- The judgment of the cross
Jesus said in John 12:31-33, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die." Verse 33 there tells us that the "lifted up" of verse 32 refers to the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. As Peter was addressing the Jewish leaders in Acts 4:12 he said, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Perhaps Peter was thinking of Jesus words in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." The judgment of the cross requires that all come to Jesus as their savior as the prerequisite to entering Heaven.
- The judgment of Believers when they sin
I John 2:1-2 says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." God doesn't want a Believer to sin, but it happens. When a Believer sins, the appropriate course of action is found in I John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We confess; God forgives. What about the hard-headed Believer who continues to sin - no confession - no repentance? Hebrews 12:6-8 compares the relationship of the Believer to God with that of a child to his father when it says, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Just as a good father chastens his son for disobedience, God chastens a Believer for disobedience. How? It's physical chastisement. The Believers at Corinth experienced physical chastisement for their blatant disregard for the significance of communion when Paul explains in I Corinthians 11:28-32, "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." Many Believers are a little confused on this one. They mistakenly think that somehow Believers are going to be punished by God down the road for sins they commit after their salvation experience. Others mistakenly feel that disobedient Believers lose their salvation altogether. Neither is true; when a Believer rebels against God's leadership, God deals with that Believer in this life through chastisement, just as a good father chastises a disobedient son while he goes on loving and caring for him.
- The Judgment Seat of Christ
This is a future judgment in Heaven for all Believers. As a pre-tribulation rapturist, I believe this judgment takes place at the beginning of Revelation 4, immediately following the rapture of Believers. Paul says in II Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Paul explains the process of this judgment in I Corinthians 3:11-15 when he says, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." The "good" works are represented by the "gold, silver, precious stones" while the "bad" (futile, selfish) works are represented by the "wood, hay, stubble." This judgment by fire results in rewards based upon the enduring "gold, silver, precious stone" works. You will notice that even though all one's works may be burned at this judgment, the unfruitful Believer is nonetheless "saved; yet so as by fire" because of the foundation of verse 11 upon which our works are built, Jesus Christ.
- The White Throne Judgment
This judgment is fully explained in Revelation 20:11-15, "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.". While it sounds pretty, it will be the site of a yet-future and horrible experience - the condemnation of those who reject Jesus Christ as savior to an eternity in the Lake of Fire. Chapter 20 establishes that this event takes place immediately following the millennium. Believers will have been reigning with Jesus Christ through the entire period of the millennium, and the unregenerate dead will be raised out of Hell to appear before this white throne. While their works will be evaluated, all of them will be cast into the lake of fire because they did not receive Jesus Christ as their savior. Presumably their works are evaluated because there may be different levels of punishment in the lake of fire, but that is just conjecture on my part.
- Judgment of Jews after the tribulation period
This judgment is discussed by Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30. It forms the basis whereby Jews who have weathered the tribulation will be judged by Jesus.
- Judgment of Gentiles after the tribulation period
This judgment is discussed by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46. While verses 14-30 indicate how Jews will be judged, this passage supplies the comparable information for Gentiles who weather the tribulation period.