To be Anathema when Maranatha
To be Anathema when Maranatha
4. To be Anathema when Maranatha, will be . . .
to be accursed publicly and openly before all the world;
to be accursed before blessed angels, and cursed devils;
to be accursed before the blessed saints, and other cursed men.
You openly declared your love of pleasures, you openly followed such courses, which all might see are inconsistent with sincere love to Christ—and you shall be openly accursed. Or though you openly prayed, and publicly hear and profess the ways of Christ—but secretly in your heart loved something else more than Christ—yet for your secret hypocrisy— you shall be publicly accursed!
Before the greatest congregation that ever eyes beheld, before a greater number than ever yet at once were gathered together—even before millions of angels, before all that shall be found alive at Christ's coming; and all who have been dead, who shall then be made alive—even all people, of all nations, even before them shall you stand, and be manifested and declared a cursed wretch, because you never loved the blessed Son of God. What shame shall then confound you, and what confusion shall then cover your face—when you who thought yourself a blessed man, and others thought you to be blessed—that you and they were quite mistaken! When Christ before them all shall pronounce a sentence upon you, whereby you are published to be accursed, and condemned with all the plagues and curses of God upon your soul and body, to "depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matthew 25.41.
5. To be Anathema when Maranatha, is to be cursed really —sentenced to real pains, to real torments. These will be so great, so grievous, so many, so extreme, so continual, and so universal—that they shall wring out a confession from you: "Now I am accursed indeed!" To lie in these flames that cannot be quenched, to burn in this fire in which I cannot be consumed—is such a curse, so intolerable, that will make you curse the day in which you were born, and curse the time you ever lived in this world—because not better improved, to escape that curse you lie under in Hell.
When you shall cry out and roar, "Woe is me, poor miserable wretch! I am tormented in this place, and cannot have one drop of water to refresh and cool my parched tongue! Woe is me, poor cursed wretch! I am in pain, in pain, in extremity of pain—and here is no ease! Alas! here is no ease! I toss and tumble in this bed of flames, and cannot rest! If I wander from one side of Hell unto another, I cannot find one corner where I might have a little rest! Oh! cursed creature, that I did not love Christ! If I had loved Christ as much above the world, as I loved the world above Christ—then I might have been among the blessed saints, and not in the midst of such a cursed crew! Had I loved Christ so much more than sin, as I loved sin more than Christ—then I might have been a blessed one; but because I did not, Oh cursed wretch, that I did not! I am now this cursed wretch!"
Who can be in these torments—and not acknowledge the curses of the Lord have overtaken him? Who can feel what is here to be endured—and yet who can endure to feel it, which yet in feeling must be endured, and not reckon himself as cursed as cursed can be! "This, I was told, for lack of love to Christ, would be my cursed state; the Lord has come, and now, for lack of love, it is my cursed state forever! I was told, If I do not love Christ, I would be Anathema when Maranatha; I did not love Christ, and now Maranatha, and I am Anathema."
6. To be Anathema when Maranatha, will be to be cursed privatively —with the loss of God, of Christ, of Heaven, of the society of saints and angels, and of all the joys and happiness that God has prepared for those who love him. The one who does not love Christ, shall then be openly cast out of God's favor forever. You cast off Christ—and that is your sin; Christ will cast you off forever—and that will be your curse. The love of your heart is not towards Christ—and that is your sin; and God's face and favor shall not be towards you—and that will be your curse. Can he be blessed who loses God, who is our blessedness? Must not he be cursed, who lies under the punishment of cursed devils?
Now you do not love Christ—and yet you will be confident that you shall escape Hell, and obtain Heaven, and be blessed. But if you continue without love to Christ, you will be shut out of Heaven; and where then? Do you know of any other place, (whatever Papists may dream) but Hell? and when out of Heaven, and in Hell, what a poor blessedness will your groundless confidence bring you to!
