Is Christ's second coming and the final judgment only for those who are still on earth?

Question

I am just asking because of my ignorance about Christ's second coming and the final judgment as written in Revelation. Will he judge those who have already died and gone to heaven or hell or will he only judge those still alive on earth?

I know there are many who are much more knowledgeable about the scripture than I am and I wanted to know what others have read or think.

Thank you all for the good information. But I am unclear if as Christians we believe when we die we go to heaven immediately do we not? If so have those in heaven already been judged as well as those in hell. If we are already in heaven can that decision be changed?

Answer 1

They are two VERY different events that occur at different times.
Jesus' 2nd coming will be for His Bride (living Christians & the innocent, i.e., unborn babies still in the womb, newborns, young children). This will occur before The Great Tribulation begins.

Final Judgment(s) is at the very end after Satan is tossed into the Lake of Fire for eternity never to be freed.

The Great White Throne Judgment is for those who had already died and for those who are still living at the very end and they are those who did not acknowledge & accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior into their heart and life. They will face Jesus Christ and their lives will be replayed before their eyes, then they will be tossed into The Lake Of Fire with Satan and his demon angels for eternity.

The Judgment of the Saints, will be where ALL Christians (those still living and those who already died) will be judged & rewarded for what they did for Jesus Christ and His Kingdom during their lives on Earth.

Answer 2

Hi Ken P. God tells us 'the dead shall rise first and then the living shall be caught up together with them in the clouds.' God gives us the discription of the events of the last day, begining inThessalonians 4:16-17:

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

When Christ returns on the last day, He brings all of those who have died in the Lord (they who were Saved). These True Believers will be in their Spirit or Soul essence. They will be reunited with their bodies they left here on earth. These bodies will be resurrected into Glorified Spiritual Bodies.

At the same time, those True Believers who are still alive when Christ returns will also receive their new Glorified Bodies. It is these True Believers who will be "caught up" or "raptured" to be with Christ in the air. This is what the rapture is.

As for the unsaved at this time, they will remain and go through the Judgment of God. All found guilty are then cast into Hell.

When this is finished, the true Believers will live with God in the New Heavens and the New Earth that God tells of in Revelation 21:1-3:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."

Answer 3

Christ's second coming is at the end of the Tribulation period. All who have died in Christ up till that point will rule and reign with Him during the Millennial Reign on earth. Those who live through the Tribulation and have received Christ will live on in the Millennial kingdom of Christ. All believers will stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ--and their works alone will be judged, and they will be rewarded accordingly. Their salvation is secure and cannot be lost.
All unbelievers will stand before the Great White Throne Judgement--at the end of the Millennial Reign--they will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Answer 4

The return will mark the END of this planet.

2Peter 3:7 BY GOD’S WORD THE HEAVENS AND EARTH OF TODAY ARE BEING RESERVED FOR FIRE. They are being kept for the day when God will judge. Then ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 Dear friends, here is one thing you must not forget. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years. And a thousand years are like a day.
9 The Lord is not slow to keep his promise. He is not slow in the way some people understand it. He is patient with you. He doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed. Instead, he wants all people to turn away from their sins.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. THE HEAVENS WILL DISAPPEAR WITH A ROAR. FIRE WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING IN THEM. God will judge the earth and everything in it.
11 So everything will be destroyed. And what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives.
12 Live like that as you look forward to the day of God. It will make the day come more quickly. ON THAT DAY FIRE WILL DESTROY THE HEAVENS. ITS HEAT WILL MELT EVERYTHING IN THEM.

The FIGURATIVE language of Revelation should NEVER be interpreted in a manner which leads one to contradiction with other "clear language" passages like this one.

And, the ONE judgment that happens then will include EVERYONE. Acts 10:42 “He commanded us to preach to the people. He told us to give witness that he is the one appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.

Acts 17:31 He has set a day when he will judge the world fairly. He has appointed a man to be its judge. God has proved this to all people by raising that man from the dead.”

