How can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
Job 9:2.3.
A few years ago a Swiss newspaper published a report of a motorist who had been flashed by the police driving at 120 m.p.h. (200 k.p.h.) in a built up area. He was found guilty, then acquitted after a second court hearing, since he had stubbornly refused to speak when formally interrogated. In the final instance there was insufficient conclusive proof for a sentence.
What will it be like when God calls upon us to give an account of ourselves? Can an acquittal be enforced through stubborn silence? On no account! At God’s last judgment there will be no interrogation. The divine Judge will speak, and the accused before Him will “not answer him one time out of a thousand”.
The scene before the great white throne of the Judge of all the world is described in the Bible as follows: “I saw the dead, great and small, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Revelation 20:12). The burden of proof will be so overwhelming that no response to any questions would be possible.
But what about the “book of life”? It will be a reminder that everyone had the possibility to escape the judgment. How? By acknowledging and confessing one’s guilt before God and believing in the Redeemer Jesus Christ. But then it will be too late. “Anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).