The Righteous and the Wicked Before the White Throneby davidwooten
14:11Romans 14:11
For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Every person will one day bow before God and confess to Him, standing before the judgment seat of Christ to give account of himself. Each one answers for himself alone under searching scrutiny, with no excuse in another's fault or devotion and none in the numbers who share a sinful practice. Christ alone has been appointed Judge, qualified because He took humanity and lived without fault and died and rose to be Lord of both the dead and the living. Because all are accountable to God, no one is to judge or despise his brother or put a stumbling block in his way, but is to leave judgment to God. At last every mouth will acknowledge God's righteousness as just, even Satan silenced and admitting his sentence is just, when cases are forever settled with no further probation.
Words and Judgment Context
Every person will bow before God and acknowledge Him, with every tongue confessing to God. As the Lord lives, every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall confess to God. Even Satan's bow and confession fulfill this, when his accusations against God's mercy and justice are silenced and he admits his sentence is just.
The verse quotes what God swore by Himself as He lives: that all would bow to Him and pledge allegiance, with righteousness and strength found in the Lord and justification for all His people. It stands in the setting where all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ, which is the judgment seat of God. There every one shall give account of himself to God, which means all people must give that personal account to Him.
Personal Accountability to God
Every person will stand before God in judgment and answer to Him for himself, examined individually and with searching scrutiny, with no reliance on another's purity or devotion to carry him through. All nations and every person will come before Him, and each will give account for how opportunities have been used and privileges have been valued. Each will be judged individually according to deeds done in the body and will hear a sentence, belonging to God as one who must render to Him what is His. That reckoning is the turning point where character is tested, calling each to choose the Lord's side in whole-souled service with mind and heart surrendered, rather than following personal devising or casting influence toward evil.
Another's wrongdoing does not excuse one's own sin, and another's faults do not remove one's own guilt. The number who join in a sinful practice neither excuses it nor lessens condemnation. Christ's faultless character and faultless life are the perfect standard by which each is measured, so each must set the heart in order and not neglect God's claims.
The account embraces every deed, for every deed is written in the books and every action stands under God's inspection before the God who lives and reigns. It covers every thought, deed, and action, and not words and deeds only but their motives and spirit, with the Lord's eye over all and each judged as works have been. Hearers of the gospel will stand either among the pure and holy around the great white throne or among those dismissed for doing evil, and the record of life then faced will bring shame to one who has built a record to blush to meet in the day of God.
The settlement of God's claims includes duty in beneficence and vows and pledges made and promised to Him, where to neglect or underpay is to rob God and violate duty. Conscience must therefore be aroused to feel guilt and remorse over neglected vows and unpaid pledges as keenly as over an unpaid debt to a neighbor, with new and deeper convictions and earnest attention now. The reckoning also reaches transgression of the laws of physical life, for sin against God is committed in how the body is treated and Christians must answer for it. Secret choices and habits are not hidden from Him but must be faced again, requiring examination of life and weighing of the eternal consequences of principles and influences chosen.
Parents as united rulers of the home will stand before the bar of heaven to answer for the children entrusted to them and for their work in forming character. They must answer for transmitting harmful appetites and passions and for neglecting to train children after God's pattern. If they failed to maintain purity of heart and life, to train and discipline themselves, and to set an example worthy of imitation, their own children will stand as witnesses to that neglect, bringing a terrible realization of loss and failure.
The same judgment meets particular trusts: the church in Fresno must answer for exalting a fallible man and encouraging a course that made divine reproof ineffective. Physicians and those connected with the sanitarium will meet in judgment the work they have done. Answer must also be given for the harvest reaped from seed sowing, including dishonoring God by expressing confidence in physicians not of the faith who act from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, bringing confusion and many other evils, and for estrangement from God shown by failing in word and action to uphold His appointed men and thus making an unfavorable showing to the world. Men placed in responsibility in God's work must stand before God's judgment seat and give account of themselves with sterling integrity that cannot be bought or sold, refusing gain offered in exchange for wrongdoing, since to gain the whole world profits nothing if the soul is lost while to lose life for Christ's sake secures it unto eternal life, representing Christ's character as He revealed the Father in His simple, loving life. Those who reject God-given testimony will face it when all accounts are settled, and refusal to be converted brings great loss.
The day of final settlement of all accounts will also bring to light close, ungenerous treatment, such as placing a poor stranger in unpleasant positions and making him feel his poverty in order to bring him to terms, and failing to deal with kindness after Christ's manner, to be met then with shame from the record kept in heaven. God's cause must therefore be kept free from every act of littleness, injustice, or oppression.
