Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
God will repay every person according to deeds, works, and character formed, when Christ comes in glory with His angels with His reward to give each as his work shall be in the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment according to truth. There is no respect of persons with Him, with judgment coming to Jew first and also to Gentile for both evil and good. To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory and honor and immortality He gives eternal life with glory, honor and peace, and to those who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness He gives indignation and wrath with tribulation and anguish. Every one is judged by deeds and fruit of life and by the secrets of heart and motive revealed, not by profession, outward nearness, position, possessions or color, with every act kept with unerring accuracy in the books of heaven until the judgment. People are justified by faith yet judged by works, for hearers of the law are not just but doers shall be justified, and the reward of eternal life was purchased by Christ's self-sacrifice and not by human merits, yet is given in goodness as if the merit were their own to those who through Him form faultless character in obedience.
Words and Immediate Context
The rendering to every person according to deeds belongs to the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, which is according to truth. The riches of God's goodness and forbearance and longsuffering are meant to lead to repentance, and to despise them is to miss their purpose. Hardness and an impenitent heart treasure up wrath against that day. Whoever judges another for things he himself does is inexcusable and condemns himself, and no one who judges and does the same things will escape that judgment. Selfish, ambitious striving to be first or greatest and contention against the truth bring that wrath, while becoming converted as a little child and serving others in goodness and usefulness bring eternal life.
To render means that God will repay every person in line with what he has done, according to deeds, works, and character formed. Christ Himself does this repaying, for when the Son of man comes in the glory of His Father with His angels He will pay every person on the basis of deeds and works. At His coming His reward is with Him to give every man according as his work shall be, and when the Lord comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory with all nations gathered before Him, God gives to every man eternal punishment or reward according to his work. At Christ's appearing in His kingdom all meet Him as Judge of the living and the dead and each receives according to works. Those who do little or nothing for the salvation of souls or to benefit others, who are too slothful to invest in the truth and in saving others, who seek their own ease and pleasure and shun burdens and crosses and responsibilities, will be disappointed to find they have no reward laid up in heaven.
There is no respect of persons with God. Judgment comes to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for evil done, and glory, honor, and peace come to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for good done. As many as have sinned without law shall perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, for not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified.
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality God gives eternal life, which is glory and honor and immortality, a life that runs parallel with and measures with the life of Jehovah and of God, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which the world can neither give nor take away, with exceeding great reward in keeping the commandments. Glory, honor, and peace are given to every man that works good. To them that are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness God gives indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that does evil. To be contentious is to contend against the truth, to stir up strife, and to fail to cultivate kindness, sympathy, compassion, goodness, and love. Censuring another for blameworthy financial management while one's own financial embarrassment is not after God's order stands condemned by this, as trying to pull a mote from a brother's eye with a beam in one's own eye.
The teaching is individual, counting person by person, with each person judged according to deeds. Each person is given through faith in Christ the possibility of being one with God and gaining immortality through Christ. Immortality, a life that measures with the life of God, is not obtained through human beings but through Christ. Men and women are daily deciding their own destiny without realizing it, and as believers in His Word they should walk very softly before God. The verse requires entering into the spirit of the work, neglecting no least duty in temporal or spiritual things, doing good to others and bringing life into accordance with the principles of Christ, working in sincerity and faith amid trials, obstacles, difficulties, and opposition as God's chosen methods of discipline and appointed conditions of progress, so that character may be formed after the divine pattern.
Universal Impartial Reckoning
Repayment is to every person according to deeds, works, fruit of life and character formed, not according to outward nearness to God, position occupied, possessions, color or poverty, and by this each destiny is decided. Profession of Christianity or faith alone does not decide, for judgment examines good acts and fulfilled duties, brings words and actions with both good and sins clearly to mind, and tests each professing person individually. Belief in Christ, knowledge of truth, profession and words without fitting deeds have no value, because righteousness is right doing and deeds reveal character and whether faith is genuine. Each one is accountable and responsible, and the reckoning is pressed even amid levity and conduct that separates from God.
No respect of persons governs the reckoning, to Jew first and also to Gentile, so the wealthy and honorable in the highways are to receive the same earnest persevering effort as those in the byways, with rich and poor alike given the call to the supper. Many will come to knowledge of the truth if labor is put forth to save them, and those entrusted with goods are bidden to lay up treasure beside the throne by employing talents and means to open ways for perishing souls. The same impartial law judges every nationality without favor to the most favored and without leaving the needy without help and notice, including Black people and lower-grade white people, for white and Black sinners receive the same gracious acceptance, forgiveness, offer of salvation and promise of the same heaven on the same terms as sons and daughters lifted from ignorance and degradation to assurance of higher life and a place in the redeemed family at the coming in the clouds and the resurrection of the righteous dead. Therefore no one may pass by any people, and especially not colored people, without working to save, educate and uplift them, for distinctions of society fade at the cross. Daily life matters because a record passes to heaven, and the Judge of all the earth tries every case with no lack of evidence, unlike earthly courts where the innocent suffer and the guilty go free for lack of proof, revealing every deed with every hidden motive and judging every thought and deed under eyes that run over the whole earth, when Christ who offered salvation and died that man might share the divine nature Himself acquits or condemns before the Father and holy angels, where gold and silver cannot ransom and only the merits of blood can wash guilty stains.
God sees purposes of the heart, motives, thoughts, words, actions, business transactions and secrets, so outward professions of piety cannot conceal selfishness and greed and hypocritical exploitation is brought to judgment. Wrongdoing hidden from others is not hidden from Him, as Felix trembled to realize that the secrets of his criminal life were known and must be answered for. At the great day the Judge of the whole world will test every thought, word and deed, cause every work to appear with its underlying motive, make known the secrets of all hearts and give sentence according as works have been, so matters in question should be brought out and settled now. His present government takes notice of conduct, and when He speaks the words written in the books every man, woman and youth is judged according as works have been by a close and accurate discrimination, not a promiscuous handling of things or an averaged account, for the Judge of all the earth will do right. As Creator and Governor He regards subjects as little children yet searches the reins and tries hearts, reading thoughts and imaginations from cause to effect and knowing the influence imagination and will exert upon outward deportment and other minds, holding His law as the standard of character with unchangeable purpose to deal with every human being according to works.
Every person is tested and proved until true character is developed and shown, while angels watch the development and weigh moral worth according to deeds done in the body. Each receives exactly the tone of character and morals cultivated in this life, the same spirit and character cherished in home life with neighbors and family, and the decision pronounced by Jesus who gave His life as sacrifice turns on how each soul appreciated and obeyed His words. The impartial Judge views character stripped of outward gloss and weighs acts by true moral worth rather than pride and self-esteem, weighing moral fitness by the law as the standard and giving man, woman, youth and child what deeds deserve, including just dealings even against personal interest and secret opposition that hinders others. This calls for laying the soul bare, divesting self-love and pride to view character correctly and discern God's requirements, with humility, sincerity and thorough transformation into the meek and quiet spirit of great price, without which there is failure of everlasting life. Character formed in this probationary life fixes eternal destiny, for no one will be a saint in heaven without first being a saint on earth, heavenly beings watch what manner of character develops, God makes no mistake about fitness for the kingdom, and the unconverted who do not correct defects remain wholly unlike Christ and unfit for heaven, unable to enjoy its atmosphere of pure truth and holiness and its indescribable beauties and glories just as they do not enjoy the society of Christians on earth.
