What are the two ultimate outcomes facing humanity?
The righteous rise to eternal life and the wicked to eternal condemnation.
Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 36
24He set another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of the heavens was likened to a human who had sown good seed in his field." 25But while the humans were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds throughout the midst of the grain, and went away. 26When the grass had sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds also appeared. 27Then the slaves of the householder came near and said to him: Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from? 28He said to them, "An enemy did this." Then the slaves said to him, "Do you want us to go and gather them?" 29He asserts: No, lest in collecting the weeds you uproot the grain together with them. 30Leave both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Collect the weeds first and bind them into bundles to burn them, but gather the grain into my storehouse. 36Then, after leaving the crowds, he came into the house, and his disciples approached him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. 37He answered and said, The one sowing the good seed is the son of man. 38The field is the world; the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, and the weeds are the sons of the evil one. 39The enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the consummation of the age. 41The son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all the stumbling blocks and those who practice lawlessness. 42And they will throw them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine out like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear.
31When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his throne of glory. 32And all the Gentiles will be assembled before him, and he will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34Then the king will say to those out from his right, 'Come, you who are blessed of my father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.' 35For I was hungry and you gave me food to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me water to drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me. 36I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you cared for me; I was in prison and you came to visit me. 37Then the just will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungering and feed you, or thirsting and give you drink?' 38When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and come to visit you? 40And the king will answer and say to them, 'Amen, I say to you, upon however much you did to one of these brothers of mine, the least, you did to me.' 41Then he will say also to those on his left, 'Go from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me; I was naked and you did not clothe me; I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me. 44Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungering or thirsting or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not serve you?' 45Then he will answer them, saying, 'Amen, I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of these, the least, you did not do it to me.' 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
25Truly, truly, I say to you that an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28Do not marvel at this, because an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice. 29And those who have done good will come out to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
11And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled, and no place was found for them. 12And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened; and another scroll was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things written in the scrolls, according to their deeds. 13And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and each one was judged according to their deeds. 14And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with humanity, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them." 4And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more; neither mourning nor crying nor pain shall be any more, for the former things have passed away. 5And the one seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And he said, "Write, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6And he said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment." 7The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
1And he showed me a river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2In the middle of its broad street and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3And there will be no more curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve him. 4And they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5And there will be no more night, and they will have no need of the light of a lamp or of the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
The creed's final clause looks for "the resurrection of the dead," and the catechism now asks what that resurrection leads to. The answer comes from Article XII of the Confession of Faith, on the judgment and the future state: "We believe all men stand under the righteous judgment of Jesus Christ, both now and in the last day. We believe in the resurrection of the dead; the righteous to life eternal and the wicked to endless condemnation." The catechism restates the second sentence. Two outcomes, and only two, await humanity.
Jesus teaches both outcomes in his own words. In the parable of the weeds he lets the good seed and the weeds grow together "until the harvest," and then explains: "the harvest is the consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels" (Matthew 13:30, 39). The lawless are gathered and thrown "into the furnace of fire," while "the righteous will shine out like the sun in the kingdom of their father" (Matthew 13:42-43). In the judgment of the nations the King separates the sheep from the goats and says to one group, "Come, you who are blessed of my father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you," and to the other, "Go from me, you who are cursed" (Matthew 25:34, 41). The chapter ends with the sentence the catechism summarizes: "these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46), and John records the same division between "the resurrection of life" and "the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:29).
Revelation shows both outcomes at their end. Before the great white throne "the dead were judged from the things written in the scrolls, according to their deeds," and "if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:12, 15). For the righteous there is "a new heaven and a new earth," where God "will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more" (Revelation 21:1, 4). His servants "will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads" (Revelation 22:4).
Article XII of the Confession of Faith says the judgment stands over every person "both now and in the last day." Wesley preached this doctrine as the reason the offer of grace is urgent, and the church still does. A Methodist hears it as the ground for repentance and as the assurance that the works of love Jesus names in Matthew 25 are seen and remembered by the Judge.