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Wednesday 18 September 2024

CHRIS ROSEBROUGH VS ISAIAH SALVIDAR: GREAT WHITE THRONE OR BEMA SEAT?

Waiting in line on JUDGMENT day - What will you say? (youtube.com)

Chris Rosebrough's omission of Isaiah Salvidar's obvious error in his short video about Judgement Day appears to be due to his skewed Lutheran eschatology. Salvidar is wrong from the get-go - believers will not be judged at the Great White Throne Judgement.  

Isaiah Saldivar:  "Imagine being on judgement day and wondering if you are getting in. Because we all will be standing at that Great White Throne judgement, and everybody will be judged, the living and the dead... 'Tell me some of your stories of the miracles, the fire, the power evangelism, signs and wonders, meeting home to home, breaking bread, making disciples.. water baptizing, baptizing in the holy ghost.. tell me some of the demons you drove out.. lameness blindness and deafness.'"  Obviously, I don't condemn all of those things, but Salvidar's emphasis on power, fire, casting out demons etc. is typical NAR rhetoric. Salvidar's appalling accusation is that if Christians do not perform extraordinary miracles then they do not know Jesus! Aren't many of those who perform what the ESV refers to as mighty works (dunamis) condemned by Jesus?  

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23).

What Salvidar is obviously ignorant of, and what Rosebrough fails to mention, is that the Great White Throne Judgement and the Bema Seat Judgement are two separate events. Believers will face the Bema Seat Judgment before the millennium and will reign with Christ for one thousand years. (Revelation 11:15-18). At the Bema Seat, believers will receive either reward or loss based on their work. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). The Great White Throne Judgement is reserved for unbelievers who will face the second death and be judged according to "what they had done" and sentenced to eternal torment in the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:7-15). 

The Bema Seat Judgement

The Bema Seat Judgement occurs after the seventh trumpet is sounded.

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” (Revelation 11:15-18).

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15 cf. Romans 14:10-12).

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.(Revelation 20:4-6).

The parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 describes three distinct judgements.

The separation of sheep (believers) and goats (unbelievers)
The judgement of believers' works
The judgment of unbelievers' works 

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,f you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46).

The Great White Throne Judgement 

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth..
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:7-8,11-15).

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