THE BEMA (JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST) – INTRODUCTION

The Bema (Judgement Seat of Christ)

Introduction

Bonnie Nelson

Hello Everyone:

I have been praying to the Lord to teach me of His Ways and not the ways of men, women, traditions or doctrines, which are not of Him.  Maybe you have been asking Him for the same thing. I don’t know about you, but there seems to be something in my spirit, a craving to know more about Him and a sense of urgency to absorb all I can, as fast as I can. It’s almost like you are starving and you just have to get to know more and more and more about Him.

It is true God has already given me the Bible and I am sure what I am seeking is already in there, but it’s a mystery to me in the way He put it together. It’s like searching and digging for buried treasure and you know what?  I think He is having fun watching me dig to get it and at the same time, He has given the Holy Spirit things to bring to my attention, which are important not only for me, but for you too. Plus, He knows I am going to shout from the rooftops what He shares with me to all who will listen.

Since I was not raised in the Church, I have not sat under a lot of teachings and been taught what to believe on this or that. So, much of what a seasoned church goer considers “old hat” to them, is pretty much new to me and when something quickens my spiritual curiosity, look out, I go digging for answers.

Recently, I saw a teaching on the Bema of Christ. Well, I don’t remember hearing anything about a “Bema of Christ.”  That was new to me. So guess what?  I went looking. Oh my goodness! What I found. It is like, the best and the worst.

I figure God pretty much suckered me in with the word “Bema.” It was the hook and then, I went for the line and the sinker.  What I found was simple and yet complex. Bema is the Greek word that is translated “judgment seat.” So really what the Lord was doing, was bringing me into the revelation of the Judgement Seat of Christ and how it will effect me and now that I know, I am going to share it with as many people as I can.

I know there are many teachings out here for us to study and mine is just another drop in the bucket, but maybe because I am not the norm, but more the foolish trying to keep it simple stupid, the Lord might be able to share with me just enough to get you stirred up in what I am going to try and share with you, so that you will get hungry to know more, just like me. If I can be the catalyst to do that, to cause you to hunger and seek the Lord with a new passion, then I will truly be blessed.  Even if I don’t get everything right, you can by joining in the journey to find the hidden treasure, the rewards God has for you, which the devil wants to steal and destroy.

For the last several weeks, my spirit has been feasting on Scriptures, driving me to learn all I can about this Bema (Judgment) Seat and anything and everything connected to it, which appears to a whole lot of everything, which might be the most important thing for Born Again Christians to understand, especially now, because so many people believe we are living at the end of the “Church Age” and Jesus is coming back soon.

If Jesus is close to coming back, are we ready for Him?

Is it Rapture Time? If so, are you a Pre Trib, Mid Trib or Post Trib believer? Do you care?

If you are Born Again, do you believe you have all that is needed for your heavenly trip, you are saved, it is a done deal and nothing else is required or matters? Sit back and enjoy the rapture ride?

Are we crying out to Him, “Come now Lord Jesus.

Are we looking for Him or busy with all of our worldly desires and plans with no concern or thought of His return?  Jesus said to Jerusalem in Luke 13:35:

I tell you that you shall never see me again until you say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.”

Do we really want Him to come back and now? Do we understand what is going to happen when He does come back?

One thing is set, when we are Raptured up, all of us who are Born Again believer’s in and through Jesus Christ, will each find ourselves looking face to face, eye to eye with Christ and held accountable for our lives.

I am not talking about the Great White Throne of Judgment, I am talking about the Judgment (Bema) Seat of Christ, which comes first. Here is what the Scripture says tobelievers.

So let me get this straight, when I am raptured up, I am going to be judged and paid back for what I have done good and bad?  Where did that come from? Paid Back? Pardon me?

I was taught and thought, if I repented and accepted Jesus, I would be Born Again into Him and that got me saved with a ticket to heaven. I even got baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit and yet, here it says again, in another Bible, the Weymouth Version:

For we must all of us appear before Christ’s judgement-seat in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be worthless.

So, what happened to salvation is free through grace, a gift and I don’t have to work to get it?
What are these rewards in this life and aren’t my sins under the blood of Jesus and, what does it mean I will appear in my true character and my actions or things done in this life or in my body are going to be judged and I will be paid back for them good or bad. And, and, and Yikes!!!!

Now I am really searching through Bible versions to understand what is going on and I came upon these Scriptures in what they call the Aramaic Bible in Plain English (that’s what I need, Plain English) where Jesus says:

“Behold, I come at once, and my reward is with me, and I shall give to every person according to his work.” Rev 22:12

“I come at once. Hold fast whatever you have, lest someone take your crown.”
 Rev 3:11

So now, not only is Jesus going to judge me for good or bad stuff I have done in my body, but also
He has a reward for me and then……someone is going to try and take my crown away from me.

Holy Spirit please come and tell me what is going on. Help me understand.

I am suddenly aware of Scriptures coming alive in my life and I am remembering a Word from the Lord a few weeks ago. Matter of fact, it was just before I began seeking the meaning of the Bema Seat.  In my spirit I had been having a conversation with the Lord and I heard:

I guess that is not exactly what some would consider or think the Lord would say, but He has a habit of talking in down home English to me, without any religious fluff, Thee’s or Thou’s. So, I usually know exactly what He is saying to me. I knew that I knew, I was getting ready to learn something very important and I better do the head’s up thing and pay attention, so the enemy would not be able to steal what God has for me.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

Matter of fact, I think that is what Jesus in the Scriptures is trying to tell me. Satan is trying to steal things that God has for me that are mine, mine, mine.  My rewards, my crown, my heavenly stuff.  Stuff I was too blind to see and didn’t even know was there for me. Talk about a lack of knowledge on my part and then again, talk about grand theft!

There is an old saying, “If you think you cannot be deceived, you already are.” Scripture says it this way and notice who the Lord is addressing – the people and the priest.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hosea 4:6 KJV

Another version reads:

My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. NLT

We are destroyed because we don’t know God and what the rules are in the Kingdoms of God, so we lose. The Bible says satan was created “full of wisdom, perfect in his ways and wiser than Daniel.” He is not stupid and we need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to teach us how to be “kingdom minded, so we can understand what is written, how it applies to us and how to use it.”

If we don’t know the truth about the Kingdom and how it works, we will perish and throw away a lot of things Jesus died to give us. Isn’t that like wasting part of His sacrifice?

I don’t see any scriptural loopholes or avenues for me to blame someone else because I don’t understand spiritual things about my King and His Kingdom.  When I stand before Jesus and He looks at my life, I want  to know and understand what, how and why I am being judged and what rewards I am running for and I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

I am thankful God is giving me this extended period of time to focus, study and learn more about Him and this Bema (Judgment Seat) of Christ and an opportunity to share with you what I am learning. Again, my prayer, my hope is to stir you up to “wonder” and seek out these deeper things in Scriptures that are coming and coming soon.

Lord, I thank You for a little more time to learn and share these things with those in the Church and those just outside the doors, peeking in.

In Yahshua/Jesus, Selah