If no one is righteous and all needing saved, is it possible for an unbeliever to see Christ at the throne at judgment time and bend his knee and confess Jesus as Lord? Could that save him? Am i overstepping my bounds by asking this question?
Apologies if this has already been said. I haven't read through the thread.
No one (except the very young or the mentally disabled) stands before God on Judgment Day totally oblivious to His existence. The apostle Paul wrote that both Nature and the human conscience reveal God to all of us (
Romans 1:19-20; Romans 2:15). "The heavens declare the glory of God," King David wrote (
Psalms 19:1), and an honest observer of the beauty and complexity of the universe, and the razor's edge upon which it balances, sees God very clearly. God has also written His moral law upon our hearts, the Bible says. And so, in our conscience, we see something of our holy Creator. But people "suppress the truth in unrighteousness," Paul wrote (
Romans 1:18). They push down the knowledge of God evident in Nature and conscience, choosing to be their own god instead, serving their own interests and desires. And so, no one will stand before God and say, "I had no idea you even existed!" No, when an unrepentant sinner encounters God on Judgment Day, the truth he's suppressed will break upon him in terrible force, dissolving any objection to God's justice and wrath he could offer and condemning him. The unrepentant sinner will certainly bow his knee to his Maker (
Philippians 1:9-11), but it will not save him from the separation from God he's pursued all of his life. On Judgment Day, though, the separation will be permanent.
Will God show mercy? No. Instead He warns us in His word:
Romans 2:5
5 But after your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up to yourself wrath against the Day of Wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds.
7 To those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.
8 But unto those who are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.
Matthew 16:27
27 For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his deeds.