No person has the right to measure fellow church members or to refuse Christianity because of faults seen in them, for judgment has been given only to Christ because He lived humanity and alone understands human weakness and striving toward perfection. Counterfeit Christians are in every church, but tares and wheat must grow together until the harvest, since the church militant is not the church triumphant and the work of judgment has not been committed into human hands. God, not other people, will judge and render to each according to work, so each worker's responsibility is to carry out entrusted work faithfully, seeking the imperishable crown and not being discouraged by others' judgments.
Destiny is decided at a decisive hour of revealed righteous judgment against treasured wrath, bringing tribulation and anguish on evildoers, yet God does not force will or judgment and takes no pleasure in slavish obedience. Years of probation are given to form character for heaven, but the destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice, and exclusion from heaven is voluntary and on God's part just and merciful. Those who choose rebellion become incurable, with pride, deception, licentiousness and cruelty fixed in character and no disposition to submit to divine authority, so that when life ends it is too late to turn thought from transgression to obedience and from hatred to love. They are unfitted for heaven's purity, holiness, peace, love and joy and could not endure the glory of God and the Lamb, finding it torture and a consuming fire and welcoming destruction to be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them.
Promise of Eternal Life
To those who persistently continue in doing good while seeking glory and honor and immortality, God gives eternal life, which itself is glory and honor and immortality. That life runs parallel with the life of Jehovah and measures with the life of God, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which the world can neither give nor take away, with exceeding great reward in keeping the commandments. Immortality is not obtained through human beings but through Christ, and the life to be sought is one that measures with the life of God by learning and cultivating what is worth being perpetuated and will not perish when every evil purpose, thought, and action has an end. Men and women are daily deciding their own destiny without realizing it, and as believers in His Word they should walk very softly before God.
The precious rewards of the future will be proportionate to the work of faith and labor of love in the present life, enhancing eternal happiness, bestowed in proportion to the work done in the name of Christ because works testify to the character developed. The reward of well-doing is awarded in the same measure as a person has denied self and sacrificed for the happiness of others, while those who do not love care in temporal or spiritual matters, who shun burdens and seek ease while others bear burdens, and whose principal study is to care for and look out for self, will not have the reward of well-doing, for every tree is known by its own fruits. At the last great day God judges people by the quality of their work rather than the quantity, and those who work to rescue people being led astray by error will be rewarded for their deeds. Believers are therefore to have respect to the recompense of the reward, direct ambition toward advancing the Redeemer's glory, look to the crown of immortal life, run that they may obtain, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, and wrestle to receive power for the highest attainments in the spiritual life.
The reward was purchased by the self-denial and self-sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and is not given because of man's merits, so no reward is due from God on the ground of human merit. Although coworkers with Christ will hear the welcome into the joy of their Lord, they have no merit in themselves, for after doing all the good possible they are still unprofitable servants who have done only their duty, and what was accomplished was wrought solely through the grace of Christ. Yet in the great goodness and love of God they are rewarded as if the merit were their own, and through the merit of the Saviour every promise of God will be fulfilled. The reckoning applies to all, including those in positions of sacred responsibility, who remain sinners who can be saved only by the grace and merits of Christ, and those who are saved must form characters without fault in the sight of God and of Christ by depending wholly on Him, for apart from Him no one can do one good thing. Christ has made a complete atonement and wrought out a perfect character, He ever lives to make intercession, He gives every person his work, and He cooperates with everyone who cooperates with Him by taking His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness, teaching followers daily the meaning of the divine beatitudes, while angels welcome and minister to such ones in every phase of life history.
In that great day the righteous Judge will give to every person according to what he has done, whether good or evil, giving the crown of life to the faithful, which is reason to keep the mind stayed upon the Lord, to discharge individual duty day by day, and to war the good warfare in expectation of that reward. In the last general judgment each person will be dealt with according to the use made of entrusted talents, as illustrated by the parable of the talents with the unprofitable servant cast into outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth, where every character will appear just as it is and the righteous alone shine forth in the kingdom of God. Those who have done good have a part in the resurrection of life and those who have done evil are awarded according to their works, the whole matter decided by obedience or disobedience. The outcome when standing before the throne of God is twofold: saved by the blood of the Lamb or condemned to the punishment of the wicked.
Warning of Wrath Punishment
The righteous judgment repays each person according to deeds, and for the wicked who persist in evil this means storing up wrath for the day of judgment and facing tribulation and anguish with no place among the holy in heaven. The declaration is to be believed exactly as written without reasoning it into something else, and at the judgment it means not one sinner will enter the courts of heaven. The Lord will repay every unrepentant sinner according to what was done, especially those who feel no shame in doing evil yet feel shame in confessing sin, when Christ rises from His throne and puts on vengeance after satanic deception has grown stronger and more fully developed through the world. When the test of loyalty to the law is over and all have taken sides for or against it, mercy and probation end and straight justice gives to each as works have been, the well-doing receiving its reward and evil-doing and making void the law receiving its uncompromising penalty, which is love and justice combined working for the universe and for the sinner by causing suffering of sin's penalty. That penalty is the second death, death without hope of resurrection, with forever separation from God and the holy angels and all the redeemed, so that this world with its sorrows, sadness, misery and continual suffering becomes all the heaven the impenitent will ever enjoy, and keeping that end in view should stir pity and resolve to make the home as pleasant as possible rather than unhappy and wretched.
No outward nearness, position, possessions, or color screens from divine wrath those who trample the law, especially unfaithful shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep and defile their food. Each case is decided with punishment proportionate to light rejected, and those who had abundant opportunity to know truth with peculiar advantages and gifts to let light shine to others, but in blindness, unbelief and perversity contended against God and His messengers and led others astray, will be judged for the good they might have done but did not and called to account for misused opportunities, for turning truth into a lie and dishonoring Him. Destiny is thus decided not by position, color, or poverty but by character formed and work done, and turning from God's way to one's own way brings judgment according to work. Those distinguished by mercy bestowed are distinguished by severity of punishment, and those distinguished above others by mercy and grace who walked contrary to principles of truth receive conspicuous punishment, so all may see justice and equal ways. The reckoning is decided by degree of light given with account taken of resistance, disregard and rejection, for God bears long with privileges and opportunities to obtain knowledge of truth, will and requirements, but forbearance has limits, and when abundant mercy is despised and rejected it is changed into wrath and long-deferred vengeance comes upon the disobedient, unthankful and unholy.
There are degrees of punishment according to deeds, with obedience or disobedience to the law deciding destiny, and the government is ordered so no one can escape the result of the course taken, with cause followed by effect. Sowing is followed by reaping good or evil, conduct in this world fixes eternal destiny, disloyalty brings inescapable consequences even in this life, and at the great day every case is settled forever with heaven's laws vindicated and false theories shown to be nothing. The conduct of the majority does not excuse the individual, for each is responsible for self and for entrusted cares, recklessly neglecting duty brings punishment as surely as following right brings reward, and reward of right is as sure as promised salvation. God's requirements are definite and His government takes account of the whole life with unseen heavenly witnesses and an unchangeable record in the books, judging by light and privileges had, honoring with exaltation those who honor Him by faithfully observing the Sabbath He set apart as holy while not excusing willful disregard of commands though He is love. Soon the judgment will sit and the books will be opened and every person will be judged according to deeds done in the body.
