A PROFOUND MYSTERY: THIS LIFE IS BOTH THE ACTION & REVIEW OF OUR DEEDS- DR. ROD MILLS

In this life, all of our actions are recorded.  Like witnesses in the courtroom, our lives, our works, and our motives are being examined and cross-examined by life’s circumstances, which are governed and permitted by Heaven’s wisdom and divine government.  Our actions in all of these circumstances emit precise testimonies of our deeds, which testify to our heart condition and our allegiance or the lack thereof, toward God and His monarchy.  Like a court stenographer, everything is being recorded.  In the days of judgement after this age, the stenographers’ books will be opened so that a verdict can be issued for all people, small and great, believing and unbelieving.  (Rev. 20:11-15, 2 Cor. 5:9-11, Rev. 22:12-15, I Thes. 2:19-20)

​The Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 20:11–15 (NKJV): “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

The Judgement Seat Of Christ
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2 Corinthians 5:9–11 (NKJV):  Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

Revelation 22:12–15 (NKJV): “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”  Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

1 Thessalonians 2:19–20 (NKJV): “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?  For you are our glory and joy.”

Perhaps there is another way to perceive our current existence, our works and deeds, and the final judgment. We perceive time as a flowing river.  Yet, experiments in physics have relentlessly verified that our perceptions are inaccurate.  The results of experiments with time-space continue to tell us that time is a frozen river, where every moment (past, present, and future) contains the actions of those who are alive on the earth at that time.  The actions of humanity are perpetually encapsulated in each slice (snapshot) of time.  Dr. Brian Greene, Cornell University physicist, summarizes the findings of a series of time-space experiments. It is important to note that he is not basing his suppositions on philosophy or guessing. He is describing what the experiments of physicists currently indicate:

“In this way of thinking, events, regardless of when they happen from any particular perspective, just are. They all exist. They eternally occupy their particular point in spacetime. There is no flow. If you were having a great time at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, 1999, you still are, since that is just one immutable location in spacetime. It is tough to accept this description, since our worldview so forcefully distinguishes between past, present, and future. But if we stare intently at this familiar temporal scheme and confront it with the cold hard facts of modern physics, its only place of refuge seems to lie within the human mind. Undeniably, our conscious experience seems to sweep through the slices (of time). It is as though our minds provide the projector light referred to earlier, so that moments of time come to life when they are illuminated by the power of consciousness. The flowing sensation from one moment to the next arises from our conscious recognition of change in our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.” (Brian Greene, Fabric of the Cosmos, Kindle Loc. 2645)

When we consider these discoveries in physics in the light of scripture, it would seem that our entire life’s catalogue of deeds and motives are already in full view in the courts of heaven; and EVERYTHING is carefully recorded.  And the life we live on earth is both the life we are living and the review of our life’s deeds, all at the same “time.”   Although heaven knows what will occur as if all things were pre-recorded in the ancient libraries of eternity and the heart of God (Romans 8:29-30), He has given us the volition to act with freedom and paint our lives on the blank canvas of opportunity (Acts 2:21). This is a mystery.  And yet, while we paint, it is simultaneously a review of our life actions.  This too is a mystery.

Our consciousness is the projector and the time-space fabric is the projector screen upon which the allegiances and motives of our hearts are presented in the form of works and deeds.  Similar to an attorney in the courtroom, who displays a video to the jury for evidence, this temporal life is the illumination, the display of the video of the hearts of each living human being. This temporal life is the initial evidence presentation, with the examination and cross-examination components of the process of the final judgment and rewards described in the New Testament—both the Judgment Seat of Christ, and the Great White Throne Judgment (2 Cor. 5:9-11, Rev. 20:11-15, Rev. 22:12-15, I Thes. 2:19-20).

I am not suggesting that there will not be a future judgment. According to the words of scripture, we know there will be. However, this life seems to be the first presentation of the evidence before the great books of history are opened in that day (Rev. 20:12, Dan. 7:10).

It appears that there will be some kind of re-play of our thoughts, words, deeds, and actions in eternity.  In fact, Jesus tells us that we will give an account for every idle word spoken. Matthew 12:36 (NKJV): “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” These things are far above our understanding and our current ability to comprehend.

As we live this life and simultaneously sit in review of our life’s deeds in the heavenly courts, perhaps one of the most comforting truths for followers and friends of Jesus comes from the Apostle Paul when he tells us that we are seated with Christ (present tense) in heavenly places. (Eph. 2:6) We are not sitting in that the courtroom alone, and our position is not as one condemned, but as an eternal king and priest (Rev. 1:6, 5:10).  We have an Attorney, an Advocate with the Father, who has already paid our sentence for sin.  And just as gloriously, He has infused His righteousness into us, that it may grow and have it’s fullest and most expressive fruit in our hearts and deeds.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV): “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Psalm 16:2–3 (NKJV): O my soul, you have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the  excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”
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1. Brian Greene, Ph.D., The Fabric Of The Cosmos: Space, Time, & The Fabric Of Reality, (New York: Vintage Books, 2005), Kindle Loc. 2645.


©️Roderick Mills 2019, 2023

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