Christ the Appointed Judge
Christ alone has been made Judge, and He only can be Judge, for the Father is not the Judge and the angels are not. He is qualified to judge because He took humanity upon Himself and lived a perfect life in this world, and for that reason He is to judge. As a man He lived and died and rose again to become Lord of both the dead and the living and to make immortality possible for believers.
The Redeemer and Advocate who died to make cleansing from sin and obedience possible will be the Judge in view of the future judgment, when the opening of God's Word will reveal His dealings with the world and with individuals in working out His great plan. Because each is judged by the Lord Jesus Christ, all people will answer to God and believers must not judge one another. God lives and reigns and every person will have to give an account to Him, for every deed is written in the books.
He is the one Great Teacher, Leader and Master, the Majesty of heaven and King of glory who will soon take His place upon His throne. Through His blood all can be saved. There is but one Lawgiver.
Final Universal Confession
Satan himself will bow and confess, and in that act the promise is fulfilled that every knee shall bow and every tongue acknowledge God, for all his charges against divine mercy and justice are silenced and he admits his sentence is just. At the final conflict every mouth will acknowledge divine glory and righteousness, with even the rebellious recognizing that the principles of righteousness and obedience to the law stand above every power and that their punishment is just. That universal acknowledgment grants no further probation, because cases are forever settled, and after the second resurrection Satan and his followers will perish.
The verse points to the time when every person will bow to God and every tongue confess to Him, and those who persist in rejecting light from heaven will then face its truth, though they have treated that light as darkness. It belongs to the setting of the final judgment, when all accounts are settled and each must answer to God, in the day of final settlement of all accounts. Those who reject God-given testimony will confront it then, and refusal to be converted brings great loss, as the record kept in heaven is met with shame.
Seeing Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross draws people to bow in allegiance to Him. This compelling power is not force upon the intellect, but the Holy Spirit working in the heart. People may refuse the invitation, yet those who behold Him are called to yield to Him rather than to self or the world.
Living Without Judging Others
Because every knee will bow to God and every tongue confess to Him, with all standing before the judgment seat of Christ which is the judgment seat of God and each giving account of himself to God, no one is to judge his brother, despise him, treat him as nothing, or sentence one another, but is to leave judgment to God and live in His sight. Final acknowledgment belongs before God and not in the hands of people who judge and sentence one another. Instead of judging, each is to determine to put no stumbling block or occasion to fall in a brother's way.
Christ alone has been made Judge, and He only can be Judge, for the Father is not the Judge and the angels are not, and because He took humanity upon Himself and lived a perfect life in this world He is to judge. Therefore no one has been appointed to be a judge of others, and no man is appointed to climb upon the judgment seat to rule and command others, for there is but one Lawgiver. Brethren and ministers and fathers and mothers and fellow workers must remember this, come down from the judgment seat in humility, and not dare to take it, for all a person can do is to discipline himself. Passing judgment on brethren and on the ways and works of Christ in the person of His saints while losing sight of one's own imperfect character, by wicked surmising, suspicion, prejudice, jealousy, and persecuting speech, usurps what belongs to God, whose eye is over all and who knows every thought and will judge each one as his works have been. No course of oppressing, accusing, wounding, and crushing the burdened, and no treating a fellow worker as disposable, can be made to harmonize with the Word of God.
Every person is accountable directly to God and not to one another, so believers must not divide into distinct parties to criticize, condemn, judge, and censure each other or be subject one to another. Those redeemed by Christ through whose blood all can be saved are to love God supremely and neighbor as self, act out Christ's example in every particular, and love righteousness and hate iniquity, under Christ the one Great Teacher, Leader and Master, the Majesty of heaven and King of glory who will soon take His place upon His throne. In the judgment every person's actions and motives will be made plain, and each will answer for injustice and harsh words, which calls for repentance, confession, and faith in Christ, and for treating fellow believers with kindness rather than condemnation. That same personal accountability requires every business transaction to be righteous.
The certainty that all must bow before God and acknowledge Him and give account of self to God presses each person to be prepared to give that account, even nightly before sleep, by considering what has been done that day to glorify God. Each is to do his or her individual part as a humble worker, to order life by God's standard and avoid sin, and, belonging to God at the turning point where character is tested, to choose to be on the Lord's side in whole-souled service with mind and heart surrendered to God rather than following personal devising or casting influence into the scale of evil. Holding forth the Word of life to people is solemn work done as in that judgment presence where all will stand together before the judgment seat of God to give account and every case will be decided, requiring the speaker to leave nothing unsaid that might influence a soul to make peace with God. When these words are explained in the power of the Holy Spirit to those who are not yet Bible Christians, they carry power that gives living testimonies unto eternal life, brings conviction and conversions and reconversions, brings souls from darkness into the light, and is accompanied by fervent intercession in prayer, making the spiritual condition of the people before God a grave responsibility.
