Two last things that we want to deal with that the catechism brings up: the Last Judgment, and the New Heaven, and the New Earth. Now, I just quoted a line in that prayer from the Nicene Creed which we recite every Sunday. We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. I personally think that that is the most neglected line of the creed. Or, it’s one of the ones I think that people (really, if they really thought about it) not sure what it means and maybe don’t really believe in that or haven’t (at least) felt the impact of what that really means to say that, “we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
Now, what we’ve been studying up until now is the death and the particular judgment, and we’ve also studied what’s called “the intermediate state” – the destiny of the soul after death: either Heaven, purgatory or hell. That’s the intermediate state – those three things. But ultimately that’s not the last stage of our study of the last things. The last stage is the Last Judgment, and the new Heavens and the new Earth. So what I want to talk about in this session is the Last Judgment.
Now, what is the Last Judgment? Well, as I’ve said before, it’s always important to keep in mind that there are two judgments. The particular judgment which every soul will experience at the hour of death, and then the “universal judgment” (or the general judgment) when all people will be judged at the end of time. So, keep that distinction in mind: there are actually two judgments when we talk about end time or final judgment.
The Last Judgment has 3 key stages to it, if you want to take it apart. The Last Judgment consists,first of all of the second coming of Christ. That’s what’s going to inaugurate that final stage: when Christ comes back in glory.
Second, after Christ comes back in glory the next stage will be the resurrection of the dead. All of the dead will be raised up in order to be judged. Once that is accomplished, once the resurrection is completed then there will actually be the final judgment where Christ will make that decision about where everyone spends their eternal destiny. That’s what we usually call the final judgment or “the Last Judgment”.
Now, the question I’d like to begin with is this: why will there be a Last Judgment? Isn’t it kind of redundant as I brought up earlier? If, when you die, there’s a particular judgment that determines your eternal destiny whether you’re going to spend your everlasting life in Heaven, or you’re going to spend eternity in Hell, then what is the reason for a final judgment? Why does God have to re-judge everyone? What’s the basic point? Doesn’t it seem a little redundant or silly? Well actually, no. That’s not the case. There is a very important reason for the final judgment. There are at least two dimensions to it.
First, whereas the particular judgment — what God is revealing to us and what He’s going to show us — is the ultimate destiny of our soul, at the final judgment, the ultimate consequences of all of our actions will be revealed. Because, if you think about it for just a minute (this makes a lot of sense) – the things you do now not only affect you, and your soul, and your life, they also have an effect on your children, and on your children’s children, and their children’s children, and all of the people you interact with throughout the course of their lives and how they take what you may have given them and give it to somebody else. So there’s this whole network of consequences that stems from every action that we have in our lives. And what the final judgment is going unveil and reveal is how those ultimate consequences have played themselves out throughout all of history. You’re going to see either the fruits of everything you’ve done (in all its goodness) or the lack thereof (the things that you could have done). So there’s a much wider network of consequences that will be revealed at the final judgment; it’s more universal. Also, at the final judgment, you’ll not only see the ultimate destiny of your individual soul, what will be revealed is the ultimate meaning of all history and all creation. So, if you turn with me to the Catechism of the Catholic Church it actually lays this out in a very nice statement that is very clear about what exactly the final judgment is. So if you open up the catechism, we’ll keep going here through the section on the last things to number 5, “the Last Judgment.” It says this — the first point I would make is in 1038. It says:
“The resurrection of all the dead of both the just and the unjust will proceed the Last Judgment.” (Paragraph 1038) “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." (That's a quote from John 5:28-29, that's what Jesus said). "At that time, Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him .... And before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the 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." (that's another quote, it's from Matthew 25:31-46)
Now what the catechism explains about this Last Judgment (notice it has two parts here: the resurrection of the dead and then the final judgment); It says, in paragraph 1039 (and this is the real point):
“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.”
And if you continue, in paragraph 1040 it says a little more:
“The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in His glory. (So see, it's tied to the second coming). Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ (this is great) 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.”
I don’t know about you, but that makes me tremble to think about being able to see not just the destiny of your soul (which will be revealed to you at the particular judgment), but the destiny of all creation, the ultimate meaning of all history, and you will be able to see how God’s providence was leading it from the very beginning. You’re going to see his hand throughout all history and how he lead it to its ultimate end. And what you will see is what you can’t see now: namely that God’s justice actually triumphs over evil and triumphs over death.
Because when you look around the world now, what do you see? It seems as if Satan’s winning. It seems as if he’s got the upper hand. But that’s because the kingdom of God is like a little yeast that a woman put in a lump of dough. It spreads invisibly through the lump of dough and it makes it rise. Or the kingdom of God is like a little mustard seed that is planted. It starts out the smallest of seeds but what does it grow into? This great bush, this great tree that all the birds of the air come in to dwell in. So, that’s the mystery of God’s kingdom, working in the world. And so what the final judgment is going to reveal is not only our individual destiny, but the destiny of all people and how it relates to one another — what the ultimate meaning of all history is.So it’s pretty amazing; it has a very specific purpose to it.
Brant Pitre
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