Our Great God: the Consummation of the Ages (Part Two)

Our Great God

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

February 8, 2026

Our Great God: the Consummation of the Ages Part Two

We’ve been meditating on the greatness of our God as reflected in creation, salvation, and finally in the consummation of the ages. Consummation means “completion” or “fulfillment” so consummation of the ages refers to the completion and fulfillment of all that God planned and purposed through the history of the world from Genesis to Revelation.

The consummation of the ages unfolds in four big stages and we looked at the first two last week.

1. The glorious return of Jesus Christ to the earth
2. The Millenium reign of Christ on the earth
3. The Great White Throne Judgment
4. The renewal/recreation of the heavens and the earth

Let’s pray for our time in God’s word.

The Bible tells us that God is just and the ultimate Judge of all things. At the end of history God will set up His throne and every person will stand before Him and give account for our life.

¹¹ 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. ¹² 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. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev 20:11-15

Wow, there is so much here it could be five sermons easily, but here are some important biblical truths about Judgment Day.

1. Judgment is an expression of the greatness and the goodness of God

It’s a good thing that God is the Judge. His judgments are true and are an expression of His love. If there wasn’t a day of accounting, then all the injustices that have been done throughout history would go unsettled. Even if we feel uncomfortable about the idea of a final Judgment, when injustice happens, something inside of us aches and yearns to see it made right. We hate to see injustice be the last word. Love longs to see justice done.

In 1976 an all-white jury convicted a black man named Ronnie Long of raping a white woman. Long did not receive a fair trial. The sheriff and chief of police made sure there was no black person on the jury. Ronnie Long didn’t fit the victim’s description of the suspect. The fingerprints and hair samples found at the scene didn’t belong to Long. Other pieces of evidence were lost. Ronnie Long spent 44 years in prison before being exonerated in 2020. He went into prison a 24 year old, he came out a 68 year old man.Last year he was awarded 25 million dollars but nothing can restore the life he could have lived or the freedom he should have enjoyed.

The Bible tells us Judgment Day will settle all injustices. Victims of injustice will have their day in court and they will receive justice from God. Those who abused justice will also have their day in court and will receive final justice from God. Judgment is an expression of the greatness and goodness of God.

2. Everyone who has ever lived will give account on Judgment Day

One day we will all stand before God – Rev. 20 says both the great and the small – and give account for every word, every thought, every motive, every deed, everything. We will answer for the things we did, and for the things we didn’t do but should have. Nothing will be hidden from God. There will be no secrets on that day. No back rooms or closets or stuff swept under the rug. What we whispered in secret will be shouted from the housetops. Judgment Day will be a day of total light and complete exposure. Jesus said:

For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Luke 8:17

The Bible tells us that believers and unbelievers will be judged by God, but their judgments will look very different and I’ll explain why that is just and fair in a minute. But let’s first look at what Judgment Day will look like for the believer.

The Bible says that Judgment Day for the believer will be a day of receiving rewards for what we did to serve Jesus and the kingdom of God on this earth. Paul writes to the Corinthians

¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 1 Cor. 3:11-15

That day will reveal the quality of our service to Jesus. If we built faithfully for his glory, we will receive a reward. If what we built with selfish motives, we will be saved, but everything we built will go up in flames. There will be joy and there will be sorrow for believers on that day. Those who watch their lives burn up will “suffer loss” even though they will be saved. Those who hear Jesus say “well done good and faithful servant” and receive a reward from him will experience great joy.

Anticipation of this judgment day is meant to motivate us to live holy and pure lives, seeking to honor and please God in all we do. Paul writes in 2 Cor 5:

⁹ So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 2 Cor. 5:9-10

Judgment Day for the believer will be about rewards or lack of rewards but it will not be about facing God’s wrath or condemnation because Jesus already faced God’s wrath and condemnation for our sins when he hung on the cross. God’s judgment “passes over” us because the blood of the Lamb of God has been applied to our lives. I love what Jerry Bridges used to say, God exhausted His wrath for our sin on Jesus – there is no wrath left for those who believe in Jesus as our Savior.

But let’s consider for a moment what Judgment Day will be like for those who die without Christ. Let’s say right up front that no one will be saved apart from Christ. Everyone is guilty and will face God’s righteous punishment for their sins. But I think judgment day will be more layered and complicated than we might think. God is a good and fair and impartial judge and each person’s sins will be judged fairly. There will be degrees of punishment. Jesus said the person who knows God’s will and doesn’t do it will be punished more severely than the person who unknowingly does wrong. Jesus said to whom much was given, much will be required.

I’ve heard from people who are offended at the idea that God would judge and condemn ordinary “nice” people. First of all, God will take into account their good and their bad deeds. They will be judged for all they did. Rev 20 says “books were opened.” Those books contain everything each person has done and they will be judged according to what they have done. There will be degrees of hell.

But we are all wretched sinners in the sight of God. We have all sinned and fallen short of the standards of God’s righteousness. One of the ways sin has deceived us is by making us think we’re better than we are.

During pre-trial there’s something called “discovery” where prosecutors and defense lawyers exchange information and gather evidence to better make their case. God’s discovery on that day will be both total and brutal:

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Heb 4:13

Books will be opened. Books that tell the whole story of our lives – even the parts we tried to keep secret. Discovery will expose everything! God’s perfect righteousness will collide with our deluded feelings of self-righteousness and as Malachi asks, “on that day, who can stand?” In our own righteousness, the answer is no one.

In the movie Melancholia –a movie I’ve never actually seen except for the last few minutes, a rogue planet is about to collide with earth and two sisters build a small shelter of sticks and comfort the one sister’s son by assuring him that this shelter will protect them and keep them safe. The sisters know it’s a lie designed to make him feel better.

People try to build alternative atonements. Stick shelters that they believe will protect them on the day of judgment. I’m a good person. I do good things, I give to the poor, I go to church, I’m better than the person next to me. That thing I’m doing that the Bible called sin isn’t sin. Or they get angry at God and judge Him for judging them. These are all alternative atonements – stick shelters to protect them from that Day.

God has given us the only Shelter that is able to save us from the coming wrath and that Shelter is Jesus. If you’re not a Christian, listen to Jesus’ words and I pray that you will take them to heart.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:16-21

God doesn’t want to condemn, He wants to save. But His opposition to sin is so fierce, the only way to save us was to send His Son Jesus to the cross. Even the nicest, sweetest grandma in the world still needed Jesus to die on the cross for her sins. Compared to each other there are good people in the world. But compared to God’s standard of goodness, as Jesus said, “no one is good.”

Don’t hate the light, hate the darkness and come to the light. Come to Jesus. All those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.