Interview With God

Since mankind was created God has kept two books: (1) The Other Book: The Book of Works and (2) Another Book: The Book of Life:

Revelation 20:12 "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."

If a person's name is in The Book of Life, all things are blotted out of The Book of Works because those things were paid for by the blood of Jesus. For those whose names are still in The Book of Works with unpardoned sins, their name is not in The Book of Life.

Those two books will be the evidence at The Great White Throne Judgment. God will be the judge. When God speaks it is Jesus who speaks as he is the Word (John Chapter 1). As such our interview with God will be conducted by Jesus, God Incarnate. He is our mediator:

1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus..."

God in his three roles - will be judge, prosecutor and attorney for the each person. As mediator, Jesus comes to the defense of those who are born-again.

Matthew 25:21 "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

This is a parable, but take it as a picture of the verdict. Everyone (all the dead) will stand in front of the throne on judgment day. If the defendant's name is in The Book of Life, he or she will hear those words. Jesus will say: He trusted me and accepted my sacrifice. Grant him eternal life!

"But I sinned!" you will say, but God will respond: "In The Book of Works, there were many sins, but they have all been blotted out with the ink of blood. Jesus did that, and I have forgotten what they were!"

For those who were less wise, even fools, they will stand there finally humbled, but too late:

Matthew 7:23 "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Iniquity is living a life of sin, not just sinning. There is a difference. Iniquity is essentially placing oneself before God. The person with iniquity does their will, and not God's will. They are their own god, and did what was right in their own eyes. God says: I never knew you!  That implies that you think that he did! You see, even the elect can be fooled and their faith burned out.

What happens here? God looks in The Book of Life, and this person's name is not written therein. God passes judgment:

Revelation 20:15 "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Not to be condemning, this judgment is eternity in hell. With that verdict, the condemned will weep and cry, and beg for clemency, but too late! God will then pull out The Book of Works. There will be  two main categories of judgment: (1) He didn't love God and (2) He didn't love others.

Within those two categories will be things such as for item #1: (a) He loved himself more than God, (b) His flesh was his idol, (c) He spoke my name recklessly, and (d) He didn't keep God's day holy. Within category #2 there will be: (e) He mocked his parents, (f) He killed because he hated, (g) He committed adultery even in his heart, (h) He was a thief, (i) He was a liar, (j) and He was jealous of what others had!

Then the defendant will cry out, "I didn't do all of those things... I just did some of them!" Then God will say:

James 2:10 "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

Then you, the defendant will be without excuse, but repentance is too late! You cry out, "If I had only known, I would have believed!" And God will respond:

Romans 1:20 "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse..."

God said, "I convicted you numerous times, and although you were guilty, you didn't repent. You wouldn't take the free ransom that I paid on your behalf."

Luke 12:20 "But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee:"

We stand warned! That's why I'm writing this right now! If you believe, but haven't changed, then you may be in jeopardy on judgment day. That day will be in the future, but tomorrow may be too late to do anything about it!

I have things that I need forgiveness for right now. I have hate in my heart, but I don't want to hate. I break the commandments, and by doing so, I am either showing hate for God or others. You can't break those enduring commands written in stone, and not hate. God convicts me. I am guilty. His words can convict you as well because you too are guilty!

True, a few sins won't send you to hell, but it displeases God. We are to obey his commands to show our love for him. After awhile, we live in iniquity and his spirit is not in us. God does not cohabitate with sin; when you are full of sin, he does not live in you. As I do when I think on these things, I feel guilty, but not nearly as guilty and foolish as I would feel of I had not had faith in Jesus!