WCF 33: Of the Last Judgment

 By William Boekestein - Posted at Place for Truth:

Studies on the end times can be an exercise in speculation. The prospect of looking into a crystal ball is alluring. But eschatology driven by mere curiosity is a sure sign of spiritual immaturity. Serious Christians understand that end-times theology is vital to the eternal state of our souls and our flourishing here and now. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10).

Studying the end times can be helpful if we ask the right questions and listen to Scripture’s answers with a firm resolve to obey. Not all Christians agree about the details of the last judgment. But Scripture’s basic testimony is plain.

The Reality of the Last Judgment

The final judgment is one of the Bible’s more obvious doctrines. It might be unpopular today—even embarrassing to people who imagine that God is only love or that Jesus doesn’t judge. But no one in the Bible warned about the Day of Judgment more than Jesus the judge. His disciples fervently continued his practice. “Eternal judgment” is an “elementary doctrine” (Heb. 6:1, 2). Here is how Paul summed it up to his Gentile audience in Athens: God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). What does this judgment mean?

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