How God judges and evaluates your life when you die
In the pattern of scripture, we see something about the judgment of God and almost an instruction manual on what really matters in the sight of God and what counts in the lives of men.
Look at the nature of Hebrew scriptures to begin with. Jesus Christ said of it,
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
(John 5:39)
The corpus of scripture must testify of Jesus Christ. If it does not testify of Jesus Christ, it has no business being in scripture. So think about this, there were a whole bunch of events that happened in the cinema of human history, however only things that are relevant to Jesus Christ were deemed worthy of being entrenched in the record of heaven,
“ For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…”
(1 Corinthians 15:3–4)
And again,
“… For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”
(Revelation 19:10)
Secondly, consider the building of the second temple. Solomon’s temple was very beautiful, furnished and decorated tastefully. It was a beautiful sight to behold. God however warned them at the time,
“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
And as for this is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”
(2 Chronicles 7:19–22)
Israel forsook the statutes of God and the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians as a result. After at least, seventy years in captivity, the children of Israel rebuilt another temple and compared to the first temple of Solomon, it was so pathetic that the older generation started to weep when they saw it,
“…Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.”
(Ezra 3:11–13)
How did God respond? The prophet Haggai says,
“Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts.
‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
(Haggai 2:3–4,9)
The glory of the second house was to surpass the glory of the Solomon’s temple. How was this prophecy fulfilled? Malachi tells us,
“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.”
(Malachi 3:1)
Jesus Christ actually walked in to the second temple, something that did not happen in the first temple. Jesus taught from the second temple. So the superiority of the second temple over the first was once again related to the presence of Jesus Christ.
Third, consider how Jesus Himself ranked prophets. He called John the Baptist the greatest prophet,
“But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written:
‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’
Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.”
(Matthew 11:9–13)
Notice, John is the greatest of men, the greatest of prophets. He is greater than even Moses and Elijah according to this. This becomes even more interesting when you consider that John performed no miracles,
“Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.”
(John 10:41)
The distinguishing factor here is that John was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. The standard of measuring the greatness of prophets again is how close to Jesus Christ they were, hence Jesus says, “FOR all prophets prophesied until John”.
What is the lesson here?
Scripture and divine revelation is decided by relevance to Jesus Christ, any other occurrence in human history was not deemed worthy of recording. The greatness of the temples was based on the person of Jesus Christ and finally, prophets were ranked based on their nearness to Jesus Christ.
This is the point I am making, what are you doing with your life right now? Is it possible that the ONLY thing that would count when you stand before God would be the things you have done that are relevant to Jesus Christ? Is it possible that your career, kids, achievements in this life forasmuch as they do not advance the gospel or relate to the gospel is utterly irrelevant? If nothing in your life is relevant to Christ, could it be that you have not lived at all in the sight of God?