Every person will one day bow before God and confess to Him, standing before the judgment seat of Christ to give account of himself. Each one answers for himself alone under searching scrutiny, with no excuse in another's fault or devotion and none in the numbers who share a sinful practice. Christ alone has been appointed Judge, qualified because He took humanity and lived without fault and died and rose to be Lord of both the dead and the living. Because all are accountable to God, no one is to judge or despise his brother or put a stumbling block in his way, but is to leave judgment to God. At last every mouth will acknowledge God's righteousness as just, even Satan silenced and admitting his sentence is just, when cases are forever settled with no further probation.
Words and Judgment Context
Every person will bow before God and acknowledge Him, with every tongue confessing to God. As the Lord lives, every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall confess to God. Even Satan's bow and confession fulfill this, when his accusations against God's mercy and justice are silenced and he admits his sentence is just.
The verse quotes what God swore by Himself as He lives: that all would bow to Him and pledge allegiance, with righteousness and strength found in the Lord and justification for all His people. It stands in the setting where all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ, which is the judgment seat of God. There every one shall give account of himself to God, which means all people must give that personal account to Him.
Personal Accountability to God
Every person will stand before God in judgment and answer to Him for himself, examined individually and with searching scrutiny, with no reliance on another's purity or devotion to carry him through. All nations and every person will come before Him, and each will give account for how opportunities have been used and privileges have been valued. Each will be judged individually according to deeds done in the body and will hear a sentence, belonging to God as one who must render to Him what is His. That reckoning is the turning point where character is tested, calling each to choose the Lord's side in whole-souled service with mind and heart surrendered, rather than following personal devising or casting influence toward evil.
Another's wrongdoing does not excuse one's own sin, and another's faults do not remove one's own guilt. The number who join in a sinful practice neither excuses it nor lessens condemnation. Christ's faultless character and faultless life are the perfect standard by which each is measured, so each must set the heart in order and not neglect God's claims.
The account embraces every deed, for every deed is written in the books and every action stands under God's inspection before the God who lives and reigns. It covers every thought, deed, and action, and not words and deeds only but their motives and spirit, with the Lord's eye over all and each judged as works have been. Hearers of the gospel will stand either among the pure and holy around the great white throne or among those dismissed for doing evil, and the record of life then faced will bring shame to one who has built a record to blush to meet in the day of God.
The settlement of God's claims includes duty in beneficence and vows and pledges made and promised to Him, where to neglect or underpay is to rob God and violate duty. Conscience must therefore be aroused to feel guilt and remorse over neglected vows and unpaid pledges as keenly as over an unpaid debt to a neighbor, with new and deeper convictions and earnest attention now. The reckoning also reaches transgression of the laws of physical life, for sin against God is committed in how the body is treated and Christians must answer for it. Secret choices and habits are not hidden from Him but must be faced again, requiring examination of life and weighing of the eternal consequences of principles and influences chosen.
Parents as united rulers of the home will stand before the bar of heaven to answer for the children entrusted to them and for their work in forming character. They must answer for transmitting harmful appetites and passions and for neglecting to train children after God's pattern. If they failed to maintain purity of heart and life, to train and discipline themselves, and to set an example worthy of imitation, their own children will stand as witnesses to that neglect, bringing a terrible realization of loss and failure.
The same judgment meets particular trusts: the church in Fresno must answer for exalting a fallible man and encouraging a course that made divine reproof ineffective. Physicians and those connected with the sanitarium will meet in judgment the work they have done. Answer must also be given for the harvest reaped from seed sowing, including dishonoring God by expressing confidence in physicians not of the faith who act from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, bringing confusion and many other evils, and for estrangement from God shown by failing in word and action to uphold His appointed men and thus making an unfavorable showing to the world. Men placed in responsibility in God's work must stand before God's judgment seat and give account of themselves with sterling integrity that cannot be bought or sold, refusing gain offered in exchange for wrongdoing, since to gain the whole world profits nothing if the soul is lost while to lose life for Christ's sake secures it unto eternal life, representing Christ's character as He revealed the Father in His simple, loving life. Those who reject God-given testimony will face it when all accounts are settled, and refusal to be converted brings great loss.
The day of final settlement of all accounts will also bring to light close, ungenerous treatment, such as placing a poor stranger in unpleasant positions and making him feel his poverty in order to bring him to terms, and failing to deal with kindness after Christ's manner, to be met then with shame from the record kept in heaven. God's cause must therefore be kept free from every act of littleness, injustice, or oppression.
