The second phase
of the judgment bar is of Christ
(the judgment of the living) and
it begins when the censer is cast
down and the Great Tribulation
begins. The 144,000 will announce
the judgment bar of Christ. They
will cry out, “….
Fear God and give him glory
because the hour of his
judgment has come. Worship
him who made the
heavens, the earth, the sea and
the springs of water.”
(Revelation 14:7, italics mine)
The judgment of
the living is unlike the
judgment of the dead in several
ways. First, the judgment of the
living does not require a
complete review of a
person’s life. The judgment
of the living will be based on
our response to the Two
Witnesses. Here is how it works:
(1 Corinthians 3:13, Revelation
3:10) All that maters to Jesus is
our response to His Two
Witnesses. At the end of the
1,260 days, the judgment of the
living will end because every
person will have either the seal
of God or the mark of the beast
by that time. If a person should
die during the Great Tribulation before
he receives the seal of God or
the mark of the beast, he will be
judged just like those who had
previously died. Because many
people will die before they are
sealed or receive the mark of the
beast, the judgment of the dead
continues uninterrupted after the
judgment of the living begins.
The second
difference between the judgment
of the dead and the living is
that the judgment of the living
involves a four-step process.
When the censer is cast down,
everyone on Earth will
participate in “Step
One” even though they may
not live long enough to complete
all four steps. Some people will
go through these four steps
faster than others. The first
people to be judged and receive
the seal of God will be the
144,000.They are sealed just
before the Great Tribulation
begins. (Revelation 7:1-4) They
are the first fruits of the
end-time harvest. (Revelation
14:4) After the 144,000 are
sealed and empowered, the censer
will be cast down and the four
steps will begin. They are rather
easy to understand.
The Four
Step Process
Step One –
The Law of God Proclaimed: When
the censer is cast down, the
144,000 will go to work. The Holy
Spirit will empower them to
preach the law of God as a witness
to all nations. (Matthew 24:14) A
witness does not have to be a
human being. Consider this
example: “After Moses
finished writing in a book the
words of this law from the
beginning to end, he gave this
command to the Levites who
carried the ark of the covenant
of the Lord: ‘Take this Book
of the Law and place it beside
the ark of the covenant of the
Lord your God. There it [the
Words of God] will remain a witness
against you.’” (Deuteronomy
31:24-26, italics and insertion
mine)
Gods’ law
operates like a plumb line.
God’s law defines the truth
and in so doing, it destroys lies
and deception. Nothing is more
wonderful than the light
of truth to those who love truth.
During the Great Tribulation,
God’s Word will be given
unusual power to cut people
“to the heart.”
Remember Peter and the disciples
on the Day of Pentecost? “[Peter
said] ‘Therefore let all
Israel be assured of this: God
has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and
Christ.’
When the people
heard this, they were
cut to the heart and
said to Peter and the other
apostles, ‘Brothers, what
shall we do [to escape
God’s wrath]?’ Peter
replied, ‘Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins. And
you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.’”
(Acts 2:36-38,
italics and insertions mine)
The overwhelming
devastation of the first four
trumpets will subdue religious
prejudice for a short time.
God’s manifold wrath will
open the minds and hearts of a
religiously diverse world so
every person, regardless of
language, culture or religious
background can make thoughtfully
and intelligently consider His
law that the 144,000 will
proclaim. People will hear the
testimony of Jesus (the words of
Jesus) coming out of the mouths
of the 144,000 and the honest in
heart will be “cut to the
heart.”
Step Two –
Holy Spirit Discomfort: God’s
law makes no sense without the
enlightenment of His Spirit! “The
man without the Spirit does not
accept the things that come from
the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them, because they are
spiritually discerned.” (1
Corinthians 2:14)
God’s law
will be proclaimed throughout the
world with Holy Spirit power. The
distinction between truth and
error, good and evil, will be
made so plain that young people
will even be able to understand
the difference. Conviction will
fall hard upon the honest in
heart and painful decisions will
be required. The social
consequences for following Jesus
will be severe. (John 16: 1-3)
The Holy Spirit will sufficiently
“pressure” each person
to choose the right and refuse
the wrong. (See Joshua 24:15 and
Hebrews 3:7-19.) Socially and
culturally speaking, the
situation will be difficult.
The gospel of
Jesus always puts a person in a
tough situation because the
gospel demands total submission
and loyalty to the law of God,
and it goes without saying that
our fallen human nature finds
this difficult. When there is a
price to pay for submission to
God’s law, our faith in
Christ is tested. Do you remember
how Peter betrayed Christ outside
Caiaphas’ home? (See Mark
14:53-15:1.) That embarrassing
moment was a turning point in
Peter’s life. Peter realized
that Friday morning there was a
huge difference between knowing
Jesus and surrendering to Jesus.
A few weeks later, Peter was
chosen as the primary speaker at
Pentecost because he had openly
betrayed Christ and repented.
Jesus gave this converted
disciple a chance to let his
countrymen clearly know where he
now stood. I mention this because
Peter knew firsthand the internal
struggle between loyalty and
cowardice. He wrote, “For
it is time for the judgment to
begin with the family of God: and
if it begins with us, what will
the outcome be for those who do
not obey the gospel
of God? And, ‘if
it is hard for the righteous to
be saved, what will
become of the ungodly and the
sinner?’” (1 Peter
4:17,18, italics mine)
Those who love God
and His truth will eventually
step out in faith and embrace the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Once
a person decides to take his
stand to obey God’s Word, he
will be given as much grace and
strength as needed to face the
trials and persecution that will
follow. On the other hand, people
who cannot make a decision to
obey the gospel will capitulate. There
is no strength to bear the
consequences of persecution
without making a wholehearted
decision to follow Christ.
