1) To Increase the Eternal Praise of God and of His Son

We all agree that the Lord deserves the fullest praise from each one of us. The result of appearing before the judgment seat of Christ will do exactly that – it will increase the amount of our praise for all eternity. We have a hymn that emphasizes this. It says, "Yet Savior, Thou shalt have complete praise" (Little Flock #195). Now we might ask how such an experience would increase our praise.

I believe there are perhaps three ways in which this will be accomplished:

1. The Lord will exalt the grace of God before our eyes, through which our

appreciation will be significantly deepened, and thus produce a greater amount of praise from our hearts. The Lord will examine our entire life, from before we were saved to our last day on earth, and we will see our sins in the light of an infinitely holy God. Things we may not think are sin now, we will see are indeed sin. Everything will be in true light on that day. J. N. Darby said, "In that day we will learn the true wickedness of our flesh (our fallen nature)." When we think of our sins now, we see them as a pile (heap) – and we certainly are not proud of it – but on that day He will show us that they were a mountain!

Then we will see the grace of God rising to the top of all our sins by casting them all upon the righteous basis of Christ's finished work. We will understand, in a deep way, the truth of Romans 5:20 which says, "Where sin abounded, grace superabounded". And we will see that God glorified Himself over the whole question of sin. The result will be high and fervent praise from the redeemed in heaven. The amount of praise will be much greater than if we had not gone through the review process at the judgment seat.

Albert Hayhoe used to use a hypothetical example about this. He would ask us to suppose that the Lord gave each of us the option to appear before the judgment seat or not. And when that day came, all the saints agreed to appear, except one man. When it was all over, the praise that flowed from those who went through the process drowned out the poor praise of the one who refused to have the experience. I believe you can understand the point. If we truly want the Lord to have the fullest praise, we will rejoice in the review at the judgment seat.

1. The Lord will reveal the wisdom of His ways with us on earth. This will also

add to the amount of praise that will proceed from the hearts of the saints. We all go through some difficulty and perplexing things happen in our lives, and this review will justify God in His ways with us. The Lord will take us through our lives, step by step, and show us that He made no mistake in what He allowed. On that day, He will answer all the difficult questions we had about why certain things happened to us. He will show us that there was a divine purpose of love behind it and a "need" for it all (1 Pet. 1:6).

Today we have many unanswered questions about things in our lives, but on that day we will know the answers. Perhaps we had sufferings regarding our children. Or perhaps something concerning a broken relationship. Or perhaps a suffering from an illness we had to go through. Perhaps it is the death of a loved one. Whatever it is, before the judgment seat the Lord will show us that we did not shed an unnecessary tear. Remember, we are all in His school, and He is training us to be partakers of His holiness (Heb. 12:10). We will learn that every ounce of suffering we had to go through was weighed in His divine balance, in the tenderest love, before being laid upon us. And He will show us that it has been used to make us morally conformed to His image (Rom. 8:28-29).

When we look at what the Lord is doing in our lives now, it seems a mess, but on that day we will know the why of it all – and it will make perfect sense. We will know in a deeper way the truth of the verse that says, "The way of God is perfect" (Ps. 18:30). And we will praise Him for it. Indeed, we will praise Him in a grander and more meaningful way than we ever would if we had not gone through the experience of the judgment seat.

1. The Lord will reward us for things we did for His name's sake. He

will use the occasion of the judgment seat to determine our rewards in the kingdom. When we see the rewards He will give us for the smallest things we did for Him, this will produce even more praise to Him.

On that day, He will find something to reward each of us – even if we have spent most of our lives for ourselves! The Bible says, "Then each one will receive his praise from God" (1 Cor. 4:5). It is hard to believe, but when the Lord reviews our lives, He will actually find things to reward us for. He forgets nothing. He will search with His all-seeing eye for any grain of goodness, no matter how microscopic, and if it was done for Him, it will be rewarded. Things like giving a cup of water to someone in His name will be rewarded on that day! (Matt. 10:42). He will find things done for Himself that we had long forgotten, and we will marvel that He is rewarding us for them. He will say to each of us, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt. 25:21).

Works of greatness, as were observed, He will show, were only sin. Acts of kindness, long unremembered, He will show, were given to Him.

It is even harder to believe that when we get there, HE WILL PRAISE US! But that is what this verse says, "Each one will receive from God the praise." I used to think that we would go to heaven to praise God – which is certainly true – but this verse says that we go to heaven to receive praise from God! That is astonishing! But it is what will happen. Each one will have "glory only in himself and not in another" (Gal. 6:4). However, more than just glorying in ourselves for what has been given to us, there will be a greater praise poured out from our hearts to Him. We will be greatly humbled by His grace and goodness, and this will make us praise Him much more. The great result of all this will be that we will fill the heavens with His praise because He is worthy.