The Universal Judgment

'Next Part The Universal Judgement 2

"In the past God overlooked such ignorance—but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men—by raising Him from the dead." Acts 17:30-31

"The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare!" 2 Peter 3:7,10

The present state is but the infancy of the world. All the events of time, even those which make such great noise to us, and determine the fate of kingdoms—are but as the trivial games of little children.

But if we look forward and trace events to maturity, we meet with vast, interesting, and majestic events! To one of those scenes I would direct your attention this day; I mean the solemn, tremendous, and glorious scene of the universal judgment!

You have sometimes seen a stately building in ruins; come now and view the ruins of a demolished world!

You have often seen a feeble mortal struggling in the agonies of death, and his shattered frame dissolved; come now and view the whole universe severely laboring and agonizing in her last convulsions, and her well-ordered system dissolved!

You have heard of earthquakes here and there that have laid huge cities in ruins; come now and feel the tremors and convulsions of the whole globe, which blend cities and countries, oceans and continents, mountains, plains, and valleys—in one giant heap!

You have a thousand times beheld the moon walking in brightness, and the sun shining in his strength; come now look and see the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood!

It is our lot to live in an age of war, blood, and slaughter; an age in which our attention is engaged by the dubious fate of kingdoms. Draw off your thoughts from these objects for an hour, and fix them on more solemn and vital objects. Come view this dread scene!

"The world alarmed, both earth and heaven o'erthrown,
And gasping nature's last tremendous groan;
Death's ancient scepter broke, the teeming tomb,
The Righteous Judge, and man's eternal doom!"

Such a scene there certainly is before us; for Paul tells us that "He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men—by raising Him from the dead!" Christ's resurrection is a demonstrative proof of it. My text is the conclusion of Paul's defense or sermon before the famous court of Areopagus, in the learned and philosophical city of Athens.

In this kingly assembly he speaks with the boldness, and in the evangelical strain of an apostle of Christ. He first inculcates upon them the great truths of natural religion, and labors faithfully, though in a very gentle and inoffensive manner, to reform them from that stupid idolatry and superstition into which even this learned philosophical city was sunk, though a Socrates, a Plato, and the most celebrated sages and moralists of pagan antiquity had lived and taught in it. Afterwards, in the close of his discourse, he introduces the glorious themes of Christianity, particularly the great duty of repentance, from evangelical motives, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment. But no sooner has he entered upon this subject than he is interrupted, and seems to have broken off abruptly; for when he had just hinted at the then unpopular doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. We are told, "When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said: We want to hear you again on this subject."

"In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent!" In those dark times of ignorance which preceded the publication of the gospel, God seemed to wink at, or overlook the idolatry and various forms of wickedness that had overspread the world. That is, he seemed to take no notice of them, so as either to punish them, or to give the nations explicit calls to repentance. But now, says Paul, the case is altered! Now the gospel is published through the world, and therefore God will no longer seem to overlook the wickedness and impenitence of mankind—but publishes his great mandate to a rebel world, explicitly and loudly, commanding all men everywhere to repent! And he now gives them particular motives and encouragements to this duty.

One motive of the greatest weight, which was never so clearly or extensively published before, is the doctrine of the universal judgment. "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed." And surely the prospect of a universal judgmentmust be a strong motive to sinners to repent! This, if anything, will rouse them from their thoughtless security, and bring them to repentance.

Repentance should, and one would think must, be as extensive as this reason for it. This Paul intimates. "He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice!" Wherever the gospel publishes the doctrine of future judgment, there it requires all men to repent; and wherever it requires repentance, there it enforces the command of this alarming doctrine. God has given assurance to all men; that is, to all that hear the gospel, that he has appointed a day for this great purpose, and that Jesus Christ, God-man, is to preside in person in this majestic solemnity. He has given assurance of this; that is, sufficient ground of faith; and the assurance consists in this: that he has raised him from the dead.

The resurrection of Christ gives assurance of this in several respects. It is a specimen and a pledge of a general resurrection, that grand preparative for the judgment. The resurrection of Christ is an incontestable proof of his divine mission; for God will never work so unprecedented a miracle in favor of an impostor. The resurrection of Christ is also an authentic attestation of all our Lord's claims; and he expressly claimed the authority of supreme Judge as delegated to him by the Father; "the Father judges no man—but has committed all judgment to the Son." John 5:22. There is a peculiar fitness and propriety in this constitution. It is fit that a world placed under the administration of a Mediator—should have a mediatorial Judge. It is fit this high office should be conferred upon him as an honorary reward for his important services and extreme abasement. Because he humbled himself, therefore God has highly exalted him. Phil. 2:8, 9.

