0317. We Must Appear

We Must Appear

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in the body, * * whether it be good or bad" (2Co_5:10).

There is a day when Christ will call His own unto Himself. The Lord is coming with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. Then the dead and the living in Christ shall all be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

When this rapture takes place, and we have entered in, then we MUST all stand before the Bema, the judgment-seat of Christ.

Now, we are building upon Christ the solid Rock; we are building wood, hay, and stubble, or we are building gold, silver and precious stones. That day will declare the results. Then we will receive either a reward or suffer loss.

There is no way to escape that hour of the reckoning of Christ with His saints. It is not a question of whether we are saved or lost; it is not a question of Heaven or of hell. The sin question was settled on the Cross, and there is now therefore no judgment so far as sin goes, for them who are in Christ Jesus; but there is a judgment of rewards.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a nobleman taking his journey and going into a far country, and leaving with his servants certain pounds, and saying, "Trade until I come." When the nobleman returns, he calls his servants together to see how they have traded and to reward them accordingly. One is placed over ten cities, and another over five. That servant, however, who had hid his pound, loses all reward.

Surely we would be more careful in our daily walk and in our service for our Lord, if we remembered that God has placed before us this MUST of standing at the Bema to receive the things we have done in the body, whether good or bad.

Let us be diligent in living, and in serving, for both will have their weight in that day of the reward of saints.

There are five distinctive crowns to be allotted to saints who have been faithful along five distinctive lines. These crowns cover more than service, they cover suffering, if need be, unto death; they cover the "feeding of the flock of God" and the motive of the shepherd who does the feeding; they cover fidelity to the faith; and, they also cover "winning souls for God." Let us then remember that the Bema judgment is not only a matter of service, but of suffering and of keeping the faith and of holy living as well.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR