4.2 The Chronology Of Rejection

The personal meeting of the wicked with God to answer for themselves is perhaps the idea behind the Old Testament maxim that God will repay the wicked "to his face" (Dt. 7:10). That doesn't happen in this life; but it will ultimately, at judgment day. The repayment idea would imply the conscious 'going through' of human behaviour. Different parables give different aspects of the judgment. It may be that we can put them all together and build up a time sequence of the process of judgment. Or it may be that the judgment will be different for each of us, and the parables reflect the different cases which the Lord (even in his humanity) foresaw coming before him at the judgment. It may not be possible to construct an exact chronology which is accurate ultimately; but we are invited to put the records together and come up with some possible process, which may be as follows. It is significant that all the various details of the rejection process can  be put together in a chronologically coherent manner. This encourages me to understand that we are intended to put together a realistic picture of the rejection process. However, it seems that the extent of punishment may be articulated in terms of how terribly hurt and self-destroyed the rejected feel, and therefore in how long they are enabled to survive after the pronouncing of rejection. Therefore not all the rejected (i.e. those more lightly punished) will make it to the end of the process outlined here. It would seem therefore that how long people live after being condemned reflects the extent of their punishment. Just to exist outside of Christ will be unbearable punishment enough. The members of the beast system have their lives "prolonged for a season and a time" as part of their condemnation (Dan. 7:12).

Much of the following evidence comes from parables, which have been misleadingly described as simple stories with a spiritual meaning. This definition would be more appropriate to allegory; the Lord's parables had quite complex and detailed meaning, to the extent that the majority who heard them failed to understand them. On this basis I feel it is acceptable to look for quite detailed meaning within the parables, and not see them as merely teaching some general principles.

An unwillingness to go to judgment. The foolish virgins want to go to buy oil; they make a foolish excuse, seeing the shops were evidently shut. They mourn and wail when they see the sign of the Son of Man (Mt. 24:30,31 cp. Rev. 1:7). They want to hide from Him, as Adam and the rejected of Rev. 6:16. Then they compose themselves and go to meet Him, persuading themselves that they will be accepted by Him (because later they are surprised).

So the foolish virgins knock on the door, i.e. ask for acceptance. At the second coming, the Lord knocked on their door, and they didn't answer immediately (Lk. 12:37). They had decided their own fate by their dillatory response.

The verdict of rejection is announced for the first time.

Firstly, incomprehension (Mt. 25:37) and surprised anger, then realisation of the Lord's verdict.

He points out their failings,

Then they give an explanation of their behaviour (Mt. 25:24), justifying themselves (Mt. 25:44). There is an intended contrast in the attitude of the rejected within the Lord's parables of judgment in Mt. 25; they begin by denying the Lord's criticism of their spiritual barrenness, and later in the conversation claim that well, He is being unreasonable, looking for fruit which He can't reasonably expect. Their tone changes from a loving 'Lord, Lord...' to a more bitter, critical spirit (Mt. 25: 44 cp. 25).

According to the type of Cain, he was questioned by God, answered back, and then changed his tune and begged for mercy (Gen. 4:9). Adam likewise began by answering back, blaming the woman and the fact God gave her to him (Gen. 3:12). So they go through three mood swings: 'Lord, Lord', assuring Him they have never omitted to serve Him (Mt. 25:44), then a more bitter feeling that He is unreasonable (Mt. 25:25), and now a desperate begging for mercy,

The Lord asks a series of questions, to which there is no answer. He asked Cain, rhetorically, "Where is your brother?", "What hast thou done?" (Gen. 4:9,10) in order to elicit from him the required self-knowledge. And Adam too: 'Where are you...?' (3:9) was surely rhetorical.

Then there is the speechlessness (Mt. 22:12),

The judgment is pronounced the second time. According to the Cain pattern: You are to be a fugitive / wanderer and leave My presence.  "I know you not, depart from me". And Adam being sent forth (Gen. 3:23). And Zedekiah having judgment pronounced upon him (Jer. 52:9). Those who truly condemn themselves in their self-examination will have come to this point already.

Recognition of personal sinfulness will then swamp them, as it should have done in their day of opportunity. There may be with some a desperate further appeal for mercy, after the pattern of Cain, who tried to desperately reason with God: "My punishment (220 times rendered "iniquity") is greater than I can bear" (Gen. 4:13). "Bear" is the Hebrew word usually used for bearing away of sin. Cain finally recognized his own sin, and the need for atonement. Adam likewise confessed his sin as a result of God's questioning (Gen. 3:10). Realization of sin will finally be elicited (Num. 32:23 LXX; Ez. 6:9; Jude 15). Cain saw that he couldn't carry away his own sin. His words are surely a reference to the Lord's invitation to take hold of the animal sin offering that was crouching at the door (Gen. 4:7 Heb.). The Lord had offered Cain a way of escape through the blood of the lamb, a recognition that his own works couldn't save him. But he refused that knowledge; only to be finally and unalterably condemned, and thereby taught his desperate need to resign his own works and trust in the blood of the lamb. And so it will be at the last day. If men refuse to  know their own desperation and need for the Lord's sacrifice now, then they will be made to realize it all too late. Zedekiah likewise wept in his condemnation (Ez. 7:27), knowing that he could have taken hold of God's offer through Jeremiah. Note how Cain is "cursed from this land" (Gen. 4:11 LXX)- the land / earth of Israel, the area of Eden before the flood. Being expelled from the land was his condemnation; just as Israel were later cast out of their land in condemnation. He left God's land and lived in the land of Nod / wandering, at the entrance to Eden (4:16). According to the RV margin of Gen. 4:16, Cain lived "in front of Eden"- he didn't go far away from it, he set himself as near to the entrance as he could. Likewise Israel chose to stay "many days" in Kadesh (Dt. 1:46), on the very border of the promised land, after their rejection from inheriting it. It is significant that Israel and Judah were taken into captivity in areas on the edge of the land promised to Abraham- Babylon, just the other side of the Euphrates, and to Egypt, just the other side of the Nile. The point simply is that the rejected will so want to get back into the land / Kingdom. Like Israel, hanging their harps on the trees by the rivers of Babylon, pining for the land they had been rejected from.