Present injustice will not be passed by with silence, for every transgressor will be repaid in line with works and dealt with in line with secret and hidden plans. A strict account is kept of every lie framed, and though deceptive sharpness under the influence and teaching of the great deceiver has long been borne with, there is no deception about it, and when matters are taken in hand each will be met according to hidden devising. Retribution falls for masterful power taken to self, for oppressive man-made unions bringing confusion, violence and strife, and for scheming for rule over men and for gain by underhand deception. In retributive judgments cities full of extreme transgression are destroyed by earthquake, fire and flood through unseen agencies bringing destruction, devastation and death, making accumulated riches as nothingness and bringing idolatrous possessions and devices of men to naught despite scientific care to safeguard buildings.
Every deed will receive a just reward at the tribunal, and Nero feared that tribunal where his own deeds would be judged, trembled at the thought that he too would be judged, rejected offered mercy, and afterward suffered retributive justice. Felix trembled as he realized God knew the secrets of his criminal life and that he must answer for what he had done, with his guilty past and hidden crimes standing open before God and filling him with dread at judgment according to deeds. Future retribution judging every person on the basis of what was done was declared face to face to Herod Antipas, applying directly to him as a royal commandment-breaker and to his marriage to Herodias as unlawful, by the standard of the statutes given by the Lord God of heaven and not by the laws of men.
Standard Records and Scrutiny
A record of every deed, word, and neglect of duty is kept with unerring accuracy in the books of heaven until the judgment sits and the books are opened. Both good actions and sins, open and secret, including injustice, cruelty, fraud, selfish, impure and dishonest acts, and the thoughts of the heart with every hidden motive, are written down by a witness and brought clearly to mind, and unless repented, confessed before God, and blotted out they remain charged against the sinner. Each person's case is decided beforehand according to works and revealed when all stand before Christ, with each examined individually so that no boasting or apparent service shields wrongdoing and every act, including wealth gained by fraud and oppression, testifies. Deliverance requires humbling the soul, falling on the Rock and being broken, ceasing to do evil, learning to do well, and bearing fruit to God's glory.
The standard of that judgment is the law spoken from Sinai amidst awful grandeur, written by the finger of God on tables of stone, given to Moses to be deposited in the ark, with that ark and those tables in the heavenly sanctuary to be brought forth in the day of judgment. Every person is judged and repaid according to whether he was obedient to the law of God's kingdom just as written or transgressing to the last, with obedience a life-or-death question and knowing and doing the will of God according to every word proceeding from His mouth the test of true religion. No excuse for breaking the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will stand or even be attempted, for sentiments will be wonderfully changed when facing the great Lawgiver as Judge. Truth practiced in life, words, actions, and official faithfulness is the test, in proportion to faithfulness in cooperating with God and consecrating powers to do His will, building gold, silver, precious stones upon the foundation, while choosing one's own course builds hay, wood, stubble to be tried by fire. Those who put human inventions, systems, laws, books and nonessential studies in place of the Word, remodel God's purposes, distinguish between books of the Bible, take liberties with the gospel, and make Scripture testify to a lie must render account, as must unfaithful shepherds who treated testing truth tamely and made no earnest effort to save souls, whom the misled will charge with deception.
God as Creator, Governor and Ruler of the universe is not inattentive to His subjects as His little children but takes notice of the words and actions of every human being. He searches the reins and tries hearts, reading thoughts and imaginations of hearts from cause to effect, knowing the influence imagination and will exert upon outward deportment and upon other minds, and knows whether each deserves praise or condemnation. With His standard of character in His law and His unchangeable purpose to deal with every human being according to works, retribution must come upon those who disregard the laws He has made known. Those loyal and obedient receive the richest blessings from His mercy and loving-kindness, while those disloyal and presumptuous who dishonor the laws of His kingdom and refuse to repent will surely be punished with death.
The reckoning is decided by the degree of light given, with account taken of light and of resistance, disregard and rejection of that light, and sin is the same whether committed by one on a throne or in humble life. God as Ruler of heaven and earth keeps a reckoning with nations and every individual with unerring accuracy, where figures accumulate rapidly where evil is practiced, and no worker of wickedness escapes even the lightest and most secret act because His law given to govern nations, families and individuals condemns every evil. He bears long with wonderful forbearance, giving privileges and opportunities to obtain knowledge of truth, will and requirements, waiting for the sinner to repent, but forbearance has limits beyond which it will not reach. When abundant mercy is despised and rejected it is changed into wrath, long-deferred vengeance comes upon the disobedient, unthankful and unholy, patience gives way to wrath upon ingratitude and self-love such as refusing pledged returns despite light, and all who sinned will at last make confession though too late to receive pardon. This applies especially to those who give themselves to Satan's service by spreading his lies about God's law in teaching and practice, receiving due punishment in total destruction with Satan by the fires of the last days as branches with the root.
The final judgment comes when the Lord soon comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and all nations are gathered before Him, giving to every man eternal punishment or reward according to work. It is a most solemn event before the assembled universe vindicating God's government, honoring commandment-keeping people with none of the enemies of truth absent, condemning transgressors while the righteous see the result of sin and the value of eternal life, to be kept before people to make them think solemnly of duty and preparation. It includes an investigative review of lives and characters determining who is entitled to the benefits of Christ's atonement, when the risen dead stand before Christ as Judge of all the earth, hidden things are brought to light, and every written reproof and warning is proved true with nothing exaggerated. Through the thousand years Jesus and the saints together mete out to each wicked person according to deeds done in the body, sitting in judgment after being changed, caught up, and entering the city, with the books opened — the book of life with good deeds of saints and the book of death with evil deeds of the wicked — compared with the statute book, the Bible, and sentence passed in unison before execution.
Justice and grace are essentially different but work in perfect harmony. Every soul receives justice from God's hand according to works and reaps what was sown, which every soul He created will at last acknowledge as right, while priceless grace is conferred through His goodness and mercy. When the test of loyalty to God's law is over, all have taken sides, and probation and mercy end, God moves in straight justice to give every person as his works have been — to those who did well the reward of well-doing, to those who did evil and made void His law the uncompromising, broad, deep, infinite penalty of evil deeds, striking as thoroughly as it struck the divine Sufferer on the cross. His love excuses sin in none, not in Satan, Adam, Cain or any other, and no worker of wickedness escapes condemnation however light or secret, with every minute offense recorded. This combined love and justice works for the good of the universe and even for the rebellious sinner by causing suffering of sin's penalty, the second death without hope of resurrection, while reaching down to lift the fallen who lay hold of truth by repentance and faith in Jesus.
Faith Grace and Obedience
People are justified by faith yet judged by character of works, for God renders to every person according to deeds in the revelation of righteous judgment in the day of wrath. Not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified, so that as many as have sinned without law shall perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Despising the riches of goodness and forbearance and longsuffering which leads to repentance, and transgressing the law and breaking the covenant, stores up wrath against that day, even for those favored as repositories of the holy oracles, as with the Jewish nation as the chosen people entrusted with them whose unfaithful stewardship and disobedience brought wrath instead of becoming the delight and praise of the whole earth. To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality God gives eternal life, with glory, honor, and peace to every one that works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, while indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, come upon every soul that does evil and is contentious and obeys not the truth but obeys unrighteousness, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, for there is no respect of persons with God.