Christ the Appointed Judge
Christ alone has been made Judge, and He only can be Judge, for the Father is not the Judge and the angels are not. He is qualified to judge because He took humanity upon Himself and lived a perfect life in this world, and for that reason He is to judge. As a man He lived and died and rose again to become Lord of both the dead and the living and to make immortality possible for believers.
The Redeemer and Advocate who died to make cleansing from sin and obedience possible will be the Judge in view of the future judgment, when the opening of God's Word will reveal His dealings with the world and with individuals in working out His great plan. Because each is judged by the Lord Jesus Christ, all people will answer to God and believers must not judge one another. God lives and reigns and every person will have to give an account to Him, for every deed is written in the books.
He is the one Great Teacher, Leader and Master, the Majesty of heaven and King of glory who will soon take His place upon His throne. Through His blood all can be saved. There is but one Lawgiver.
Final Universal Confession
Satan himself will bow and confess, and in that act the promise is fulfilled that every knee shall bow and every tongue acknowledge God, for all his charges against divine mercy and justice are silenced and he admits his sentence is just. At the final conflict every mouth will acknowledge divine glory and righteousness, with even the rebellious recognizing that the principles of righteousness and obedience to the law stand above every power and that their punishment is just. That universal acknowledgment grants no further probation, because cases are forever settled, and after the second resurrection Satan and his followers will perish.
The verse points to the time when every person will bow to God and every tongue confess to Him, and those who persist in rejecting light from heaven will then face its truth, though they have treated that light as darkness. It belongs to the setting of the final judgment, when all accounts are settled and each must answer to God, in the day of final settlement of all accounts. Those who reject God-given testimony will confront it then, and refusal to be converted brings great loss, as the record kept in heaven is met with shame.
Seeing Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross draws people to bow in allegiance to Him. This compelling power is not force upon the intellect, but the Holy Spirit working in the heart. People may refuse the invitation, yet those who behold Him are called to yield to Him rather than to self or the world.
Living Without Judging Others
Because every knee will bow to God and every tongue confess to Him, with all standing before the judgment seat of Christ which is the judgment seat of God and each giving account of himself to God, no one is to judge his brother, despise him, treat him as nothing, or sentence one another, but is to leave judgment to God and live in His sight. Final acknowledgment belongs before God and not in the hands of people who judge and sentence one another. Instead of judging, each is to determine to put no stumbling block or occasion to fall in a brother's way.
Christ alone has been made Judge, and He only can be Judge, for the Father is not the Judge and the angels are not, and because He took humanity upon Himself and lived a perfect life in this world He is to judge. Therefore no one has been appointed to be a judge of others, and no man is appointed to climb upon the judgment seat to rule and command others, for there is but one Lawgiver. Brethren and ministers and fathers and mothers and fellow workers must remember this, come down from the judgment seat in humility, and not dare to take it, for all a person can do is to discipline himself. Passing judgment on brethren and on the ways and works of Christ in the person of His saints while losing sight of one's own imperfect character, by wicked surmising, suspicion, prejudice, jealousy, and persecuting speech, usurps what belongs to God, whose eye is over all and who knows every thought and will judge each one as his works have been. No course of oppressing, accusing, wounding, and crushing the burdened, and no treating a fellow worker as disposable, can be made to harmonize with the Word of God.
Every person is accountable directly to God and not to one another, so believers must not divide into distinct parties to criticize, condemn, judge, and censure each other or be subject one to another. Those redeemed by Christ through whose blood all can be saved are to love God supremely and neighbor as self, act out Christ's example in every particular, and love righteousness and hate iniquity, under Christ the one Great Teacher, Leader and Master, the Majesty of heaven and King of glory who will soon take His place upon His throne. In the judgment every person's actions and motives will be made plain, and each will answer for injustice and harsh words, which calls for repentance, confession, and faith in Christ, and for treating fellow believers with kindness rather than condemnation. That same personal accountability requires every business transaction to be righteous.
The certainty that all must bow before God and acknowledge Him and give account of self to God presses each person to be prepared to give that account, even nightly before sleep, by considering what has been done that day to glorify God. Each is to do his or her individual part as a humble worker, to order life by God's standard and avoid sin, and, belonging to God at the turning point where character is tested, to choose to be on the Lord's side in whole-souled service with mind and heart surrendered to God rather than following personal devising or casting influence into the scale of evil. Holding forth the Word of life to people is solemn work done as in that judgment presence where all will stand together before the judgment seat of God to give account and every case will be decided, requiring the speaker to leave nothing unsaid that might influence a soul to make peace with God. When these words are explained in the power of the Holy Spirit to those who are not yet Bible Christians, they carry power that gives living testimonies unto eternal life, brings conviction and conversions and reconversions, brings souls from darkness into the light, and is accompanied by fervent intercession in prayer, making the spiritual condition of the people before God a grave responsibility.