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Lesson 7A FINAL (GENERAL Or LAST) JUDGMENT

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Lesson 7A FINAL (GENERAL or LAST) JUDGMENT Beloved Father of Mercy and Justice, We Your children, offer our lives as a pure and holy sacrifice, uniting our lives and our death to the life and death of Your Son and our Savior. At the Final Judgment we will stand united with the Body of Christ, body and soul, to receive Your Son's judgment. We will face this last and definitive judgment unafraid as the Books of Works are opened to reveal the imperishable deeds of love and mercy accumulated by the Church. This is the treasure stored up for eternity which Your children offer in the name of Christ our Savior and Redeemer. Send Your Holy Spirit, Lord, to lead us in this lesson of our study on the Eight Last Things. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. + + + While I was watching thrones were set in place and one most venerable took his seat. His robe was white as snow, the hair of his head as pure as wool. His throne was a blaze of flames; its wheels were a burning fire. A stream of fire poured out, issuing from his presence. A thousand thousand waited on him, ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was in session and the books lay open. Daniel 7:9-10 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and, because he is the Son of man, has granted him power to give judgment. Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice: those who did good will come forth to life; and those who did evil will come forth to judgment. John 5:26-29 Throughout salvation history God has come to deliver justice and judgment to His people. In the Old Testament Israel was judged and disciplined according to how she lived the law of the covenant. In addition to corporate judgment determined by covenant blessings and curses, each individual throughout salvation history, in the good or evil acts of their lives, receives God's guidance and judgment as they make their journey through this life to eternity. At the end of one's earthly journey there is also immediate judgment upon one's death. However, according to Sacred Scripture and the faith of the Church, man is destined to face two judgments before the judgment throne of God Almighty. The first judgment comes the moment the soul departs the body and is called the Particular or Individual Judgment. The second judgment, known as the General or Final or Last Judgment, takes place at the definitive moment in salvation history. Question: What great event in salvation history occurs just prior to the Final Judgment? See Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31, John 5:28-29; 32, John 5:28-29; 46. Answer: The Second Advent of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead. When Christ returns the dead arise in the resurrection of the dead, when all souls are united with all bodies, a union which will prepare each man and woman and child for the final and definitive judgment to spend all eternity either in everlasting bliss or everlasting distress. The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust," will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment." Then Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him....Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.... And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." CCC# 1038 The Final or Last Judgment fully establishes the New Covenant as Jesus promised. This definitive moment in salvation history fulfills the prophecy of the New and everlasting Covenant given by the Prophet Jeremiah in John 5:28-29; Jeremiah 31:34 when all of God's plan for salvation history will be revealed and There will be no further need for everyone to teach neighbor or brother, saying, "Learn to know Yahweh!" Instruction in the faith will no longer be necessary because everything will be revealed in the brilliant light of truth and justice. The universal Catechism teaches: The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God's love is stronger than death. CCC# 1040 Jesus taught on the Final Judgment in the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds in Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43 and in Matthew 25:31-46. Please read those passages. Question: What is the message of the teaching on the Final Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46? Answer: Every human being from every nation in every period of human history will be judged and the judgment will be very personally related to Christ concerning one's treatment of those in need of mercy and assistance. This final and definitive judgment will demonstrate before the world mankind's relationship with God as Jesus warned in Luke 12:2-3: Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed from the housetops. The Catechism echoes this teaching in # 1039: In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man's relationship with God will be laid bare. The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life... St. Paul urges continual repentance in preparation for the final day: Your stubborn refusal to repent is only storing up retribution for yourself on that Day of retribution when God's just verdicts will be made known. He will repay everyone as their deeds deserve. For those who aimed for glory and honor and immortality by preserving in doing good, there will be eternal life; but for those who out of jealousy have taken for their guide not truth but injustice, there will be the fury of retribution [Romans 2:5-8]. Question: How does the Old Testament prophet Isaiah describe the Final Judgment? See Isaiah 66:23-24; Joel 4:9-17; Daniel 7:9-10. Answer: All humanity will do homage to God, they will be judged according to their works, and those who rebel will face eternal damnation and the faithful will receive sanctuary. Question: What do the New Testament passages found in Matthew 10:11-15; 12:33-37; 19:27- 30; and Luke 11:29-32 tell us about the "Day of Judgment?" Answer: The judgment on any community or nation who rejects God's chosen ministers will be greater that that fiery judgment which fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Humanity will be answerable for their works which includes the good or bad words they speak The Twelve Apostles will judge the 12 Tribes of Old Covenant Israel The people and communities of past generations will testify against peoples and generations who rejected God's gift of salvation Question: What will occur in the Final Judgment according to the vision of St. John in Revelation 20:11-15? Answer: Immediately after the resurrection of the dead all human beings must face the judgment throne of God. Hades (the place of purification) will be emptied of the dead The Books will be opened: the Book of Life and the Books of Works or Deeds. Every person will be judged according to what is written down in the Books There will no longer be any need for death and Hades and they will be destroyed in the Lake of Fire. For additional Scripture passages concerning the Books of Works see Psalm 40:8; 56:8; Jeremiah 17:1; Daniel 7:10; Malachi 3:16; and Luke 10:20. Question: Who will serve as the judge in the Final or General Judgment? See Matthew 25:31- 46; John 5:26-30; 12:44-48; CCC# 679. Answer: Jesus in His role as Davidic King and Son of God will judge the nations of the earth but those who have rejected Jesus as Savior have already condemned themselves. CCC# 679 records: Christ is Lord of eternal life. Full right to pass definitive judgment on the works and hearts of men belongs to him as redeemer of the world. He "acquired" this right by his cross. The Father has given "all judgment to the Son." Yet the Son did not come to judge, but to save and to give the life he has in himself.
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