Judgment concerns the fruit of a life, not profession of Christianity or faith alone, for good acts and fulfilled duties form the record and fruit shows whether character is good or corrupt. Righteousness is right doing, and deeds reveal character and whether faith is genuine, so belief in Christ, knowledge of truth, or profession of faith is not enough unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness, and words without fitting deeds have no value. The lives of all who profess to follow Him are examined in the heavenly judgment and each destiny is fixed according to the record, yet judgment by deeds does not replace Christ's righteousness, since only those who receive Christ by faith and wear His provided righteousness are accepted. Christ's imputed righteousness becomes part of life and leads to works of God and does not cover cherished sins, so that receiving righteousness involves holiness and uprightness joined with human effort made possible by God's power, and the deeds described as patient continuance in well doing while seeking glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life are its fruit.
Obedience is a life-or-death question that makes every difference, for in the great day every person is judged and repaid on the basis of what was done, whether obedient to the law of God's kingdom or transgressing to the last, whether keeping God's commandments just as written. Being received into the kingdom of heaven and the family of God depends on pleasing and honoring God in this life by doing what one knows to be right, and refusal to do known right leaves a person unprepared whom God cannot honor with a place in heaven. Everyone who enters heaven is here obedient to the knowledge of truth possessed, receiving the truth and being sanctified by it, placing the will on the Lord's side so the Holy Spirit takes it and makes it one with the divine will. Unfaithful shepherds who knew the truth yet made no personal earnest effort to save souls, who treated testing truth tamely as a subject every one was at liberty to regard as pleased in order to link up with others, will face this reckoning, and those they misled will turn on them and charge them with deception for not laying hold of them with intense earnestness and showing their peril while still within reach of forgiveness. Christ reads the purposes and thoughts of every heart and weighs the motives behind every action, those who serve sin receive the transgressor's reward, and each response to God's invitations and to the warning of salvation determines a sentence of eternal life or punishment.
In the day of judgment everyone receives sentence according to deeds, and the cross will reveal the true bearing of each choice leaving no excuse, so that those who chose transgression and rejected truth will recognize their sin and its result. At the last great day all will stand before the Judge of all the earth to receive sentence for eternity, rewarded or punished according to obedience or disobedience, and the abundance of evidence that God desires the salvation of all will condemn those who refuse the gift of heaven. Then the cross of Calvary will appear plainly before them and they will be made capable of comprehending something of God's love for fallen human beings, seeing how greatly He has been dishonored by continued transgression, siding with Satan and showing contempt for Jehovah's law, and seeing that obedience to this law would have brought life and health and prosperity and eternal good.
Stewardship Mission and Conduct
Every person must answer for entrusted talents of ability, means, money, influence, and physical, mental, and spiritual powers, improved by use and returned in service to others and to the Lord. Greater intellectual ability brings greater responsibility, and every talent misused is recorded in heaven as robbery. Those bought by the blood of Christ cannot be excused from faithful work, for every true Christian is a coworker with Christ whose soul-value is measured by the price paid for it. To cripple or abuse lent gifts is most offensive to God, and rich, self-indulgent men who exalt self as independent of God, worship themselves, rob God in worldly acquirements, neglect the great Proprietor, fail to relieve the oppressed, and abuse His vineyard are of value in His sight only when rich in good works by distributing to the poor and relieving suffering humanity. All are weighed in scales of eternal justice and rewarded according as works shall be, laying up wrath against the day of wrath when justice and mercy are replaced by avarice and strife.
Earnest, persevering effort is to be made for wealthy and honorable men in the highways as well as for those in the byways, without passing by those to whom God has entrusted goods. Both rich and poor receive the call to the prepared supper from the compassionate Redeemer, and many souls will come to knowledge of the truth if earnest effort is put forth to save them. They are to be told to lay up treasure beside the throne of God by employing talents and means in opening ways for salvation of souls ready to perish. That promise of eternal life to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, with glory, honor, and peace to every worker of good without respect of persons, gives encouragement for this work.
Selfishness does not profit in the end, for it deprives others and self of good and of blessing, and the principle of sowing and reaping governs whether a person gives and serves generously or sparingly. Daily acts of cheerful self-denial and care for others are deeds smiled upon, while refusal of responsibilities and burdens is rewarded in keeping with works. Money and influence that could have relieved suffering but were withheld will be charged in judgment against those who could have helped. Wealth gained by fraud, oppressive conduct, and selfish use of means entrusted for God's glory will testify against those responsible, who squander God's means for self-glory must answer according to works, and violating moral obligation to self by disregarding laws of nature robs God, works against highest interests, fails to represent Him, and brings present penalty in sickness, ruined constitutions, and even death besides a future settlement, since every transgression of physical law is transgression of God's law.
Unfaithful shepherds who trample the law, destroy and scatter the sheep, and defile their food are not screened by outward nearness to God, position, possessions, or color, but judged for the good they might have done but did not. Those with abundant opportunity, peculiar advantages, and gifts to let light shine, yet in blindness, unbelief, and perversity contending against God and His messengers and leading others astray, are called to account for misused opportunities, turning truth into a lie, dishonoring Him, and treating testing truth tamely as a matter every man may regard as he pleases in order to link up with others. Those they misled will turn and charge them with deception for not laying hold of them with intense earnestness and showing peril while forgiveness was still within reach. All entrusted with light must answer whether they warned those in darkness, and those distinguished by mercy bestowed will be distinguished by severity of punishment.
The reckoning calls for entering the spirit of the work and doing God-given work in sincerity and faith despite trials, obstacles, difficulties, and opposition, which are chosen methods of discipline and appointed conditions of progress and success, so character may be formed after the divine pattern. No least duty in temporal or spiritual things is to be neglected, but good is to be done to others, life brought into accordance with Christ's principles, matters in question brought out and settled now before the great day tests every thought, word, and deed, causes every work to appear with its underlying motive, and makes known secrets of all hearts. Those who name Christ must represent His character, sow unto eternal life, serve in meekness and lowliness, follow His footsteps, make straight paths, never do unseemly things or give wrong example that leads a soul crookedly and turns the lame out of the way, and crowd all possible good works into life, for decision of each case is made beforehand when judgment sits and books are opened and revealed when all stand before Christ. Even while impenitent, people keep receiving favors of sunshine, dew, rain, and the silent nightly and daily miracle of germinating seed bringing forth fruit and harvest, and all these common mercies will witness against the unrepentant, so it is fitting for finite beings to walk softly before God.
Open and secret sins, thoughts of the heart as well as actions, are recorded until revealed, and unless repented and confessed they remain charged and bring wrath, while repented wrongdoing is blotted out and not counted. A Watcher in every business transaction records every act just as written, and every injustice, cruelty, fraud, and pang inflicted is recorded as done to Christ because people belong to Him by creation and redemption, with oppression or robbery of widow and fatherless to be avenged, though execution is withheld for now because the Lord changes not. Unfairness in work and wages is seen by a God of justice and equity who calls to account, and criticism in the home carried into the church that counterworks gospel ministry, discourages the whole church, and hinders messages by a negative position when the Lord says Advance will be judged with its measure of guilt revealed, when arguments made to quiet conscience will not appear as they appeared to self or to the blinded. Those who harm servants by spreading false reports will be exposed as hypocrites by their own words clearing the falsely accused, and circulating lies, eager teaching without learning, blocking truth, murmuring, unjust dealing, and corrupt medical practice by the sickbed are all recorded by present witnesses. Liquor selling that fosters addiction leaves no excuse and must answer for harm, with every tempting glass recorded and destroying life paying life for life, proving the law holy, just, and good, while pity with cleansed love is still due even to wrongdoers.
