5.2 The Process of Acceptance

As we struggle in our daily battle with the flesh, it is necessary to keep our eye on that split-second moment of total acceptance by our Lord. It is possible to build up a detailed picture of that moment of victory and complete spiritual triumph. We will burst out, mentally and physically, like stalled calves given freedom for the first time (Mal. 4:2). Ps. 68:1-3 speak of how the rejected will be chased away, but the righteous will "be glad" and "exult before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice", after the pattern of Israel's ecstasy after their deliverance at the Red Sea.

A realistic imagination of our coming before the judgment seat of Christ must surely involve the feeling that we will cast ourselves down prostrate on the ground before the glorious majesty of the Lord Jesus. In Biblical terms, this would appear to be realistic.

Dan. 10 describes what was effectively a figurative resurrection of Daniel. Having been "in a deep sleep on my face (cp. death)...an (angelic) hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands...I stood trembling...I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb...(the angel) touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said...how can the servant of my Lord talk with this my Lord?...then there came again (an angel), and he strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong" (v.9-19). Such a seizing up with dumbness and desire to be on our knees before our Lord, averting his gaze ("my face toward the ground") will need the repeated assurance of our guardian angels to overcome. Angelic appearances to men have so often included an encouragement to "fear not" that we have every reason to imagine that those same words will be repeated to us when the angel calls. The Greek text of Lk. 21:36 further fills out the place of the angels in our judgment: "Pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy...to be stood before the Son of man". This creates the picture of our guardian angel literally standing us up in acceptance before our Lord, as happened to Daniel. Ps. 1:5 can now take on a literal aspect: "The ungodly shall not stand [up] in the judgment". It is so fitting that the angel who is with us now in our every situation, will be with us in that supreme moment too. We read in Jer. 42:2 of a supplication being “accepted”, or ‘to fall down before’ (RVmg.). To fall down before the Lord Jesus is to be accepted of Him. Paul speaks of us all standing before the judgment seat of Christ after first of all casting ourselves down; and this in the context of saying that God is able to make the weak brother stand in His sight (Rom. 14:4 cp. 10,11). We will all be in the position of the weak brother. Don't "set at nought" your brother- because the judgment seat of Christ is coming for you too (Rom. 14:10). We will all  be "set at nought" then; that's the implication. We will all have to be made stand by God's grace. We will all be made to stand, i.e. be accepted (Eph. 6:11-13; Col. 4:12)- or at least, Paul is saying, that's how you should look at your brethren, as if they too will be accepted. For if we have no right to condemn our brethren; we must surely assume they will be accepted. In  passing, note how Paul warns in  this context that we can cause our brother to fall down or stumble (Rom. 14:13). Some at the last day will not be ‘stood up’, they will remain prostrate and then slink away. And why? Because they will have been made to fall by their brethren. Our faith and our community of believers is fragile, more fragile than we may think. In all the pressures of these last days it is so terribly easy to cause each other to stumble, to fall, with the ultimate consequence that they will not be stood up at the judgment. This is the evil of causing offence, stumbling, making another to fall down.

1 Jn. 2:28 speaks of our being able to have "confidence" at the day of judgment; but the Greek parresia means literally 'a saying of all'. This free telling of all will be when we list our sins to the Lord; and yet, in the greatest paradox, this will be our confidence before Him. That 'freedom of speech' in His presence will be the sign that we are accepted; and yet the freedom of speech begins with our free confession to Him of our unworthiness.

There are other passages which suggest that the accepted will feel as though they have been rejected. The judgment process will teach us our desperation and unworthiness.

- In our ecclesial judgments we should undo the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke because "then shall thy light break forth as the morning [i.e. you'll have a part in the Lord's glory, Mal. 4:2], and thine health shall spring forth [cp. Mal. 4:2 springing forth as stalled calves]...and thy righteousness shall go before thee [our good deeds recited by the Judge]...then [at the judgment seat of Christ] thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am" (Is. 58:6-9). If we show mercy to the desperate now, we won't necessarily have our prayers automatically heard in this life. But in the poverty and desperate need of the judgment, our cries will be heard on account of our generous, forgiving response in this life.

