A Righteous Judgment

 As we were driving in the car yesterday, my daughter said something to me and then suggested that God was making note of what she said and would in a future day remember that she had said this certain thing at that exact time and place. In other words, she expressed the thought that everything she did was being watched and recorded and judged by God. She seemed to be suggesting that everything she ever did or said or thought would be put under trial by God, that He was always watching and ready to accuse us for our mistakes. In the most recent general conference, Elder Bednar spoke about the final judgment and this attitude: “Many of us may expect that our appearance before the bar of the Eternal Judge will be similar to a proceeding in a worldly court of law. A judge will preside. Evidence will be presented. A verdict will be rendered. And we likely will be uncertain and fearful until we learn the eventual outcome.” This perception is one of fear that what we have done will be deemed insufficient or sinful and that the gavel will slam down on us with a verdict of guilty. That seems to be the kind of sentiment that my daughter was expressing, but Elder Bednar suggested this is not how it will be: “But I believe such a characterization is inaccurate.” If our desires have been good and if we have sought, however imperfectly to follow the Savior and receive His grace, the judgment will be a pleasing day.

               Elder Bednar taught why we do not need to fear the judgment day. He said, “Every person who has lived, who does now live, and who will yet live upon the earth ‘shall be brought to stand before the bar of God, to be judged of him according to [his or her] works whether they be good or whether they be evil.’” But that day does not need to be something that strikes fear in us if we have chosen that which is good. He continued, “If our desires have been for righteousness and our works good—meaning we have exercised faith in Jesus Christ, made and kept covenants with God, and repented of our sins—then the judgment bar will be pleasing. As Enos declared, we will ‘stand before [the Redeemer]; then shall [we] see his face with pleasure.’ And at the last day we will ‘be rewarded unto righteousness.’” This reminds me of the way Brad Wilcox described the judgment in his famous BYU address on grace. He said, “In the past I had a picture in my mind of what the final judgment would be like, and it went something like this: Jesus standing there with a clipboard and Brad standing on the other side of the room nervously looking at Jesus. Jesus checks His clipboard and says, ‘Oh, shoot, Brad. You missed it by two points.’ Brad begs Jesus, ‘Please, check the essay question one more time! There have to be two points you can squeeze out of that essay.’” But he suggested that it will not be like that at all. He continued, “But the older I get, and the more I understand this wonderful plan of redemption, the more I realize that in the final judgment it will not be the unrepentant sinner begging Jesus, ‘Let me stay.’ No, he will probably be saying, ‘Get me out of here!’ Knowing Christ’s character, I believe that if anyone is going to be begging on that occasion, it would probably be Jesus begging the unrepentant sinner, ‘Please, choose to stay. Please, use my Atonement—not just to be cleansed but to be changed so that you want to stay.’” In other words, what happens in the judgment day is ultimately up to us and what we really want most. Alma put it this way, “I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction” (Alma 29:4).

               Elder Bednar affirmed that at least in some sense we will be our own judges at the final judgment day as Alma taught Coriantum: “For behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil. Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved” (Alma 41:7-8). Of course, the Savior is the “the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead” (as the final statement of the Book of Mormon declares), but we will also be our own judges in the sense that we will know whether we have truly chosen to follow Him and if our desire was to be with Him. There will be no appeals court for the proceedings of our final judgment because we will all know that it is indeed just. Alma also invited Coriantum this way: “Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again” (Alma 41:14). If we seek that which is good, no matter how imperfectly, then ultimately we will have mercy and a righteous judgment given to us with good rewarded. We can take hope in the fact that Coriantum, despite his sins, took this to heart and was later described (along with his brother) with the same phrase that Alma used to encourage him: “and he did observe to do good continually” (Alma 63:2).