The Future Vindication of the Righteous

More often God’s justice waits for years or decades, as with Jezebel, who arranged Naboth’s murder in order to seize his vineyard. About fifteen years later she suffered the justice that had been foretold.

God’s delay, however, is never forgetfulness. Rather, it is mercy that grants opportunity for repentance—mercy that can last even until the death of those who deserve justice.

God’s Discipline of His Own

God’s discipline of His own children—also a manifestation of His justice—may likewise fall quickly or after delay, depending on how much time He mercifully grants for repentance. Recall that Jacob, who deceived his father and brother was himself deceived seven years later by his father-in-law regarding his fiancée’s sister. When he awoke the morning after his wedding and saw Leah at his side, he surely realized he had reaped what he had sown.

Recall also that about twenty-one years passed between the time Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and when they found themselves bowing before him in Egypt.

All of these examples demonstrate God’s mercy and justice.

Delay of divine discipline, however, is never eternal. Paul warned Christians that they will reap what they sow (Galatians 6:7), and he also solemnly wrote:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10, emphasis added).

The final two words of that verse—“or bad”—are often ignored. But they shouldn’t be. Paul believed that Christians will be repaid for both good and bad deeds. Obviously, repayment for good will be something positive while repayment for bad will be something negative.

For that reason, we can expect milder forms of “making some bow down at the feet of others” even in heaven. Surely there will be apologies there by Christians who unrepentantly mistreated other Christians. There will also be disciplinary consequences that are, thankfully, milder than hell.

And this offers some solace when we suffer persecution from unbelievers or mistreatment from believers. We always prefer their repentance, which would reconcile them to us and to God and would hopefully lessen the consequences they suffer. But in the absence of that repentance, you can expect that unbelievers who unrepentantly hated you will one day bow at your feet. Moreover, believers who unrepentantly mistreated you—through deceit, gossip, slander, or some other means—will apologize and also bear the just consequences of the wrong they’ve done. Warning Christians about how they treat one another, Paul wrote, “For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality” (Colossians 3:25). It is a sure bet.

A False Gospel

If the gospel you believe has convinced you that there are no consequences for sin once you become a Christian, you have believed a false gospel. Jesus warned His closest disciples, “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds” (Matthew 16:27, emphasis added). Notice Jesus did not add, “Of course, ‘every man’ doesn’t include any of you!” Neither did He say that He would repay “only unbelievers according to their deeds.” Neither did He say that He would repay “every man according to his good deeds” but, “every man according to his deeds.”

Jesus said the same in the very last chapter of the New Testament: “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done” (Revelation 22:12, emphasis added). Again, He did not say, “to render to every man according to the good things he has done,” but “according to what he has done.”

This is what Paul elaborated when he wrote that every Christian must appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be recompensed “according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10, emphasis added).

“But,” some will object, “Jesus said that He would bring His reward with Him. Rewards are prizes for good behavior!”

The word translated “reward” in Revelation 22:12, however, does not necessarily refer only to positive blessing. The Greek word is misthos, which appears twenty-nine times in the New Testament. Its core meaning is payment given in exchange for work. Figuratively it is used for divine recompense, whether positive (reward) or negative (punishment). At least three times in the New Testament misthos is used to speak of a negative repayment:

“Now this man purchased a field with the wages [misthos] of iniquity…” (Acts 1:18, KJV, emphasis added).

“…suffering wrong as the wages [misthos] of doing wrong” (2 Peter 2:13, emphasis added).

“…who loved the wages [misthos] of unrighteousness” (2 Peter 2:15, emphasis added).

Jesus’ words in Revelation 22:12 could therefore be rendered, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My payment is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Peter Amens Jesus and Paul

The apostle Peter, who heard Jesus warn that the Son of Man would repay every man according to his deeds, believed Him. That is why he wrote:

If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth (1 Peter 1:17).

This idea seems foreign in many modern Christian circles. Nevertheless, by the Spirit Peter stated three facts: (1) we are on the earth temporarily; (2) we should conduct ourselves in fear during that temporary time; and (3) the reason we should conduct ourselves in fear is because God our Father will impartially judge our deeds. If Jesus is not going to judge our bad deeds, there would be no reason for that fear.

That future judgment, of course, does not concern the deeds we committed before we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; those are forgiven. Peter believed that Jesus’ followers have been purified from their “former sins” (2 Peter 1:9). That judgment concerns deeds left unconfessed and unrepented.

If we believe the apostle Paul, our deeds as Christians also have everything to do with our ultimate salvation:

God…will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also of the Greek. For there is no partiality with God (Romans 2:6–11, emphasis added).

Paul believed God will repay both good and evil deeds, and that His repayment for good will include glory, honor, peace, and eternal life, whereas His repayment for evil will include tribulation, distress, wrath, and indignation. How could Paul have been writing about anything other than heaven and hell?

This truth is tragically foreign among many professing Christians influenced by the modern “false-grace” gospel. It is, however, as biblical as Matthew 16:27, Romans 2:6-11, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 Peter 1:17, and Revelation 22:12.

Food for thought!