It is fit that creatures clothed with bodies should be judged by a man clothed in a body like themselves. Hence it is said that "God has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man." John 5:27. This would seem a strange reason, did we not understand it in this light. Indeed, was Jesus Christ man only, he would be infinitely unequal to the office of universal Judge; but he is both God and man, 'Immanuel, God with us!' As such, he is the fittest person in the universe for the work. It is also fit that Christ should be the supreme Judge, as it will be a great encouragement to his people for their Mediator to execute this office.

And it may be added, that hereby the condemnation of the wicked will be rendered more conspicuously just; for, if a Mediator, a Savior, the Friend of sinners, condemns them—they must be worthy of condemnation indeed!

Let us now enter upon the majestic scene. But alas! what images shall I use to represent it? Nothing that we have ever seen, nothing that we have ever heard, nothing that has ever happened on the stage of time—can furnish us with proper illustrations. All is low and groveling, all is faint and obscure, that ever the sun shone upon—when compared with the grand phenomena of that day!

We are so accustomed to low and little objects, that it is impossible we should ever raise our thoughts to a suitable pitch of elevation. Before long we shall be amazed spectators of these majestic wonders, and our eyes and our ears will be our instructors! But now it is necessary we should have such ideas of them as may affect our hearts, and prepare us for them. Let us therefore present to our view those representations which divine revelation—our only guide in this case—gives us . . .
of the person of the Judge, and the manner of his appearance;
of the resurrection of the dead, and the transformation of the living;
of the universal gathering of all men before the supreme tribunal;
of their separation to the right and left hand of the Judge, according to their characters;
of the judicial process itself;
of the decisive sentence;
of its execution,
and of the conflagration of the world!

As to the person of the Judge, the psalmist tells you that God is Judge himself. Psalm 1:6. Yet Christ tells us, "the Father judges no man—but has committed all judgment unto the Son; and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." John 5:22, 27. It is therefore Christ Jesus, God-man, as I observed, who shall sustain this high character as the universal Judge. And for the reasons already alleged, it is most fitting that it should be devolved upon him. Being both Godand man, all the advantages of divinity and humanity center in him, and render him more fit for this office than if he were God only—or man only. This is the grand Judge before whom we must stand; and the prospect may inspire us with reverence, joy, and terror.

As for the manner of his appearance, it will be such as befits the dignity of his person and office. He will shine in all the uncreated glories of the Godhead, and in all the gentler glories of a perfect man.

His attendants will add a dignity befitting to His grand appearance, and will increase the solemnity and terror of the day. Let his own word describe them:

"The Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels!" Matthew 16:27.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him—he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory!" Matthew 25:31.

"This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power!" 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9

And not only will the angels, those illustrious ministers of the court of heaven, attend upon that solemn occasion—but also all thesaints who had left the world from Adam to that day; says Paul, "God will bring with Jesus—those who have fallen asleep in him." 1 Thess. 4:14.

The grand imagery in Daniel's vision is applicable to this day—and perhaps to this it primarily refers: "As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened!" Daniel 7:9-10

Perhaps our Lord Jesus may exhibit himself to the whole world upon this most grand occasion, in the same glorious form in which he was seen by his favorite John, "His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance!" Revelation 1:13-16

Another image of inimitable majesty and terror, the same writer gives us, when he says, "Then I saw a great white throne and HIM who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire!" Revelation 20:11-15

What an astonishing scene is this! The stable earth and heaven cannot bear the majesty and terror of His look; they fly away affrighted, and seek a place to hide themselves—but no place is found to shelter them; every region through the immensity of space, lies open before Him! This is the Judge before whom we must stand; and this is the manner of His appearance!

But is this the babe of Bethlehem—who lay and wept in the manger?

Is this the supposed son of the carpenter, the despised Galilean?

Is this the man of sorrows?

Is this He who was . . .
arrested,
condemned,
buffeted,
spit upon,
crowned with thorns,
executed as a slave and a criminal, upon the cross?

Yes, it is Him! The very same Jesus of Nazareth!

But oh how changed! How deservedly exalted! Heaven and earth bows before Him!

Now let his enemies appear and show their contempt and malignity!

