The Judgment Seat of Christ
“We all,” says the apostle, “must appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10). This statement includes both believers and unbelievers, although there is a long intervening period between the judgments of the two classes. But it is with believers that we are now concerned. Their appearance before the tribunal of Christ will take place between His coming and His appearing. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air, they are then like Christ, will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2), and will be with Him forever (1 Thess. 4:17). The place to which they are taken, and in which they will be with the Lord, is the Father’s house. This we know from the Lord’s own words, “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). There the blessed Lord will take all His own and will present them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). He and the children God has given Him will with overflowing joy appear before His Father and their Father, and His God and their God! And with exceeding joy will God Himself behold the fruit and perfection of His own counsels, the redeemed all conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren! (Rom. 8:29).
The Character of the Judgment
A few preliminary remarks should help greatly in understanding the character of the judgment.
The believer will never be judged for sins. In 2 Corinthians 5 it is not the sins but the deeds done in the body that are judged. Indeed, to suppose that the question of our guilt, our sins, could be again raised is to overlook, not to say falsify, the character of grace and the work of redemption. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into [judgment;] but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). “By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14). The question of sin was settled and closed forever at the cross, and every believer is before God in all the abiding efficacy of the sacrifice there offered, yea, accepted in the Beloved. Even now, therefore, we are without spot before God, and our sins and iniquities will be remembered no more (Heb. 10:17).
This truth is also seen when it is remembered that we shall have our glorified bodies and be like Christ before we are manifested before His judgment seat, for the resurrection of the saints who have fallen asleep in Christ, the change of the living, and the rapture of both into the presence of the Lord will precede His judging. This is unspeakable consolation, for being already like Christ, we shall have full fellowship with Him in every judgment He passes upon our works, and we shall therefore rejoice at the exposure and rejection of all that resulted from the flesh in our lives down here, and not from the Holy Spirit. This answers the question sometimes put, whether we shall not tremble and be ashamed as all the deeds of our Christian life are brought up and shown out in their real character? Indeed, as another has said, “We are in the light by faith when the conscience is in the presence of God. We shall be according to the perfection of that light when we appear before the tribunal of Christ.” It is a solemn thing, for everything is judged according to that light, but it is that which the heart loves, because, thanks to our God, we are light in the Lord!
The Deeds Done in the Body
Bearing these things in mind, we may consider more closely the nature of the judgment itself. It is not we ourselves who have to be judged, nor, as has been explained, will our sins reappear against us, but, as the Scripture itself says, “We must all appear [be manifested] before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether  .  .  .  good or bad.” The body of the believer is the Lord’s, a member of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:15-19), and therefore is to be used in His service for the display of Christ Himself (Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 4:10). Hence the apostle’s earnest expectation and hope was that Christ would be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death (Phil. 1:20). It is on this account that we are responsible for the deeds done in our body, so that while we are perfected forever through the one offering of Christ, there cannot be any further imputation of sin to us.
Every act of our lives, not just acts of service, but every deed that we have done will be manifested, tested and judged at the judgment seat of Christ. The good will be seen, and declared to be such. While these were surely produced in us and by us through the grace of God and the power of His Spirit, they will be reckoned in His infinite compassion as ours, and as such we shall receive the recompense. The bad things, however fair they appeared here, will also be seen and recognized in their true character, and belonging to none but ourselves, a product of our flesh, and will receive their just condemnation. We will rejoice to behold everything that had dishonored our blessed Lord, though done by ourselves, receive its righteous judgment. The time for concealments will then be gone, for that which makes everything manifest is light, and then everything will be searched and tested by the full blaze of the light of the holiness of that judgment seat.
Our Responsibility
It is worthy to consider whether this truth occupies its due place in our souls. Knowing grace and the fullness of redemption, there is a danger of overlooking or forgetting our responsibility. But this should never be the case, and the prospect of the judgment seat of Christ is intended to exert a most practical influence on our souls. The very connection in which it is found shows this to be the case. “We are confident,” says the apostle, “and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him [acceptable to Him].” (2 Cor. 5:8-9). The prospect braced up the soul of the apostle, stimulating him with unwearied zeal in all that he did to seek only the approbation of Christ. In fact this is precisely what it does for us, enabling us to bring all our actions into the light of His presence now, and helping us to do them for and unto Him. Herein is found our strength. Satan is very subtle and often tempts us to be men-pleasers, but when we remember that all will be manifested before the judgment seat, we are impervious to his snares, knowing that if we commend ourselves to others, it may be at the cost of displeasing Christ. And what is the profit of practicing deception, whether upon ourselves or upon others, when the nature of all that we do is so soon to be exposed? To be acceptable to Christ will be our present aim in proportion as we have His tribunal before our souls.
	E. Dennett, adapted from
	The Christian Friend 5:13