Larger Catechism – Day 40 of Lent
Question 90: What
will happen to the righteous on the judgment day?
Answer: On the judgment day, the righteous will be caught up with Christ
in the clouds and placed on his right, where they will be publicly acknowledged
and acquitted. They will join Christ in the judgment of reprobate angels and
men and be received into heaven. There they will be completely and forever
freed from all sin and misery, filled with unimaginable joy, and made perfectly
holy and happy in body and soul, in the vast company of each other and the holy
angels; they will be particularly blessed in the visual presence and enjoyment
of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, forever. Such is
the perfect and complete fellowship the members of the invisible church will
enjoy with Christ in glory at the resurrection and judgment day.
Today is the 40th
and final day of Lent for 2015. I hope
that our journey through the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Confession of
Faith has been theologically stimulating and personally challenging. It is not easy looking squarely at how and
why people were created, how original sin has corrupted all aspects of each
person, that sin is real and that there is a penalty for that sin and that we
are totally dependent of God’s grace for justification, sanctification and
glorification.
Question 90 of the catechism
as about glorification—that which is going to happen to Christ’s followers
throughout all eternity.
In a few hours there will be a
celebration of the life of a person.
This lady’s life on earth ended a couple weeks ago. The death was expected, the exact time of the
death was a surprise. There is GREAT
news! You see, this lady came to know
Jesus as Savior and Lord later in her life. She experienced the forgiveness of sins that
comes through Jesus. She was clothed
with Christ’s righteousness. She was a
daughter of the King! Today’s service
will focus on Jesus and her eternal home.
Take a few moments and re-read
the answer to question 90 of the catechism and then read Philippians 1:21. The Apostle Paul said, “For me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain.” To live for
Christ should be our attitude about how we go about living each day. Jesus was all about truth and love—hold fast
to the truths found in God’s word and love people in light of those
truths. But remember, when we die it is
a huge gain. Family and friends will (hopefully)
be sad and miss us. Those family and
friends that know Christ will also know that in death we gain the ultimate
victory—being with Christ forever. That
is what the Apostle Paul referred to as “gain.”
Our journey through Lent has
been about taking a quick glimpse at the salvation story. It has been about a God who loves us more
than we can imagine and wants to spend all eternity with us. Tomorrow we will celebrate Christ’s
resurrection which secured God’s victory and our eternal destination. Have a great resurrection Sunday worshipping
the risen Lord. He is risen! He is risen, indeed!!
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