Answer 5

no ...it's also 4 who have died and still not in heaven or hell cause it's happens after judgement ..... cause each one on this earth should be judged ... if someone did sth wrong to u and u couldn't do something to him don't u think that he must take his punish so even if u died from a long time u still want him to be judged

Answer 6

There is much debate on this among the pre-millenialists and post-millenialists. But the "answer" to this is not important - accepting Christ is the key to eternal Life.

The debate is due to the lack of concrete detail, common to Apocalyptic writing of any kind. You begin to see why the inclusion (in the scriptures) of the Book of Revelation was such a debate among the Church Fathers.

Answer 7

All will be judged. The white thrown judgment for the unbelievers and the judgment seat of Christ for the Christians.

Answer 8

At the second coming of Christ, He will establish His kingdom upon the earth for one thousand years. The bible refers to this as the "millennial reign". At that time, satan and his demons will be chained in the abyss. Think of what the world will be like with zero evil influence and Jesus Christ as the ruler of it! However, after that time, satan will be loosed for a short while and, amazingly enough, there will be people who follow after him. The battle of Armaggedon will then take place, and Jesus will, of course, win. After that comes judgment.

For those who believe in Jesus Christ, they will not stand at the white throne judgment. They will be at the judgment seat of Christ, to receive rewards for what they have done in this life for the kingdom of God.

For all those who have rejected Jesus, throughout time, they will be judged and there is only one sentence: lost. The bible says they will be cast into the lake of fire.

There is a very good book that is a commentary on the book of Revelation, it's called "What the World is Coming To" by Pastor Chuck Smith. Revelation can be a difficult book, with all its imagery. May God bless you in your seeking.

Answer 9

Judgement day will be for everyone. Even the dead will rise from their graves and be judged.

Revelations 20:11Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Answer 10

These excerpts come from THE book explaining what ALL of Revelation means. Who better to know the answer to your questions than the man who walked and talked with Christ himself?:




By the words of Christ, we will judge ourselves. We, alone, know the true intents of how we live our lives. A person is judged, not by how they obey a church, but by how they obey the words of Christ.

Once a person is dead, the pain, tribulation, and torment of life is over. At the final “woe” mentioned in Revelation 10:1, all people must face the truth of reality, and judge themselves. This will be done according to what they have allowed themselves to believe and understand in connection with the way they have lived their lives, and how they have done unto others.

When Christ comes, the people will be judged according to how they treated each other. When the world’s religious leaders teach their followers to do anything other than “do unto another as you would want done unto you,” they “hurt” the word of God by “trampling it underfoot.” When the scriptures are revealed in their purity, especially the words Christ spoke, these leaders and those who have changed and corrupted the word of God, will be figuratively “killed” by the sharp sword coming out of the mouth of Christ.

Christ will bring truth to the earth, and by the truth he brings, we will judge ourselves and our own beliefs. Of course, there is no literal physical “burning”; our Creator is not sadistic. The “burning, wailing, and gnashing of teeth” comes from realizing one’s mortal experience, beliefs, understanding, and “truths” are in actuality not real, nor in line with the Royal Law. There will be two types of personal suffering: embarrassment and remorse. Those who listen to the message of Christ given by his proper servants are not “burned,” i.e., they do not feel embarrassed or remorseful. It is easy to avoid the feeling of remorse. This is done by obeying the Royal Law. Each of us is solely responsible for the remorse we will feel for what we have done to another, or allowed to be done to “the least among us” by standing by and doing nothing. As we fulfill the Law, our life feels lighter and freer, and our minds awaken to the reception of truth and light, which will enable us to avoid embarrassment.

It has been said by somethat we will be brought before the “judgment seat of Christ” to be judged of our works. This “judgment seat,” is that upon which those will sit, who in spite of the world and its ways, followed the laws of Christ, and will be“judges” in a sense, of those (“the dead”) who will claim it was impossible.

The “books” that “were opened” are what is written in the “scrolls of heaven,” which are an accounting of our works. Our experiences will be compared with the eternal laws and order of heaven, which are writtenin “the Book of Life.” The laws and order of the Universe are eternally established, and will always be as they always have been forever. If our works do not conform to what is written in the “other book that was opened, which is the Book of Life,” we will judge ourselves with remorse and embarrassment (“punish her double”).

The book can be read for free or purchased at the site below: