Question: Dear Greg,
Can you help me understand the part of the Nicene Creed which states "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead…" I thought that judgment was immediately upon death, as we were either raised up to God’s glory in heaven or condemned to eternal damnation.
In Christ,
David
Answer: Dear David,
In brief, I believe that the Nicene Creed gives us a tension between what more modern authors have called the "already" but "not yet" dimensions of the kingdom of God. We are now children of God, we are now given eternal life, the kingdom of God is here now – yet there is a future fullness of being God’s children, of inhabiting eternity with God, and the fullness of the kingdom which Jesus will bring with him at his second coming.
So it is with the afterlife – with the intermediate state of the dead and with the reality of eternity brought about by the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead. The Bible makes many references to the future second coming of our Lord, bodily, in glory, from heaven. The second coming is intimately associated with final judgment (not to deny present judgment as an ongoing reality).
Hope this brief answer gives you some direction. If not – please let me know.
May God bless and be with you.
In Christ,
Greg Albrecht