In the Bible, there are two different judgments -- one for the saved (those who accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior while on earth, and truly believed in Him being their only hope of getting into Heaven - John 14:6 & Acts 2:21) before the Bema Seat, and one for the un-saved (those who did not) before the Great White Throne.
Upon bodily death, the un-saved appear before the Great White Throne of God for the so-called "Great White Throne judgment" -- where God looks over their lives of sin, sees that their sin-debt has not already been paid off by Jesus blood, and thus casts them into hell to pay for their own sin-debt by spending eternity there.
The saved, however -- whose lives of sin have already been paid for by Jesus' blood shed on the cross at Calvary -- appear before the Bema Seat, where God metes out rewards commensurate with the person's actions while on earth (i.e. doing missionary work, preaching the Gospel and leading lost sinners to Christ, etc. etc. etc.).
This is described explicitly in Revelation 20:11-15:
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
This is the literal teaching of fundamentalist protestant Christians, such as most Baptists -- that if one accepts Jesus as their only hope of Heaven and personal Lord and Savior while on earth, their salvation is assured (they have their name "written in the Book of Life") in accordance with Acts 2:21 and John 3:18, amongst others - and thus their salvation is already determined before their death, and thus they don't stand before the Great White Throne to see whether or not they get into Heaven. But those who do not accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior and trust Him as their only hope of Heaven -- those whose names are not written in the Book of Life -- they stand before the Great White Throne and automatically go to Hell (Revelation 20:15 - "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire").
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Bema seat. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. |