God will repay every person according to deeds, works, and character formed, when Christ comes in glory with His angels with His reward to give each as his work shall be in the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment according to truth. There is no respect of persons with Him, with judgment coming to Jew first and also to Gentile for both evil and good. To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory and honor and immortality He gives eternal life with glory, honor and peace, and to those who are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness He gives indignation and wrath with tribulation and anguish. Every one is judged by deeds and fruit of life and by the secrets of heart and motive revealed, not by profession, outward nearness, position, possessions or color, with every act kept with unerring accuracy in the books of heaven until the judgment. People are justified by faith yet judged by works, for hearers of the law are not just but doers shall be justified, and the reward of eternal life was purchased by Christ's self-sacrifice and not by human merits, yet is given in goodness as if the merit were their own to those who through Him form faultless character in obedience.
Words and Immediate Context
The rendering to every person according to deeds belongs to the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, which is according to truth. The riches of God's goodness and forbearance and longsuffering are meant to lead to repentance, and to despise them is to miss their purpose. Hardness and an impenitent heart treasure up wrath against that day. Whoever judges another for things he himself does is inexcusable and condemns himself, and no one who judges and does the same things will escape that judgment. Selfish, ambitious striving to be first or greatest and contention against the truth bring that wrath, while becoming converted as a little child and serving others in goodness and usefulness bring eternal life.
To render means that God will repay every person in line with what he has done, according to deeds, works, and character formed. Christ Himself does this repaying, for when the Son of man comes in the glory of His Father with His angels He will pay every person on the basis of deeds and works. At His coming His reward is with Him to give every man according as his work shall be, and when the Lord comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory with all nations gathered before Him, God gives to every man eternal punishment or reward according to his work. At Christ's appearing in His kingdom all meet Him as Judge of the living and the dead and each receives according to works. Those who do little or nothing for the salvation of souls or to benefit others, who are too slothful to invest in the truth and in saving others, who seek their own ease and pleasure and shun burdens and crosses and responsibilities, will be disappointed to find they have no reward laid up in heaven.
There is no respect of persons with God. Judgment comes to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for evil done, and glory, honor, and peace come to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for good done. As many as have sinned without law shall perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, for not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified.
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality God gives eternal life, which is glory and honor and immortality, a life that runs parallel with and measures with the life of Jehovah and of God, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which the world can neither give nor take away, with exceeding great reward in keeping the commandments. Glory, honor, and peace are given to every man that works good. To them that are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness God gives indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that does evil. To be contentious is to contend against the truth, to stir up strife, and to fail to cultivate kindness, sympathy, compassion, goodness, and love. Censuring another for blameworthy financial management while one's own financial embarrassment is not after God's order stands condemned by this, as trying to pull a mote from a brother's eye with a beam in one's own eye.
The teaching is individual, counting person by person, with each person judged according to deeds. Each person is given through faith in Christ the possibility of being one with God and gaining immortality through Christ. Immortality, a life that measures with the life of God, is not obtained through human beings but through Christ. Men and women are daily deciding their own destiny without realizing it, and as believers in His Word they should walk very softly before God. The verse requires entering into the spirit of the work, neglecting no least duty in temporal or spiritual things, doing good to others and bringing life into accordance with the principles of Christ, working in sincerity and faith amid trials, obstacles, difficulties, and opposition as God's chosen methods of discipline and appointed conditions of progress, so that character may be formed after the divine pattern.
Universal Impartial Reckoning
Repayment is to every person according to deeds, works, fruit of life and character formed, not according to outward nearness to God, position occupied, possessions, color or poverty, and by this each destiny is decided. Profession of Christianity or faith alone does not decide, for judgment examines good acts and fulfilled duties, brings words and actions with both good and sins clearly to mind, and tests each professing person individually. Belief in Christ, knowledge of truth, profession and words without fitting deeds have no value, because righteousness is right doing and deeds reveal character and whether faith is genuine. Each one is accountable and responsible, and the reckoning is pressed even amid levity and conduct that separates from God.
No respect of persons governs the reckoning, to Jew first and also to Gentile, so the wealthy and honorable in the highways are to receive the same earnest persevering effort as those in the byways, with rich and poor alike given the call to the supper. Many will come to knowledge of the truth if labor is put forth to save them, and those entrusted with goods are bidden to lay up treasure beside the throne by employing talents and means to open ways for perishing souls. The same impartial law judges every nationality without favor to the most favored and without leaving the needy without help and notice, including Black people and lower-grade white people, for white and Black sinners receive the same gracious acceptance, forgiveness, offer of salvation and promise of the same heaven on the same terms as sons and daughters lifted from ignorance and degradation to assurance of higher life and a place in the redeemed family at the coming in the clouds and the resurrection of the righteous dead. Therefore no one may pass by any people, and especially not colored people, without working to save, educate and uplift them, for distinctions of society fade at the cross. Daily life matters because a record passes to heaven, and the Judge of all the earth tries every case with no lack of evidence, unlike earthly courts where the innocent suffer and the guilty go free for lack of proof, revealing every deed with every hidden motive and judging every thought and deed under eyes that run over the whole earth, when Christ who offered salvation and died that man might share the divine nature Himself acquits or condemns before the Father and holy angels, where gold and silver cannot ransom and only the merits of blood can wash guilty stains.
God sees purposes of the heart, motives, thoughts, words, actions, business transactions and secrets, so outward professions of piety cannot conceal selfishness and greed and hypocritical exploitation is brought to judgment. Wrongdoing hidden from others is not hidden from Him, as Felix trembled to realize that the secrets of his criminal life were known and must be answered for. At the great day the Judge of the whole world will test every thought, word and deed, cause every work to appear with its underlying motive, make known the secrets of all hearts and give sentence according as works have been, so matters in question should be brought out and settled now. His present government takes notice of conduct, and when He speaks the words written in the books every man, woman and youth is judged according as works have been by a close and accurate discrimination, not a promiscuous handling of things or an averaged account, for the Judge of all the earth will do right. As Creator and Governor He regards subjects as little children yet searches the reins and tries hearts, reading thoughts and imaginations from cause to effect and knowing the influence imagination and will exert upon outward deportment and other minds, holding His law as the standard of character with unchangeable purpose to deal with every human being according to works.
Every person is tested and proved until true character is developed and shown, while angels watch the development and weigh moral worth according to deeds done in the body. Each receives exactly the tone of character and morals cultivated in this life, the same spirit and character cherished in home life with neighbors and family, and the decision pronounced by Jesus who gave His life as sacrifice turns on how each soul appreciated and obeyed His words. The impartial Judge views character stripped of outward gloss and weighs acts by true moral worth rather than pride and self-esteem, weighing moral fitness by the law as the standard and giving man, woman, youth and child what deeds deserve, including just dealings even against personal interest and secret opposition that hinders others. This calls for laying the soul bare, divesting self-love and pride to view character correctly and discern God's requirements, with humility, sincerity and thorough transformation into the meek and quiet spirit of great price, without which there is failure of everlasting life. Character formed in this probationary life fixes eternal destiny, for no one will be a saint in heaven without first being a saint on earth, heavenly beings watch what manner of character develops, God makes no mistake about fitness for the kingdom, and the unconverted who do not correct defects remain wholly unlike Christ and unfit for heaven, unable to enjoy its atmosphere of pure truth and holiness and its indescribable beauties and glories just as they do not enjoy the society of Christians on earth.