7. To be Anathema when Maranatha, will be to be finally accursed. While Christ is tarrying, if you are not in a good and blessed state one day, you might be another. Though last Lord's-day you were in a miserable condition—yet this day you may (and oh! that you might) be translated into a better state. If not this day, if you live until the next day, you may be then in a blessed state. You should desire to get out of a cursed dangerous condition this day, before the next, for this day is yours, the next might be none of yours. But when Christ shall come, that will be the last day, and there shall not be a next day. Therefore to be accursed that day, will be to be sent away with a curse upon your souls, without any possibility of a blessing!
When Christ was upon the earth, the last act he did relating to his disciples, was an act of love; his valedictory act was an act of blessing, "And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven," Luke 24.50-51. And when Christ shall come again, the last act relating to those who do not love him not, shall be an act of justice, and vengeance, and wrath; his valedictory act, will be an act of malediction. After this, no act of mercy, of love, or favor shall be shown to them, therefore shall they be finally and eternally accursed.
8. To be Anathema when Maranatha, will be to be accursed, without an appeal to any higher court, or superior judge—for such none is. If it were the last thing that Christ would do to them—yet if they could remove their cause, and have a hearing in another court, and before another judge—then they might hope the curse may be repealed, the sentence whereby they are declared accursed might be changed, and their sad condition altered for the better. But this cannot be, for all judgment is committed to the Son, John 5.22. All men must stand or fall, live or die, be damned or saved, according to the sentence that Christ shall pass upon them. "For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad," 2 Corinthians 5.10.
In the description of the process of the day of judgment, we find, without appeal to any other court, the execution shall certainly follow. Those whom Jesus shall pronounce blessed —shall go into eternal life; and those whom he shall declare accursed —shall go into everlasting punishment. "Come, you who are blessed by my Father! Depart from me, you who are cursed. These shall go away into everlasting punishment—but the righteous into life eternal," Matthew 25.34, 41, 46.
9. Therefore to be Anathema when Maranatha, will be to be accursed with an irrevocable curse. Though they should cry, call, and beg for a blessing, with greater importunity than Esau did, who cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father"—yet the Lord Jesus at that day will be inexorable , not to be entreated. As Isaac said concerning Jacob, "I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed"—so Jesus shall say concerning those who loved him, "I have blessed them—and they shall be blessed!" He shall say to those who hated him, "I have cursed you—and you shall be cursed!"
So much we learn from Luke 13.25-27. "Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us!' But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'" Luke 13:25-27
"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" Matthew 7:22-23
Christ in these scriptures speaks of many who shall find the door shut, themselves excluded—shall be importunate for admission into a state of everlasting blessedness, by knocking, calling, "Lord, Lord, open to us!" But Christ disowns them, and denies their request. They plead their prophesying, their hearing, their eating and drinking in his presence, casting out devils, and doing many wonderful works in his name; but Christ replies, "All this you did, but you did not love me, and you were not lovers of me, for you were workers of iniquity!" Both a lover of Christ, and a worker of iniquity—a man cannot be at the same time. So that such as shall then be so cursed as to be shut out of doors, are past recovery, past hopes of mercy, past a possibility of being blessed. And, therefore,
10. To be Anathema when Maranatha, will be to be accursed with an eternal curse! They must exist forever—they cannot die. They cannot shake off the curse—therefore they must be cursed forever . For a man to be accursed all his days, would be a sore judgment; but for a man to be accursed to all eternity —is beyond conception tormenting and grievous! To live forever, and to be accursed forever—is worse than never to have been, or to have their being turned into nothing.
All the curses that men void of the love of Christ lie under in this world, they make light of. If now they are cast out of God's favor, it is a great curse—but they are merry under it. If now they have no grace, it is a great curse—but they account it no curse; they have no grace—and they desire none.
But there are curses waiting for them, and shall be poured out upon them at the coming of Christ, which in the eternal world shall be heavy indeed, and intolerable; and under them they shall never have a merry heart forever. For to be Anathema when Maranatha, is to be cursed dreadfully, because totally, bitterly, publicly, positively, privatively, finally—
therefore uncontrollably;
therefore irrevocably;
therefore eternally!