When Jesus talked about his second coming, he promised to return with an angel army and sit on his throne. On this “judgment day,” all the people of all the nations of the world will be brought in front of him to be judged. This uncountable crowd won’t just be the people who are living – it will contain everyone who has ever lived! From Adam, the first man ever made, to Pete, the last baby ever born (I’m just guessing that he’ll be named Pete), every single human from the dawn of time will be there!

Talking about that eventful day in John 5:28-29, Jesus said, “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.”

When Jesus returns, every single soul who has ever died will be raised from the dead. It doesn’t matter if they believed the good news or not. Regardless of how they died, whether from old age or being eaten by a hippopotamus, every last one of us will be raised back to life in flesh-and-bone bodies. It doesn’t matter if they were the nicest grandma who ever lived or the meanest bully on the playground. Both the just and the unjust, the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, will be raised in a brand-new imperishable (never-dying) body.

And in those brand-new bodies, every person who has ever lived will stand before the throne of Jesus, king of the world. On this “judgment day,” King Jesus will divide those gathered before him. He’ll split our human family into two groups, just like a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats. He will place the righteous on his right and the wicked on his left. In the next two questions, we’ll look at who those two groups are and what Jesus will say to them on judgment day. As you can probably guess, there’s great news for one group and terrible news for the other!

Acts 24:14, 15; John 5:28, 29; Dan. 12:2