Christians will ‘go to court’ on Judgment Day over what they did, John Piper says
Notable Bible teacher and author John Piper recently tackled the issue of how Christians will be judged in the End Times, noting that certain rewards will exist for good deeds.
In a recent episode of “Ask Pastor John,” Piper addressed the question of what kind of future judgment Christians will face even though they are saved.
Specifically, Piper focused on 2 Corinthians 5:10, in which Paul of Tarsus tells the church in Corinth that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
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Piper explained that Christians “do not come under the wrath of God” because “Christ bore our sins.” Nevertheless, he added, “that doesn’t mean we don’t go to court in the last day.”
“It means we won’t be condemned in court in the last day. We’re already acquitted, and the court will prove it,” Piper said. “So, the judgment of wrath and punishment and final death are passed. They’re over for us. Jesus endured all of that for us if we are in Christ.”
Regarding how God will judge Christians, Piper said that he believes there's “a dimension to the judgment that does not call into question our eternal life, but determines what varieties of blessing or reward we will enjoy in the age to come.”
“There will be no unhappiness in Heaven,” he explained. “Everyone will be as happy as he can be. All tears wiped away in the presence of the all-satisfying God.”
“But some people will evidently have greater capacities for happiness or greater avenues of happiness. Now, why do we think that? Why do we talk like that? We talk like that because the Bible teaches that we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we will be rewarded differently, yet everybody will be perfectly happy.”
Piper cited Ephesians 6:8, which reads, “because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.”
“In other words, every single large or tiny good thing you have ever done as a Christian, whether any other human knows about it or not, will come back to you for good at the last day,” said Piper.
“What a great incentive not to worry about who sees us in what we do or what rewards we get in this life. Everything’s written down, and God will make sure that any good deed we’ve ever done, seen or unseen, will be properly rewarded.”
Regarding how God will respond to the evil that Christians have done, Piper believes that, in the judgment, “he loses the reward he would have received if he had acted otherwise.”
“It’s not owing to God’s wrath against his child. It is simply a fact that it would be unfitting for God to reward the sins of his children. They know that, we know that, Paul knew that,” the theologian explained.
“When that happens, true Christians will not begrudge God for this loss. They will rejoice in the grace that they do receive, and their cup of blessing will be full.”
