It is pretty common for people to imagine Judgment Day in this way:
You are standing before God. It is time to decide your eternal fate. Will it be Heaven or Hell? He takes, as it were, your good deeds and has some way of measuring them or weighing them in comparison to your bad deeds. Think of a giant, golden, two-pan balance, the original and ultimate Scales of Justice.
You have a lot of bad deeds on that balance, embarrassingly so. But...you also did a lot of good stuff.
It's a tense moment for a while as the scales tip one way and then the other. Finally, it comes to rest and the little pointer is visibly (if only barely) tipping toward the good side. Whew! You made it!
There is a hallelujah chorus sung by myriads of angels as the Pearly Gates open and you are welcomed inside.
That's a happy story, and it ends well. Too bad it's a made-up fantasy. Too bad it is not at all an accurate picture of what the Bible teaches about that Day.
Whether or not you receive eternal blessings or eternal torments has nothing to do with whether your good deeds outweigh your sins. That is a fiction. It is not the teaching of the Bible.
If those imaginary Scales of Justice are not an accurate representation of the situation, what would be?
Try this on for size.
Imagine that you are a servant in a great castle somewhere. The King is fantastically rich and powerful and has a reputation for ruthlessly keeping his word at all costs. Though he is not a person to be trifled with, he is good and kind and generous.
The King decides to go on a journey. Before he leaves, he gives out instructions to the servants. He comes to you and places a marvelous vase in your hands. It is very old, covered with gemstones and hand-painted artwork.
He says to you, "This is your most important charge while I am away: You must watch over this vase and keep it safe. That sounds easy enough, but be sure you understand how I feel about this particular treasure. I like you well enough, but this vase is worth many times your own life. Are we clear about this? Keep it safe until I return, and you will be richly rewarded. However, allow it to come to any harm, and your life will be forfeit. Farewell."
The King departs from the castle.
As you are carrying the vase to the safest place you can imagine, you trip and it slips out of your hands and smashes into a million pieces on the stone floor.
Now, you find yourself in a right bitter pickle.
What will you do? Repairing it is impossible. So is replacing it. You could run, but the King has all the resources he needs to find you. You are stuck and the outcome does not look good at all. Your fellow servants start to treat you as if you have leprosy. They don't want to look at you or talk to you: they know you are a walking dead person.
My dear friend, this little story is a much more accurate illustration of your spiritual situation, if you know right now that you are not saved.
Here is how:
The King, of course, is God.
The vase, though, what is that? It is God's law.
God gave the Ten Commandments and fully expects them to be kept.
When you dropped the vase in the story, that represents the first time you ever sinned.
What? you say, How can that be fair? A single sin and the whole thing is smashed?
I'm afraid so. The Bible says, in James 2:10, that "whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."
Here's why. The Law of God is a unit, an organic whole. If you break one part of it, one time, the whole is broken.
Further, the Law is a reflection of God's character. His rules are not random, but rather they express His own perfect righteousness. He wants us to follow them, in order to be "godly," to immitate God in our lives. When we break even one law, even one time, what that proves is that we are not like Him, because He would never sin even slightly. We are not like God: we are ungodly. A single sin, even one we think is "minor," is enough to prove that.
Once that deed is done, just like the story of the vase, that which is broken is broken. Period. There is no putting it back together. There is no replacing it with some other Law. There is no paying for it with "good deeds." It's smashed.
And the King is coming back. When He does, He will look for you.
What about you? Are you holding the vase intact, or is it smashed at your feet?
Well, let's see.
The Ninth of the Ten Commandments tells us not to lie (because God is always truthful.) So how many lies do you think you've told in your life? If you're like most of us, you lost count long ago.
The Eighth of the Ten Commandments tells us not to steal (because God is generous and provides for all what He says they need.) So, have you ever stolen anything? It doesn't have to be big or valuable. That candy bar or stick of gum when you were little is enough: it's still stealing.
The Seventh commandment forbids adultery (because God is always faithful and keeps His promises.) Have you committed adultery, or had sex with someone you're not married to? If you said no, that doesn't let you off the hook, because Jesus taught that merely lusting after someone in your heart is a sin against this commandment. It is inward adultery, adultery of the heart. So, have you broken that command?
The Sixth command forbids murder. Even if you haven't physically killed anyone, Jesus also taught that hating your brother is the same sort of sin as murder.
That's four out of the Ten Commandments. If you're like the rest of us, that's more than enough to condemn you right there. Take my word for it: you'd fail the other six as well.
God will judge you for your sins one day. He will judge you for how you kept, or broke, His laws.
He has promised to punish all lawbreakers in the afterlife in a place of eternal torment called Hell. You are a lawbreaker.
You're in a right, bitter pickle, eh?
What will you do?
Stop racking your brain trying to think of a clever answer: There's nothing you can do. You are caught. You are found out. You are guilty. God promises not to let the guilty go unpunished.
And yet... even now there is still hope for you, the one who dropped the vase.
How? Because your King, the Lord God of all creation, is not only righteous and just, but He is also merciful, gracious, and kind.
In the story of the vase, imagine now that the King returns. He wants his vase. He hunts you down. All you can offer him is a sack filled with the tiny pieces.
Just as he is about to have his guards take you away to torture and death, his own Son, the Prince, interrupts.
"Wait, Father!" he says, "Please do this servant of yours no harm. The truth is that I am the criminal here. As soon as you left, I took the vase from this person and smashed it myself. This poor, trembling servant is not the one to punish: I am. Please let this one go free, and do to me as you will.."
You are stunned. Why would the Prince do this for you? At this point it hardly matters: what matters is that you have been set free. The Prince has begged to take the punishment that you deserve.
That is a lot like what the Bible says that God has done for you. You broke His laws. You are the guilty one. You deserve Hell.
But because God is rich in mercy, He sent His only Son (the Prince of Peace,) the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the perfect life you should have lived. He never broke a single law, not even once. And then, having done all the will of God, Jesus gave Himself as a substitute in your place. He was crucified and died, punished by God for your own sins, as if He Himself had committed them. The Bible says that God, "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
On the third day, God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and He was seen by more than 500 eyewitnesses.
Now, what God commands you, and all men, to do is Repent. That's an old-fashioned word that simply means, do a U-turn in your live. Turn away from your sins, hate them with all your heart, and turn to Christ in faith.
Cry out to this merciful and loving Prince who died in your place, and beg Him to forgive your sins.
Friend, this is truly your only hope. Cling to Christ now and be saved, "For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)
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