On judgment day, do believers witness the judgment of the non-believers? I was once told that the Father wants us to watch judgment of non-believers to show us He is a just and fair Father not because He just didn’t like them. Showing no favoritism to anyone. Would this be true?
I assume you are referring to the last “judgment day” of non-believers which is the “Great White Throne Judgment” in Revelation 20:10-15. I won’t quote the whole passage but verses 12 & 15 tell us what John saw in his vision, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds…And if anyone’s name was not fond written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (NASB). We know this is the last “judgment day” because the next verse introduces us to the eternal state where John “saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passes away, and there is no longer any sea” (21:1). As you can see, the only persons we read about that are “standing before the throne” are “the dead, great and small.” The “dead” here are all those who “died in their sins” (John 8:24) and thus not one name will be found in the book of life. Because they don’t have “eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” (see Romans 6:23), they will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity where they will be “separated from God’s presence forever” (which is the same fate as the unbelievers who will be judged 1,000 years prior to this last judgment of “the dead”….see Matthew 25:31-33, 41-46 with 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10).
As you read these passages I referred to, there is no mention of believers witnessing these judgments of unbelievers so we should not speculate as to this. Yet we KNOW they will take place. Why? Because “God said so and we believe His Word.” We also KNOW that God is JUST and FAIR for in these portions we see God judging them based on their: 1) rejection of the gospel of Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8) and 2) sinful deeds that God recorded (Revelation 20:12 and Matthew 25:41-43). In 2 Thessalonians 1:6 & 8 we read that God is JUST in judging them: “For after all it is only JUST for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you…. dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
I would like to close by quoting Revelation 19:1-2, “After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, ‘Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For TRUE and RIGHTEOUS ARE HIS JUDGMENTS, because He judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her” (NKJV). This “judgment” is NOT a “final judgment” where unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire; this judgment takes place in the coming seven-year Tribulation Period (after the Rapture of the church) when the “great harlot” (a “false religious system” claiming to be the true church, the Bride of Christ, will be destroyed for murdering many of God’s saints throughout the “Church Age”….see Revelation 17:1-6, 15-17). Will believers in heaven WITNESS (see it with our own eyes) this judgment? Again, we aren’t told, but we will surely KNOW that it has taken place, and we will worship God and exclaim, “TRUE and RIGHTEOUS are His JUDGMENTS.” (DO) (694.1)