No person has the right to measure fellow church members or to refuse Christianity because of faults seen in them, for judgment has been given only to Christ because He lived humanity and alone understands human weakness and striving toward perfection. Counterfeit Christians are in every church, but tares and wheat must grow together until the harvest, since the church militant is not the church triumphant and the work of judgment has not been committed into human hands. God, not other people, will judge and render to each according to work, so each worker's responsibility is to carry out entrusted work faithfully, seeking the imperishable crown and not being discouraged by others' judgments.
Destiny is decided at a decisive hour of revealed righteous judgment against treasured wrath, bringing tribulation and anguish on evildoers, yet God does not force will or judgment and takes no pleasure in slavish obedience. Years of probation are given to form character for heaven, but the destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice, and exclusion from heaven is voluntary and on God's part just and merciful. Those who choose rebellion become incurable, with pride, deception, licentiousness and cruelty fixed in character and no disposition to submit to divine authority, so that when life ends it is too late to turn thought from transgression to obedience and from hatred to love. They are unfitted for heaven's purity, holiness, peace, love and joy and could not endure the glory of God and the Lamb, finding it torture and a consuming fire and welcoming destruction to be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them.
Promise of Eternal Life
To those who persistently continue in doing good while seeking glory and honor and immortality, God gives eternal life, which itself is glory and honor and immortality. That life runs parallel with the life of Jehovah and measures with the life of God, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which the world can neither give nor take away, with exceeding great reward in keeping the commandments. Immortality is not obtained through human beings but through Christ, and the life to be sought is one that measures with the life of God by learning and cultivating what is worth being perpetuated and will not perish when every evil purpose, thought, and action has an end. Men and women are daily deciding their own destiny without realizing it, and as believers in His Word they should walk very softly before God.
The precious rewards of the future will be proportionate to the work of faith and labor of love in the present life, enhancing eternal happiness, bestowed in proportion to the work done in the name of Christ because works testify to the character developed. The reward of well-doing is awarded in the same measure as a person has denied self and sacrificed for the happiness of others, while those who do not love care in temporal or spiritual matters, who shun burdens and seek ease while others bear burdens, and whose principal study is to care for and look out for self, will not have the reward of well-doing, for every tree is known by its own fruits. At the last great day God judges people by the quality of their work rather than the quantity, and those who work to rescue people being led astray by error will be rewarded for their deeds. Believers are therefore to have respect to the recompense of the reward, direct ambition toward advancing the Redeemer's glory, look to the crown of immortal life, run that they may obtain, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, and wrestle to receive power for the highest attainments in the spiritual life.
The reward was purchased by the self-denial and self-sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and is not given because of man's merits, so no reward is due from God on the ground of human merit. Although coworkers with Christ will hear the welcome into the joy of their Lord, they have no merit in themselves, for after doing all the good possible they are still unprofitable servants who have done only their duty, and what was accomplished was wrought solely through the grace of Christ. Yet in the great goodness and love of God they are rewarded as if the merit were their own, and through the merit of the Saviour every promise of God will be fulfilled. The reckoning applies to all, including those in positions of sacred responsibility, who remain sinners who can be saved only by the grace and merits of Christ, and those who are saved must form characters without fault in the sight of God and of Christ by depending wholly on Him, for apart from Him no one can do one good thing. Christ has made a complete atonement and wrought out a perfect character, He ever lives to make intercession, He gives every person his work, and He cooperates with everyone who cooperates with Him by taking His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness, teaching followers daily the meaning of the divine beatitudes, while angels welcome and minister to such ones in every phase of life history.
In that great day the righteous Judge will give to every person according to what he has done, whether good or evil, giving the crown of life to the faithful, which is reason to keep the mind stayed upon the Lord, to discharge individual duty day by day, and to war the good warfare in expectation of that reward. In the last general judgment each person will be dealt with according to the use made of entrusted talents, as illustrated by the parable of the talents with the unprofitable servant cast into outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth, where every character will appear just as it is and the righteous alone shine forth in the kingdom of God. Those who have done good have a part in the resurrection of life and those who have done evil are awarded according to their works, the whole matter decided by obedience or disobedience. The outcome when standing before the throne of God is twofold: saved by the blood of the Lamb or condemned to the punishment of the wicked.
Warning of Wrath Punishment
The righteous judgment repays each person according to deeds, and for the wicked who persist in evil this means storing up wrath for the day of judgment and facing tribulation and anguish with no place among the holy in heaven. The declaration is to be believed exactly as written without reasoning it into something else, and at the judgment it means not one sinner will enter the courts of heaven. The Lord will repay every unrepentant sinner according to what was done, especially those who feel no shame in doing evil yet feel shame in confessing sin, when Christ rises from His throne and puts on vengeance after satanic deception has grown stronger and more fully developed through the world. When the test of loyalty to the law is over and all have taken sides for or against it, mercy and probation end and straight justice gives to each as works have been, the well-doing receiving its reward and evil-doing and making void the law receiving its uncompromising penalty, which is love and justice combined working for the universe and for the sinner by causing suffering of sin's penalty. That penalty is the second death, death without hope of resurrection, with forever separation from God and the holy angels and all the redeemed, so that this world with its sorrows, sadness, misery and continual suffering becomes all the heaven the impenitent will ever enjoy, and keeping that end in view should stir pity and resolve to make the home as pleasant as possible rather than unhappy and wretched.
No outward nearness, position, possessions, or color screens from divine wrath those who trample the law, especially unfaithful shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep and defile their food. Each case is decided with punishment proportionate to light rejected, and those who had abundant opportunity to know truth with peculiar advantages and gifts to let light shine to others, but in blindness, unbelief and perversity contended against God and His messengers and led others astray, will be judged for the good they might have done but did not and called to account for misused opportunities, for turning truth into a lie and dishonoring Him. Destiny is thus decided not by position, color, or poverty but by character formed and work done, and turning from God's way to one's own way brings judgment according to work. Those distinguished by mercy bestowed are distinguished by severity of punishment, and those distinguished above others by mercy and grace who walked contrary to principles of truth receive conspicuous punishment, so all may see justice and equal ways. The reckoning is decided by degree of light given with account taken of resistance, disregard and rejection, for God bears long with privileges and opportunities to obtain knowledge of truth, will and requirements, but forbearance has limits, and when abundant mercy is despised and rejected it is changed into wrath and long-deferred vengeance comes upon the disobedient, unthankful and unholy.
There are degrees of punishment according to deeds, with obedience or disobedience to the law deciding destiny, and the government is ordered so no one can escape the result of the course taken, with cause followed by effect. Sowing is followed by reaping good or evil, conduct in this world fixes eternal destiny, disloyalty brings inescapable consequences even in this life, and at the great day every case is settled forever with heaven's laws vindicated and false theories shown to be nothing. The conduct of the majority does not excuse the individual, for each is responsible for self and for entrusted cares, recklessly neglecting duty brings punishment as surely as following right brings reward, and reward of right is as sure as promised salvation. God's requirements are definite and His government takes account of the whole life with unseen heavenly witnesses and an unchangeable record in the books, judging by light and privileges had, honoring with exaltation those who honor Him by faithfully observing the Sabbath He set apart as holy while not excusing willful disregard of commands though He is love. Soon the judgment will sit and the books will be opened and every person will be judged according to deeds done in the body.
