Revelation 3:9 “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie--indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above our Lord Jesus told the church at Philadelphia that He would one day make their adversaries come and worship before their feet. And so it will be on the day of judgement when this event will take place, for the unbelievers that we have known in our lives and who mocked our belief in Jesus Christ as our Saviour will be made to come and worship at our feet as we pronounce eternal judgement on them. As an aside this is one of the reasons that believers who practiced a lifestyle of sin will have no part in reigning with Christ, for God is not a hypocrite and He will not allow one of His children who practiced a sinful lifestyle to sit in judgement of unbelievers for committing those same sins.
1 Corinthians 6:3 “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?”
Not only will the saints’ judge the world on that day but, as revealed to us by the apostle Paul in the passage of scripture quoted above, we will also judge angels. The angels referred to in this passage are Satan’s angels, for God’s angels do not need to be judged. Nevertheless although the saints will judge Satan’s angels on that day they will not judge Satan himself, for our Lord Jesus has revealed to us that Satan has already been judged (John 16:11).
Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
Not all saints will judge the unbelievers on that day however. The above quoted passage of scripture is an account of the saints being given their various thrones on that day as part of their eternal inheritance. But I want you to notice that the scripture declares that judgement was also committed to them, for part of the responsibility of one who receives their throne is to judge the nations. The saints however who will have forfeited their thrones because of their chosen lifestyles of practicing sin will not be seated with their brethren to judge the unbelievers on that day. They will observe the court proceedings from the sidelines because the whole church will be present on that day, but they will not take part in the process of judging the unbelievers because judgement would not have been committed to them.
Michael E.B. Maher
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