Commentaries:
God judges His children today by evaluating how well they live by His written Word. Their rewards in God's Kingdom will depend on their character development during their mortal life. It is a process requiring time and opportunity for learning and growth.
Those resurrected after the Millennium will be judged the same way. They, like Spirit-begotten Christians today, will be given enough time to prove they are willing to live God's way through a life of overcoming and obedience to God.
In this period of judgment after the 1,000 years, not only will the Bible be opened, but the Book of Life will also be opened. These people will be given an opportunity to receive eternal life! God, in perfect fairness, will give them an opportunity for salvation, just as He gives to those He calls now. But, in this last great judgment, people will not be subject to Satan's influence as we are today, because Satan will have been put away (Revelation 20:10).
With God's Spirit freely available, and freed from Satan's spiritual influences, they will be given their one and only opportunity for salvation through repentance, baptism, receiving God's Spirit, and growing in godly character during a second mortal life. They, like Christians today, will be required to act on the knowledge God will give them, to choose righteousness as defined by God's spiritual law, to quit breaking that law.
Those who continue to live God's way of life will be changed from mortality to immortality at the end of this period of judgment.
Those people who were born to physical life first—many before the First Coming of Jesus Christ and even those born before the Flood—have not yet had the opportunity to participate in God's plan. Their chance is coming, but they will be called last—in the Last Great Judgment.
Those now being called into God's church, although born later, are being given their opportunity as God's firstfruits (James 1:18). Even people born during the Millennium will be called to participate in God's plan before the vast majority of mankind, who have lived in this first 6,000 years of human experience. Referring to this age, Jesus said: "The last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen" (Matthew 20:16).
The Last Great Day pictures the completion of God's Master Plan—the Great White Throne Judgment period after the Millennium. Revelation 20:5 shows that a second resurrection will occur after the Millennium, and verses 11-12 reveal that those in this resurrection, who died not having been called to participate in God's plan of salvation, will then be given their opportunity to become members of God's divine Family.
The Last Great Day: God's Master Plan Completed!
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These verses are a warning to us. We do not have to follow the example of the many Christians who were sickly and infirm and died prematurely as a result of not discerning His body. No, we are each to judge our own behavior, our own personal performance now, before we find ourselves on our deathbed.
If we fail to examine ourselves, chances are good that we will not discipline our carnal drives and will not overcome our sinful ways. This is "not discerning the Lord's body." We are treating lightly the noble sacrifice of our Savior by continuing in our ingrained habits of transgressing the law that regulates our relationship with Christ, His Father, and His brethren.
Staff
Discerning Christ's Broken Body
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The result of taking the Passover unworthily is that we come under judgment, for we will not be cleared of our transgressions. Thus, our lives will not be protected, even as the Egyptians were not protected from the death angel during the tenth plague (Exodus 12:29-33). Lack of self-examination brought upon many Christians much bodily suffering and untimely death.
Staff
Discerning Christ's Broken Body
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The main point of this entire passage is that those who partake of these Passover symbols should be "discerning the Lord's body" (verse 29). The apostle tells us how to discern the Lord's body in these same verses.
Staff
Discerning Christ's Broken Body
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
1 Corinthians 11:23-29
Library resources that contain this verse:
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