Here is a truth that perhaps I repeat too often, but its implications to us cannot be overstated, and I believe that many do not contemplate it enough, even though it may be the most important day in your entire existence. “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12)
There is coming a day when only one other person is going to be in your presence, and that will be the Lord Jesus Christ, the notion of us walking into heaven the moment we leave this mortal shell I believe is incorrect, for no one enters into the kingdom of the Almighty who is not righteous, and to become completely righteous, you must first be glorified and to become glorified, you must first give an account, be judged for your works, and then, entrance through the gate, so to speak, will be granted.
Jesus Christ Himself is the Gatekeeper, so to speak, not this ridiculous notion of Peter with a big book of names in his possession. “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9) You and the Creator of all reality, just you two, and you and He are going to have a face to face, as they call it, you are going to be asked questions, shown known facts of your life here, and you will be required to answer, you will be held accountable.
This is not a test, this is not to determine whether or not you will be allowed into heaven, you would not be here if you were not going to be allowed in, those individuals stay in the grave, (Rev. 20:5) in hell until the great white throne of judgement, you have been invited to the wedding feast, you accepted the invitation many years ago, but before you can go in to prepare for it, you must be glorified, but first the accounting, an answer for the works you did for the Lord.
I do not understand why many who truly are saved fear this day, unless it is because of the fact that there will be less works and more accounting, if you will, more excuses and less rewards. Jesus Christ is the reason we are here, He is why you are still alive and reading this, your work for Him is not done yet, when it is, you will go home, so why the fear, if He is all you profess Him to be in your heart and in your words to others, would you not pine away the days desiring nothing more than to be in His presence, would you not yearn for that day that you have, at least for a few moments, Jesus Christ all to yourself?
Those who fear that day are those I believe that are spoken of in 1 John 2:28, they will be ashamed at His coming, why? Because they know, they know for a fact that more times than not they have disobeyed the prompting, if you will, of the Holy Spirit, they have arrived back at their house more times than they would care to remember with the words, “Next time I will say something, next time I will behave as a Christian.” These fear that day, and to a degree rightfully so, for they know deep inside that they will have no one to blame but themselves, and they will leave His presence, walking into the kingdom of God with tears on their face, not tears of joy, but tears of a sorrowful heart that knew they could have done so much more, they could have submitted, every moment of everyday, but chose not to.
These are some of the tears that our most gracious and merciful Lord will wipe away on that day my friends. (Rev. 21:4) But you can change that today, you can pray that He would show you the path you should be on, you can ask Him to give you the strength to perform every task He gives you to do with vigor, unashamed every moment, you can ask Him for boldness, and every other needed item to complete the race set before you. You will still walk into the kingdom with tears, but they will be tears of joy, and you will spend every day of the rest of your life here waiting impatiently for that one day, when at last for a little while, you will have Jesus all to yourself.