Now, Pilate—condemn the King of the Jews as an usurper!

Now, you Jews, raise the clamor, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Now bow the knee in scorn, spit in His face, and buffet Him! Now tell the scourged impostor that He must die!

Now, you Deists and Infidels, dispute his divinity and the truth of his religion if you can. Now, you hypocritical professing Christians, try to impose upon him with your idle pretenses.

Now despise His grace, now laugh at His threatenings, and now make light of His displeasure—if you dare!

Ah! now their courage fails, and terror surrounds them! Now they try to hide in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. Now they call to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

But, alas! That LAMB who once bled as a sacrifice for sin—now appears in all the terrors of a LION! Oh! could they hide themselves in the bottom of the ocean, or in some rock that bears the weight of the mountains—how happy would they think themselves!

While the Judge is descending—the parties to be judged will be summoned to appear. But where are they? They are all asleep in their dusty beds—except that present generation. And how shall they be roused from their long sleep of thousands of years? Why, "the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God!" 1 Thess. 4:16. The trumpet shall sound, and those who are then alive shall not pass into eternity through the beaten road of death—but at the last trumpet they shall be changed—changed into immortals, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye! 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52.

Now all the millions of mankind, of whatever country and nation, whether they expect this tremendous day or not, all feel a shock through their whole frames, while they are instantaneously metamorphosed in every limb, and the pulse of immortality begins to beat strong in every part! Now also the slumberers under ground begin to stir, to rouse, and spring to life! Now see graves opening, tombs bursting, charnel-houses rattling, the earth heaving, and all alive, while these subterranean armies are bursting their way through! See clouds of human dust and broken bones darkening the air, and flying from country to country over intervening continents and oceans—to meet their kindred fragments, and repair the shattered frame with pieces collected from a thousand different quarters, where they were blown away by winds, or washed away by seas!

See what millions start up in company—in the spots where Nineveh, Babylon, Jerusalem, Rome, and London once stood! Whole armies spring to life in fields where they once lost their lives in battle, and were left unburied! They spring up from fields which fattened with their blood, produced a thousand harvests, and now produce a crop of living men! See a succession of thousands of years rising in crowds from grave-yards round the places where they once attended, in order to prepare for this solemn and decisive day.

Nay, graves yawn, and swarms burst into life from under palaces, and buildings of pride and pleasure, in fields and forests, in thousands of places where graves were never suspected!

How are the living surprised to find people springing into life under their feet, or just beside them; some beginning to stir and heave the ground; others half-risen, and others quite disengaged from the encumbrance of earth, and standing upright before them!

"The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done!" Revelation 20:13. What vast multitudes which had slept in a watery grave, now emerge from rivers, and seas, and oceans, and throw them into a tumult! Now appear to the view of all the world—the Goliahs, the Anakim, and the other giants of ancient times! And now the millions of infants spring up at once!

"Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt!" Daniel 12:2.

"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil will rise to the resurrection of damnation!" John 5:28-29.

"But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!" Job 19:25-27

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality!" 1 Corinthians 15:51-53

As the characters, and consequently the doom of mankind, will be very different—so we may reasonably suppose they will rise in very different forms of glory or dishonor, of beauty or deformity. Their bodies indeed will all be improved to the highest degree, and all made vigorous, capacious, and immortal. But here lies the difference: the bodies of the righteous will be strengthened to bear an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory—but those of the wicked will be strengthened to sustain an exceeding great and eternal load of misery! Their strength will be but mere capacity to suffer a horrid capacity of greater pain!

The immortality of the righteous will be the duration of their happiness! But the immortality of the wicked will be the duration of their misery! Their immortality, the highest privilege of their nature—will be their heaviest curse! They would willingly exchange their duration with an insect of a day, or a fading flower.

The bodies of the righteous will "shine as the sun, and as the stars in the firmament forever and ever!" But the bodies of the wicked will be grim, and shocking, and ugly and hateful—as hell!

The bodies of the righteous will be fit mansions for their heavenly spirits to inhabit, and every feature will speak the delightful passions that agreeably work within. But the wicked will be but spirits of hell clothed in the material bodies; and malice, rage, despair, and all the infernal passions, will manifest in their countenances, and cast a dismal gloom around them! Oh! they will then be nothing else, but shapes of deformity and terror! They will look like the natives of hell, and spread horror around them with every look!

