The word in the Greek for the judgement seat is “Bema” which refers to the judge’s seat at the Olympic games. The judge was not there to judge sin but to present awards. When we stand before the “bema” of Christ we will joyfully receive the rewards that He has promised us for works of faith. There is no fear before the “bema”.

John 5: 22 tells us that Jesus is the judge on the bema.

“When Jesus comes, every Christian dead or alive, will be included in the great throng that will stand before the bema of Christ. We will be there, not merely as spectators or witnesses. The Holy Judge will not need anyone to witness. In that day His word shall stand. “He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man” (John 2:24-25).”[1]

Only truly born-again children of God will appear before the bema. 

“All the wicked dead (unbelievers) will be judged at the Great White Throne after the one-thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. But the subjects to whom the Apostle Paul addressed his messages when he said, “We must all appear,” were exclusively the saints of whom Paul considered himself one.”

[1] Strauss, L