This dawning of reality will be followed by an ashamed slinking away from the judgment (1 Jn. 2:28 Gk.),

A desire to escape but having no place to run (Heb. 2:3, quoting Is. 20:6 concerning the inability of men to escape from the approach of the invincible Assyrian army). Rev. 20:11 likewise speaks of the rejected 'heavens and earth' fleeing from the Lamb's throne and finding no place to go. Before the whirlwind of God's judgment, the false shepherds of Israel "shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape" (Jer. 25:35). The rejected will see that the Lord is coming against them with an army much stronger than theirs, and they have missed the chance to make peace (Lk. 14:31). They will be like the Egyptians suffering God's judgments in the Red Sea, wanting to flee but having no realistic place to run to. Uzziah hasting to go out from the presence of the Lord after he was judged for his sin was a foretaste of this (2 Chron. 26:20).

After the pattern of Cain and Adam (Gen. 3:24; 4:14), and also the idea of the wicked being cast into the darkness of condemnation, it seems that the rejected will be forcibly driven away. Cain was driven out from the faces, the presence of the land of Eden, where the Lord's presence was (Gen. 4:14). Presumably this driving out was done by the Angels. We are left to imagine the ultimate tragedy of Cain going forth from the presence of the Lord (Gen. 4:16 s.w. "face" 4:14), and the rejected 'going away into...' (Mt. 25:46). The tragedy of rejection is well reflected in the way the Lord speaks of how "great was the fall" of the poorly built house (Mt. 7:27).

We are invited to see worthy and unworthy walking away from the throne into different futures. The sheep will enter into the city (Rev. 22:14), into the temple (Rev. 15:8), into their rest (Heb. 4:11), into the Kingdom (Acts 14:22; Jn. 3:5; Lk. 18:24; Mt. 18:3); into life (Mk. 9:45; Mt. 18:9;  19:17); into the joy of Christ (Mt. 25:23).

The Chronology Of Rejection

An unwillingness to go to judgment.

They mourn and wail

They want to hide from Him

Then they compose themselves and go to meet Him, persuading themselves that they will be accepted by Him

So they knock on the door, i.e. ask for acceptance: "Lord, Lord".

The verdict of rejection is announced for the first time.

Firstly, incomprehension (Mt. 25:37) and surprised anger, then realisation of the Lord's verdict.

He points out their failings,

Then they give an explanation of their behaviour (Mt. 25:24), justifying themselves (Mt. 25:44).

They begin by denying the Lord's criticism of their spiritual barrenness, and later in the conversation claim that well, He is being unreasonable, looking for fruit which He can't reasonably expect.

According to the type of Cain, he was questioned by God, answered back, and then changed his tune and begged for mercy (Gen. 4:9).

The Lord asks a series of questions, to which there is no answer.

Then there is the speechlessness (Mt. 22:12),

The judgment is pronounced the second time.

"I know you not, depart from me" cp.Adam being sent forth (Gen. 3:23).

Recognition of personal sinfulness will then swamp them

There may be with some a desperate further appeal for mercy, after the pattern of Cain

This will be followed by an ashamed slinking away from the judgment (1 Jn. 2:28 Gk.),

A desire to escape but having no place to run ; an unbearable limbo

The rejected will be driven away, their fleeing will be confirmed.

The wandering

and eventual destruction with the world.

Another telling chronology is suggested by putting together a few Scriptures. The foolish virgins will knock on the door, as it were, and be told by the Lord “I know you not” (Mt. 25:12). Lk. 13:27 says that He tells the rejected after they have justified themselves to Him: “I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity”. Mt. 7:22,23 describes a dialogue in which the rejected justify themselves by listing their good works, and the Lord will profess unto them: “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”. All their good works He will see as works of sin, because they were not of faith. Mt. 25:41-45 gives more information: the rejected are told “Depart from me”, but they argue back with self-justification, and then they are told that they had not shown love to the least of Christ’s brethren, and are sent away to punishment.

Putting these strands of evidence together we arrive at something like this:

“Lord, open to us!”

“I don’t know you”

“Yes you do! We ate with you and did great works for you!”

The rejected justify themselves by listing their good works as in Mt. 7:22,23

“Depart from me”

Then the self-justification of Mt. 25:41-45

Christ’s last comment is that they had not loved the least of their brethren. This is, significantly, His last word to them.

They are then sent away.

We will now analyse some of these stages in more detail.