Present injustice will not be passed by with silence, for every transgressor will be repaid in line with works and dealt with in line with secret and hidden plans. A strict account is kept of every lie framed, and though deceptive sharpness under the influence and teaching of the great deceiver has long been borne with, there is no deception about it, and when matters are taken in hand each will be met according to hidden devising. Retribution falls for masterful power taken to self, for oppressive man-made unions bringing confusion, violence and strife, and for scheming for rule over men and for gain by underhand deception. In retributive judgments cities full of extreme transgression are destroyed by earthquake, fire and flood through unseen agencies bringing destruction, devastation and death, making accumulated riches as nothingness and bringing idolatrous possessions and devices of men to naught despite scientific care to safeguard buildings.
Every deed will receive a just reward at the tribunal, and Nero feared that tribunal where his own deeds would be judged, trembled at the thought that he too would be judged, rejected offered mercy, and afterward suffered retributive justice. Felix trembled as he realized God knew the secrets of his criminal life and that he must answer for what he had done, with his guilty past and hidden crimes standing open before God and filling him with dread at judgment according to deeds. Future retribution judging every person on the basis of what was done was declared face to face to Herod Antipas, applying directly to him as a royal commandment-breaker and to his marriage to Herodias as unlawful, by the standard of the statutes given by the Lord God of heaven and not by the laws of men.
Standard Records and Scrutiny
A record of every deed, word, and neglect of duty is kept with unerring accuracy in the books of heaven until the judgment sits and the books are opened. Both good actions and sins, open and secret, including injustice, cruelty, fraud, selfish, impure and dishonest acts, and the thoughts of the heart with every hidden motive, are written down by a witness and brought clearly to mind, and unless repented, confessed before God, and blotted out they remain charged against the sinner. Each person's case is decided beforehand according to works and revealed when all stand before Christ, with each examined individually so that no boasting or apparent service shields wrongdoing and every act, including wealth gained by fraud and oppression, testifies. Deliverance requires humbling the soul, falling on the Rock and being broken, ceasing to do evil, learning to do well, and bearing fruit to God's glory.
The standard of that judgment is the law spoken from Sinai amidst awful grandeur, written by the finger of God on tables of stone, given to Moses to be deposited in the ark, with that ark and those tables in the heavenly sanctuary to be brought forth in the day of judgment. Every person is judged and repaid according to whether he was obedient to the law of God's kingdom just as written or transgressing to the last, with obedience a life-or-death question and knowing and doing the will of God according to every word proceeding from His mouth the test of true religion. No excuse for breaking the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will stand or even be attempted, for sentiments will be wonderfully changed when facing the great Lawgiver as Judge. Truth practiced in life, words, actions, and official faithfulness is the test, in proportion to faithfulness in cooperating with God and consecrating powers to do His will, building gold, silver, precious stones upon the foundation, while choosing one's own course builds hay, wood, stubble to be tried by fire. Those who put human inventions, systems, laws, books and nonessential studies in place of the Word, remodel God's purposes, distinguish between books of the Bible, take liberties with the gospel, and make Scripture testify to a lie must render account, as must unfaithful shepherds who treated testing truth tamely and made no earnest effort to save souls, whom the misled will charge with deception.
God as Creator, Governor and Ruler of the universe is not inattentive to His subjects as His little children but takes notice of the words and actions of every human being. He searches the reins and tries hearts, reading thoughts and imaginations of hearts from cause to effect, knowing the influence imagination and will exert upon outward deportment and upon other minds, and knows whether each deserves praise or condemnation. With His standard of character in His law and His unchangeable purpose to deal with every human being according to works, retribution must come upon those who disregard the laws He has made known. Those loyal and obedient receive the richest blessings from His mercy and loving-kindness, while those disloyal and presumptuous who dishonor the laws of His kingdom and refuse to repent will surely be punished with death.
The reckoning is decided by the degree of light given, with account taken of light and of resistance, disregard and rejection of that light, and sin is the same whether committed by one on a throne or in humble life. God as Ruler of heaven and earth keeps a reckoning with nations and every individual with unerring accuracy, where figures accumulate rapidly where evil is practiced, and no worker of wickedness escapes even the lightest and most secret act because His law given to govern nations, families and individuals condemns every evil. He bears long with wonderful forbearance, giving privileges and opportunities to obtain knowledge of truth, will and requirements, waiting for the sinner to repent, but forbearance has limits beyond which it will not reach. When abundant mercy is despised and rejected it is changed into wrath, long-deferred vengeance comes upon the disobedient, unthankful and unholy, patience gives way to wrath upon ingratitude and self-love such as refusing pledged returns despite light, and all who sinned will at last make confession though too late to receive pardon. This applies especially to those who give themselves to Satan's service by spreading his lies about God's law in teaching and practice, receiving due punishment in total destruction with Satan by the fires of the last days as branches with the root.
The final judgment comes when the Lord soon comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and all nations are gathered before Him, giving to every man eternal punishment or reward according to work. It is a most solemn event before the assembled universe vindicating God's government, honoring commandment-keeping people with none of the enemies of truth absent, condemning transgressors while the righteous see the result of sin and the value of eternal life, to be kept before people to make them think solemnly of duty and preparation. It includes an investigative review of lives and characters determining who is entitled to the benefits of Christ's atonement, when the risen dead stand before Christ as Judge of all the earth, hidden things are brought to light, and every written reproof and warning is proved true with nothing exaggerated. Through the thousand years Jesus and the saints together mete out to each wicked person according to deeds done in the body, sitting in judgment after being changed, caught up, and entering the city, with the books opened — the book of life with good deeds of saints and the book of death with evil deeds of the wicked — compared with the statute book, the Bible, and sentence passed in unison before execution.
Justice and grace are essentially different but work in perfect harmony. Every soul receives justice from God's hand according to works and reaps what was sown, which every soul He created will at last acknowledge as right, while priceless grace is conferred through His goodness and mercy. When the test of loyalty to God's law is over, all have taken sides, and probation and mercy end, God moves in straight justice to give every person as his works have been — to those who did well the reward of well-doing, to those who did evil and made void His law the uncompromising, broad, deep, infinite penalty of evil deeds, striking as thoroughly as it struck the divine Sufferer on the cross. His love excuses sin in none, not in Satan, Adam, Cain or any other, and no worker of wickedness escapes condemnation however light or secret, with every minute offense recorded. This combined love and justice works for the good of the universe and even for the rebellious sinner by causing suffering of sin's penalty, the second death without hope of resurrection, while reaching down to lift the fallen who lay hold of truth by repentance and faith in Jesus.
Faith Grace and Obedience
People are justified by faith yet judged by character of works, for God renders to every person according to deeds in the revelation of righteous judgment in the day of wrath. Not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified, so that as many as have sinned without law shall perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Despising the riches of goodness and forbearance and longsuffering which leads to repentance, and transgressing the law and breaking the covenant, stores up wrath against that day, even for those favored as repositories of the holy oracles, as with the Jewish nation as the chosen people entrusted with them whose unfaithful stewardship and disobedience brought wrath instead of becoming the delight and praise of the whole earth. To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality God gives eternal life, with glory, honor, and peace to every one that works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, while indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, come upon every soul that does evil and is contentious and obeys not the truth but obeys unrighteousness, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, for there is no respect of persons with God.