Cowards, faithless, and
double0minded people will go
along with the flow to avoid
suffering, and their eternal loss
will be mind-boggling.
(Revelation 21:8) “….’No
eye hath seen, no ear heard, no
mind has conceived what God has
prepared for those who love him
– but God has revealed it to
us by his Spirit.’ The
Spirit searches all things, even
the deep things of God.”
(1 Corinthians
2:9,10)
For 1,260 days
Jesus will watch and wait,
patiently allowing each person to
make up his own mind. The Holy
Spirit will pound on every
heart’s door. The third
member of the Godhead will do
everything short of violating
human choice to get rebellious
people to surrender to the plumb
line of Truth – the law of
God; unfortunately, many people
will choose to rebel. Like the
rich young ruler, they will
conclude that the price for
obedience is just too great.
(John 3:19-21; Luke 18: 18-25;
Revelation 13:8) Without the
enabling power that comes from a
determined decision to follow
Christ at any price, the wicked
will be right – the price
for obedience is too great.
Step Three
– Your Final Decision:
During the judgment pf the
living, three forces will be
working together. The Word of God
will be heard by everyone.
Then, the Holy Spirit will apply
great pressure within every
heart to obey God’s law, and
last, persecution will force
everyone into making a decision.
At first, you might think that
the Two Witnesses are pulling
people toward the shores of
salvation and persecution is
driving them away, but it is not
what you think! Those who love
God and His Law will receive the
testimony of the Holy Spirit.
They are willing to accept
persecution because they are
committed to pleasing God at any
cost. On the other hand, those
who love their lives and their
possessions more than God will
not be able to take the heat and
accept the suffering that comes
with their decision. Jesus said, “The
man who loves his life will lose
it, while the man who hates his
life in this world will keep it
for eternal life.”
(John 12:25)
“And everyone who has left
houses or brothers or sisters or
father or mother or children or
fields for my sake will receive a
hundred times as much and will
inherit eternal life.”
(Matthew 19:29)
There are always
some people who will waver back
and forth for a time, but
increasing pressures from
persecution will eventually force
everyone into their final
decision. Everyone on Earth will
either receive the mark of the
beast or the seal of God. There
is a simple reason for the
persecution of the saints:
Salvation comes through faith in
Christ. Therefore, the Great
Tribulation will be a test of
faith. Faith in God quickly
separates people. Remember the
twelve spies that Moses sent into
the Promised Land? (Numbers 14)
Faith is a very scary thing to
those who do not know God and His
power of His Word. Faith in God
separates sheep from goats. Our
actions declare our faith. James
agrees. He wrote, “….
I will show you [and God]
my faith by what I do.” (James
2:18, insertion mine) Jesus
assured the church members in
Philadelphia (an early Christian
church that had suffered
persecution for years),
“Since you have kept my
command to endure patiently, I
will also keep you from [or
during] the our of trial that
is going to come upon the whole
world to test those
who live on the earth.” (Revelation
3:10, italics and insertion mine)
Step Four
– The Seal and the Tattoo: Every
person who surrenders to the law
of God and the Holy Spirit will
fall in line with the testimony
of Jesus. After choosing to obey
Jesus without regard for the
consequences, each person will be
given the strength and faith to
pass any test which persecution
might impose. The fires of
persecution will refine and
purify the faith of the saints. “….
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold. They
will call on my name and I will
answer them; I will say,
‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord
is our God.’”
(Zechariah 13:9) After passing
some fiery tests of faith, a
dramatic miracle will happen. It
is ironic after losing everything
he owns, each faithful person
will then lose his carnal nature!
The sealing of the
saints requires the testimony of
the Two Witnesses. The law of God
will serve as the plumb line. It
will measure the actions of John
Doe. Jesus will see what John
did, in fact, submit to
God’s law. John will
demonstrate his love for Jesus
and his neighbor. The Holy Spirit
will testify that John’s
faith was thoroughly tested and
he loves God with all his heart,
mind, and soul, and his neighbor
as himself. John gave everything
he owned for the sake of the
gospel! John was persecuted for
worshiping Jesus on His Sabbath
day. John actions clearly showed
his love for God and man. The
testimony of God’s Two
Witnesses will establish the fact
that John loved God and man.
Jesus will announce His judgment:
“Seal John Doe! Set him free
from sin’s curse. Give him
the wedding robe!” At that
moment, John’s carnal nature
will be removed and John will no
longer have a propensity for
sinning! John Doe will be like
Adam before the fall. He will
feel a joyful difference and if
he’s in prison, he just
might start singing at midnight.
(Acts 16:25)
Those ho reject
the law of God and the promptings
of the Holy Spirit will become
more rebellious and hard hearted
as time passes. Eventually,
everyone in this crowd will
commit the unpardonable sin.
God’s plumb line will
measure their rebellion and the
Holy Spirit will confirm the
blasphemy of each person. To save
their possessions and themselves
from death, the wicked will
eventually submit to wearing the
mark of the beast – a tattoo
that Lucifer will impose on
mankind during the sixth trumpet.
After everyone has been sealed or
tattooed, the judgment of the
living will come to an end and
the influence of the Two
Witnesses will disappear. Their
work and influence is finished. “Now
when they have finished
their testimony, the beast that
comes up from the Abyss
[Lucifer] will attack them,
and overpower and kill
them…. The inhabitants of
the earth will gloat over them
and will celebrate by sending
each other gifts, because these
two prophets had tormented those
who live on the earth.” (Revelation
11:7,10, italics and insertion
mine)
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