Christ’s work, as foretold in Daniel 9:24, was to “make an end of sins.” Not merely to cover them temporarily, but to remove them entirely for those He redeemed. Colossians 1:14. He made reconciliation for iniquity by fully satisfying God’s justice, leaving no wrath remaining. And in doing so, He brought in everlasting righteousness, a righteousness that forever clothes His people. With sin dealt with, peace secured, and righteousness established, how can there remain any future judgment for those whose sins have been put away?
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.” Psalm 32:1-2. This is not a temporary covering, but an eternal acquittal, consummated at the cross and sealed in resurrection glory. What David saw in part, we now behold in fullness, the blessedness of the one whose sins are not imputed, for they were imputed to Christ. I Corinthians 1:30. So may we sing with David, “blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered,” Psalm 32:1, for in Christ, this blessing is ours in its fullest measure.
Talk about amazing grace! Our transgressions have not merely been overlooked, they have been fully judged in the person of our Substitute. Our sins are not merely hidden from view, they are put away forever by the blood of the Lamb. John 1: 29. Sin has been transferred, and expiated through blood. Expiation means sin is removed, its guilt blotted out, not hypothetically but in actual satisfaction of justice. At the cross, every sin was covered, every drop of wrath satisfied, and judgment fully executed. For those trusting in Christ, the verdict is already in. “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34. MPJ