The Christadelphian Instructor/Concerning Resurrection, Responsibility and Judgment

132. What will Christ do first when he returns?

Answer: He will assemble all those who are responsible to judgment, living or dead. The dead he will bring from their graves; the living he will gather by his angels. They must all appear before his judgment seat, that they may receive through the body according to what they have done in this present life.

Proof:

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2 Tim. 4:1).

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Dan. 12:2).

And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:29).

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. (1 Cor. 15:50).

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:17).

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Cor. 5:10).

But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (Rom. 14:10).

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Rom. 14:12).

133. Who are responsible to judgment? Answer: All who know the truth, whether they submit to it or refuse.

Proof:

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:16).

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Cor. 2:15-16).

But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. (Rom. 2:2).

But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; (Rom. 2:8-9).

In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Rom. 2:16).

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19).

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12:48).

134. Are there some that are not responsible? Answer: Yes, many. It is the light that makes responsible; but darkness covers the earth; and where there is darkness, sin is not imputed.

Proof:

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:41).

Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish. (Psa. 49:20).

Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. (Rom. 4:15).

(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Rom. 5:13).

If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. (John 15:22).

For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. (Isa. 60:2).

135. What becomes of those who are not responsible? Answer: They die and pass out of memory, as if they had never been.

Proof:

He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. (Psa. 49:19).

And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. (Jer. 51:57).

They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. (Isa. 26:14).

Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. (Psa. 88:5).

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Rom. 5:12).

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (Eph. 4:18).

136. What will those among the responsible receive, of whom the Lord approves? Answer: Immortality of nature. Their mortal bodies will be changed in a moment by the power of the Spirit of God.

Proof:

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Phil. 3:21).

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Cor. 15:53).

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: (2 Cor. 5:2).

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Rom. 8:11).

To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: (Rom. 2:7).

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Gal. 6:8).

137. What will become of those whom He rejects? Answer: They will depart from his presence with shame and vexation, to suffer according as the Judge shall think they deserve, and at last to be devoured by the second death.

Proof:

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matt. 25:41).

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:28).

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Dan. 12:2).

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:47-48).

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:15).

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Rev. 21:8).

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Gal. 6:8).

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. (Rom. 6:21).