- We will be condemned by the very presence of the excellence of the Lord's glory; but we will have judgment / condemnation with mercy (James 2:13); we will receive damnation, and yet be saved (James 3:1).

- The hopelessly indebted slave had the whole debt reckoned up with him and then the Lord wrote it off (Mt. 18:24,25).

- The accepted will be saved "yet so as by fire" (1 Cor. 3:15). The fire of condemnation will as it were burn at them and remove all their surface spirituality. And as through death comes life, so through condemnation of the flesh comes salvation of the spirit.

- In the future, at the Lord's return, we will be saved from wrath (i.e. condemnation) through Christ (Rom. 5:9). Whilst this has already been achieved in a sense, it will be materially articulated in that day- in that we will feel and know ourselves to be worthy of God's wrath, but then be saved from it. We are all to some extent in the position of Zedekiah and the men of Judah, who was told that if they accepted God’s condemnation of them as just, and served the King of Babylon, then they would ultimately be saved; but if they refused to accept that condemnation, then they would be eternally destroyed (Jer. 21:9; 27:12). And the Babylonian invasion was, as we have shown elsewhere, a type of the final judgment.

- "They shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son" (Mal. 3:17)- i.e. undeservedly, only because of his parental feelings and mercy toward the child.

- "Riches profit not in the day of wrath [the final judgment]: but righteousness delivereth from death" (Prov. 11:4) suggests that the righteous are faced with death at the judgment, but their righteousness in this life delivers them.

- There is surely an intended contrast between the accepted denying the righteous acts that the Lord reminds them of, and their telling Him how much they have gained (spiritually) by trading (Mt. 25:37-39 cp. 20,22). These quite different attributes of the accepted are recorded within the same speech of the Lord. He frames those parables as if He is getting over global lessons rather than describing the response of different people.  Perhaps the point is that first of all, the accepted feel as if they have done no righteous acts, and feel their unworthiness so strongly that they even dare to genuinely disagree with the Lord's praise of them. But then they come to accept themselves as He sees them, and later on in the judgment dialogue, He teases out of them a realistic self-assessment of their spiritual growth. There is a similar intended contrast in the attitude of the rejected; they begin by denying the Lord's criticism of their spiritual barrenness, and later in the conversation claim that well, He is being unreasonable, looking for fruit which He can't reasonably expect. Their tone changes from a loving 'Lord, Lord...' to a more bitter, critical spirit (Mt. 25: 4 cp. 25).

The Sheep Feel Rejected

- Dan. 10: "in a deep sleep on my face (cp. death)...an (angelic) hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands...I stood trembling...I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb...(the angel) touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said...how can the servant of my Lord talk with this my Lord?...then there came again (an angel), and he strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong" (v.9-19).

- "Pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy...to be stood before the Son of man" (Lk. 21:36 Gk.) cp. Ps. 1:5; Rom. 14:10,11; Eph. 6:11-13; Col. 4:12.

- If you hear the cry of the desperate, “then [at judgment day] thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am” (Is. 58:6-9). We will call then...

- We will  have judgment / condemnation with mercy (James 2:13); we will receive damnation, and yet be saved (James 3:1).

- The hopelessly indebted slave had the whole debt reckoned up with him and then the Lord wrote it off (Mt. 18:24,25).

- Saved “yet so as by fire” (1 Cor. 3:15).

- Saved from wrath (i.e. condemnation) through Christ (Rom. 5:9).

- “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son” (Mal. 3:17)- i.e. undeservedly

- “Riches profit not in the day of wrath [the final judgment]: but righteousness delivereth from death” (Prov. 11:4)- the righteous are faced with death at the judgment.

- Argue with Christ that they aren’t worthy

- Tears wiped away from our eyes; sorrow and mourning flee away (Is. 51:11)

- The righteous “scarcely saved” (1 Pet. 4:18)

- Cast our crowns before the Lord’s throne (Rev. 4:10)