With what reluctance may we suppose will the souls of the wicked enter again into a state of union with these hellish bodies, that will be everlasting engines of torture to them—as they once were instruments of sin to their bodies!

But oh! with what joy will the souls of the righteous return to their old habitations, in which they once served their God with honest though feeble endeavors, and now so gloriously repaired and improved! How will they welcome the resurrection of their old companions from their long sleep in death, now made fit to share with them in the sublime employments and fruitions of heaven! Every organ will be an instrument of service and an inlet of pleasure, and the soul shall no longer be encumbered, but assisted by this union to the body.

Oh what surprising creatures can Omnipotence raise from the dust! To what a high degree of beauty can the Almighty refine the offspring of the earth! And into what miracles of glory and blessedness can he form them!

Now the Judge has come, the Judgment-seat is erected, the dead are raised. And what follows? Why, the universal gathering of all people before the Judgment-seat! The place of judgment will probably be the extensive region of the air, the most capacious for the reception of such a multitude; for Paul tells us that the saints shall "be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." 1 Thess. 4:17. And that the air will be the place of judicature, perhaps, may be intimated when our Lord is represented as coming in the clouds, and sitting upon a cloudy throne.

These expressions can hardly be understood literally, for clouds which consisted of vapors and rarified particles of water—seem very improper materials for such a throne of judgment, but they may very properly intimate that Christ will make his appearance, and hold his court in the region of the clouds; that is, in the air! And perhaps that the rays of light and majestic darkness shall be so blended around him as to form the appearance of a cloud to the view of the wondering and gazing world!

To this throne of judgment, from whence our globe will lie open to view far and wide—will all the sons of men be convened. And they will be gathered together by the ministry of angels—the officers of this grand court. "They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other!" Matthew 24:30, 31.

Their ministry also extends to the wicked, whom they will drag away to judgment and execution, and separate from the righteous. "The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!" Matthew 13:39-42

What a resplendent convocation, what a vast assembly is this! See flights of angels darting round the globe from east to west, from pole to pole—gathering up here and there the scattered saints, separating them out from among the crowd of the ungodly, and bearing them aloft on their wings to meet the Lord in the air!

Meanwhile the wretched crowd look and gaze, and stretch their hands, and would mount up along with them; but, alas! they must be left behind, and wait for another kind of convoy—a convoy of cruel, unrelenting devils, who shall snatch them up as their prey with malignant joy, and place them before the flaming tribunal.

Now all the sons of men meet in one immense assembly! Adam beholds the long line of his posterity; and they behold their common father. Now Europeans and Asiatics, the swarthy sons of Africa and the savages of America—all mingle together. Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, and Pagans, the learned and the ignorant, kings and subjects, rich and poor, free and slave—form one great crowd. Now all the vast armies that conquered or fell under Xerxes, Darius, Alexander, Caesar, and other illustrious warriors, unite in one vast army! There, in short, all the successive inhabitants of the earth for thousands of years—appear in one vast assembly. And how inconceivably great must the number be!

When the inhabitants of but one town meet together—you are struck with the survey. Were all the inhabitants of a kingdomconvened in one place—how much more striking would be the sight! Were all the inhabitants of the kingdoms of the earth convened in one general assembly—how astonishing and vast would be that multitude be! But what is even this vast multitude, when compared with the long succession of generations that have peopled the globe, in all ages; and in all countries; from the first commencement of time—to the last day! Here numbers fail, and our thoughts are lost in the immense survey!

The extensive region of the air is very properly chosen as the place of judgment; for this earthly globe would not be sufficient for such a multitude to stand upon! In that prodigious assembly, my friends—you and I must mingle! And we shall not be lost in the crowd, nor escape the notice of our Judge! His eye will be as particularly fixed on each one of us—as though there were but one person before Him!

To increase the number, and add a majesty and terror to the assembly, the fallen angels also make their appearance at the judgment bar. This they have long expected with horror, as the period when their consummate misery is to commence. When Christ, in the form of a servant, exercised a god-like power over them in the days of his residence upon earth, they almost mistook his first coming as a Savior—for his second coming as their Judge; and therefore they expostulated, "have you come to torment us before the time?" Matthew 8:29. That is, "We expected that you would at last appear to torment us—but we did not expect your coming so soon!"

Agreeable to this, Peter tells us, "God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment!" 2 Peter 2:4. To the same purpose Jude speaks: "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day!" Jude 6.

'Next Part The Universal Judgement 2

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