On judgment day, King Jesus will separate everyone who has ever lived into two groups: the righteous and the wicked. In our last question, we learned the dreadfully serious truth about what will happen to the wicked. But now it’s time to look at what Jesus will do with the righteous.

It’s important to first understand who the “righteous” are. After all, Romans 3:10 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” None of us are righteous on our own. We are actually the opposite – unrighteous law-breaking sinners! If it weren’t for Jesus, there would be zero people in this “righteous” group!

But as we learned back in question 48, when we believe the good news, God justifies us: he makes us righteous. When we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus, God takes away all of our sins and gives us the righteousness of his Son. The members of the “righteous” group on judgment day aren’t righteous because of anything they did. Instead, they will be law-breaking sinners who have been made righteous because of what King Jesus did for them!

Matthew 25:34 tells us the words Jesus will say to these “sinners made righteous” on judgment day: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Jesus will invite the righteous into his kingdom, to enjoy forever-long lives with him in a perfect paradise!

But what will that forever kingdom look like? The end of the book of Revelation gives us a few glimpses into our mysterious and wonderful future with Jesus. Revelation 21:1-4 explains, “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The righteous will be rewarded with brand-new bodies that can never die. They will live on a brand-new earth: a pain-free and perfect paradise of pleasure! And best of all, God himself will come down to dwell on this brand-new earth with us. We don’t know every last detail of this glorious day, but we can be certain that every day will be the best day of our lives!

Is. 66:22; 1 Thes. 4;16, 17; 2 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21:1-4