The Terror of The Lord (2 Cor. 5:11)

“Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 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. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” (2 Cor. 5:9-11a).

The “terror of The Lord” does not mean that we should be frightened, or horrified when we stand before Him at His Judgment Seat. After all, He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), Who loved us so much that He willingly gave His life for Us. He is the Great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20-21), Who after completing the work of redemption, is seeking to work on us, in us and through us in order to accomplish His perfect will. He is the Chief Shepherd Who is preparing dwelling places for His sheep (John 14:1-4). The Good Shepherd died for His sheep, the Great Shepherd lives for His sheep, and the Chief Shepherd will come and gather His sheep unto Himself. At His coming for His sheep, the Church, at the Rapture, each of us will give an accounting of how we carried out our responsibilities. That is, how we conducted our lives since we were saved (Ephesians. 2:10).

This judgment will not be primarily concerned with what we’ve done; but focused more on what we did and how we did it (1 Cor. 3:9-15). This will be an awesome experience that is better characterized as a time of experiencing “the fear of The Lord”. For those of us who have been faithful, it will be a time of recognition and a place of reward, a time of rejoicing. For others it will be a reckoning unto displeasure and disposal of reward, a time of dread. The question arises, How can one feel dread in the presence of such a glorious One? The answer is, when one comes the final realization of their failure to please their Saviour and Lord by refusing to allow Him to accomplish His will in their lives (Phil. 2:12-13); they will feel indescribable sorrow.

With this in mind, how should we be conducting our lives NOW?