Judgment concerns the fruit of a life, not profession of Christianity or faith alone, for good acts and fulfilled duties form the record and fruit shows whether character is good or corrupt. Righteousness is right doing, and deeds reveal character and whether faith is genuine, so belief in Christ, knowledge of truth, or profession of faith is not enough unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness, and words without fitting deeds have no value. The lives of all who profess to follow Him are examined in the heavenly judgment and each destiny is fixed according to the record, yet judgment by deeds does not replace Christ's righteousness, since only those who receive Christ by faith and wear His provided righteousness are accepted. Christ's imputed righteousness becomes part of life and leads to works of God and does not cover cherished sins, so that receiving righteousness involves holiness and uprightness joined with human effort made possible by God's power, and the deeds described as patient continuance in well doing while seeking glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life are its fruit.
Obedience is a life-or-death question that makes every difference, for in the great day every person is judged and repaid on the basis of what was done, whether obedient to the law of God's kingdom or transgressing to the last, whether keeping God's commandments just as written. Being received into the kingdom of heaven and the family of God depends on pleasing and honoring God in this life by doing what one knows to be right, and refusal to do known right leaves a person unprepared whom God cannot honor with a place in heaven. Everyone who enters heaven is here obedient to the knowledge of truth possessed, receiving the truth and being sanctified by it, placing the will on the Lord's side so the Holy Spirit takes it and makes it one with the divine will. Unfaithful shepherds who knew the truth yet made no personal earnest effort to save souls, who treated testing truth tamely as a subject every one was at liberty to regard as pleased in order to link up with others, will face this reckoning, and those they misled will turn on them and charge them with deception for not laying hold of them with intense earnestness and showing their peril while still within reach of forgiveness. Christ reads the purposes and thoughts of every heart and weighs the motives behind every action, those who serve sin receive the transgressor's reward, and each response to God's invitations and to the warning of salvation determines a sentence of eternal life or punishment.
In the day of judgment everyone receives sentence according to deeds, and the cross will reveal the true bearing of each choice leaving no excuse, so that those who chose transgression and rejected truth will recognize their sin and its result. At the last great day all will stand before the Judge of all the earth to receive sentence for eternity, rewarded or punished according to obedience or disobedience, and the abundance of evidence that God desires the salvation of all will condemn those who refuse the gift of heaven. Then the cross of Calvary will appear plainly before them and they will be made capable of comprehending something of God's love for fallen human beings, seeing how greatly He has been dishonored by continued transgression, siding with Satan and showing contempt for Jehovah's law, and seeing that obedience to this law would have brought life and health and prosperity and eternal good.
Stewardship Mission and Conduct
Every person must answer for entrusted talents of ability, means, money, influence, and physical, mental, and spiritual powers, improved by use and returned in service to others and to the Lord. Greater intellectual ability brings greater responsibility, and every talent misused is recorded in heaven as robbery. Those bought by the blood of Christ cannot be excused from faithful work, for every true Christian is a coworker with Christ whose soul-value is measured by the price paid for it. To cripple or abuse lent gifts is most offensive to God, and rich, self-indulgent men who exalt self as independent of God, worship themselves, rob God in worldly acquirements, neglect the great Proprietor, fail to relieve the oppressed, and abuse His vineyard are of value in His sight only when rich in good works by distributing to the poor and relieving suffering humanity. All are weighed in scales of eternal justice and rewarded according as works shall be, laying up wrath against the day of wrath when justice and mercy are replaced by avarice and strife.
Earnest, persevering effort is to be made for wealthy and honorable men in the highways as well as for those in the byways, without passing by those to whom God has entrusted goods. Both rich and poor receive the call to the prepared supper from the compassionate Redeemer, and many souls will come to knowledge of the truth if earnest effort is put forth to save them. They are to be told to lay up treasure beside the throne of God by employing talents and means in opening ways for salvation of souls ready to perish. That promise of eternal life to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, with glory, honor, and peace to every worker of good without respect of persons, gives encouragement for this work.
Selfishness does not profit in the end, for it deprives others and self of good and of blessing, and the principle of sowing and reaping governs whether a person gives and serves generously or sparingly. Daily acts of cheerful self-denial and care for others are deeds smiled upon, while refusal of responsibilities and burdens is rewarded in keeping with works. Money and influence that could have relieved suffering but were withheld will be charged in judgment against those who could have helped. Wealth gained by fraud, oppressive conduct, and selfish use of means entrusted for God's glory will testify against those responsible, who squander God's means for self-glory must answer according to works, and violating moral obligation to self by disregarding laws of nature robs God, works against highest interests, fails to represent Him, and brings present penalty in sickness, ruined constitutions, and even death besides a future settlement, since every transgression of physical law is transgression of God's law.
Unfaithful shepherds who trample the law, destroy and scatter the sheep, and defile their food are not screened by outward nearness to God, position, possessions, or color, but judged for the good they might have done but did not. Those with abundant opportunity, peculiar advantages, and gifts to let light shine, yet in blindness, unbelief, and perversity contending against God and His messengers and leading others astray, are called to account for misused opportunities, turning truth into a lie, dishonoring Him, and treating testing truth tamely as a matter every man may regard as he pleases in order to link up with others. Those they misled will turn and charge them with deception for not laying hold of them with intense earnestness and showing peril while forgiveness was still within reach. All entrusted with light must answer whether they warned those in darkness, and those distinguished by mercy bestowed will be distinguished by severity of punishment.
The reckoning calls for entering the spirit of the work and doing God-given work in sincerity and faith despite trials, obstacles, difficulties, and opposition, which are chosen methods of discipline and appointed conditions of progress and success, so character may be formed after the divine pattern. No least duty in temporal or spiritual things is to be neglected, but good is to be done to others, life brought into accordance with Christ's principles, matters in question brought out and settled now before the great day tests every thought, word, and deed, causes every work to appear with its underlying motive, and makes known secrets of all hearts. Those who name Christ must represent His character, sow unto eternal life, serve in meekness and lowliness, follow His footsteps, make straight paths, never do unseemly things or give wrong example that leads a soul crookedly and turns the lame out of the way, and crowd all possible good works into life, for decision of each case is made beforehand when judgment sits and books are opened and revealed when all stand before Christ. Even while impenitent, people keep receiving favors of sunshine, dew, rain, and the silent nightly and daily miracle of germinating seed bringing forth fruit and harvest, and all these common mercies will witness against the unrepentant, so it is fitting for finite beings to walk softly before God.
Open and secret sins, thoughts of the heart as well as actions, are recorded until revealed, and unless repented and confessed they remain charged and bring wrath, while repented wrongdoing is blotted out and not counted. A Watcher in every business transaction records every act just as written, and every injustice, cruelty, fraud, and pang inflicted is recorded as done to Christ because people belong to Him by creation and redemption, with oppression or robbery of widow and fatherless to be avenged, though execution is withheld for now because the Lord changes not. Unfairness in work and wages is seen by a God of justice and equity who calls to account, and criticism in the home carried into the church that counterworks gospel ministry, discourages the whole church, and hinders messages by a negative position when the Lord says Advance will be judged with its measure of guilt revealed, when arguments made to quiet conscience will not appear as they appeared to self or to the blinded. Those who harm servants by spreading false reports will be exposed as hypocrites by their own words clearing the falsely accused, and circulating lies, eager teaching without learning, blocking truth, murmuring, unjust dealing, and corrupt medical practice by the sickbed are all recorded by present witnesses. Liquor selling that fosters addiction leaves no excuse and must answer for harm, with every tempting glass recorded and destroying life paying life for life, proving the law holy, just, and good, while pity with cleansed love is still due even to wrongdoers.