Secrets from Beyond The Grave

The timing for this judgment is during what scholars identify as mid-Tribulation , somewhere in the middle of the seven years of tribulation that will unfold on Earth. The saints and righteous will have been "caught up" to meet the Lord, and the dead in Christ will have been raised (1 Cor. 15:52-54; 1 Thess. 4:16-17). Jesus said, "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works" (Matt. 16:27). Paul calls this time of judgment and reward the judgment seat of Christ: But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: "As I live, says the LORD, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. --Romans 14:10-13 Paul also wrote: Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. --2 Corinthians 5:9-10 The phrase judgment seat is found ten times in the King James translation of the New Testament. It is used when Pilate sat down to judge whether Christ should or should not be crucified (Matt. 27:19). It is found in Acts 18:12-17, where Paul was brought before the judgment seat and had to defend the gospel and the accusation from the Jews that he was preaching contrary to the Law of Moses. He was beaten at that judgment seat for the message he was declaring in the area (v. 17). Another use of the term is when Paul wrote that we would appear before the judgment seat in heaven (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10). The Greek for judgment seat is the single word bema . The word bema means "to set foot on" or "foot room" and was used of the raised platform a person stood on, reached by steps. The original bema seats were in Athens, Greece, and were raised platforms that existed on Pnyx Hill. From these raised platforms speeches were made to those who gathered together. Later the word was used to mark a tribunal in the Greek courts in which the accused would defend himself from one platform and the accusers would speak from the other.1 The bema was also used in the time of the Olympics. It was the raised platform near the finish line where the judge would sit and determine who had crossed the line first, second, and so forth during foot races. The writer to the Hebrews listed numerous saints, from righteous Abel to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others who "died in faith" (Heb. 11:13). He then informs his readers: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. --Hebrews 12:1-2, KJV Running the race and looking unto Jesus would indicate that He is the rewarder and the judge at the finish line and that we must lay aside anything that would hinder our effectiveness and prevent us from receiving the prize at the end of our race. John wrote that it was time to judge the dead. The dead in Christ will all be judged at one