THE JUDGE.
The Judge will be Jesus Christ:—
"We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ."
"Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, at his appearing and kingdom."
"The day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ."
"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son."
Now, there are several reasons discernible by us why Jesus Christ should thus be "appointed to judge the world."
1. From the constitution of His person. As God, He is possessed of omniscience to discern every thought and intent of the heart; unerring wisdom and unsullied righteousness to try every case; with omnipotent power and sovereign authority to execute every sentence. On the other hand, as "the Son of man," He will appear in His human nature, for "every eye shall see Him." This "same Jesus" said the angels at His ascension, "who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Men will be judged by one who is their Brother, "who, in all points, was tried like one of us;" "who in all things was made like His brethren."
2. Another reason why Jesus Christ will direct all the proceedings of the day of judgment, arises from the peculiar relationship in which, as the only Mediator between God and man, He stands to the human race. Let us dwell for a moment upon this point.
We are informed in Scripture, that Jesus Christ is the Creator of this world:—
"All things were made by him." "He was in the world, and the world was made by him." "God who created all things by Jesus Christ." "All things were created by him and for him."
He is also Governor of the world:—
"God raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."
To accomplish the various ends of this glorious government, He is King of nature; all the elements of nature which can in any way affect the history or destiny of the human race being directed and controlled by Him. "The winds and the seas obey Him;" pestilence and famine, the volcano and the hurricane, are ministers of His, that do His pleasure. He is the King of providence; armies and fleets, conquests and invasions, discoveries and inventions, migrations and settlements,—all are under the government of His wise and omnipotent sceptre. He is the King of grace; the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit are dispensed to the persons and in the measure which seem best to Him. Finally, He is the King of angels and devils; so that their power and agency, in relation to the human family, are either controlled or guided by Him.
Now, this kingdom of Jesus Christ, which began with the history of the world at least, will one day be resigned into the hands of God. "Then cometh the end," says the apostle, "when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God the Father, that God may be all in all." But ere that end comes, the Mediator himself will, as we suppose; disclose the history of His kingdom to the assembled universe. He will make known "His ways and acts" towards the children of men. He will meet friend and foe, and disclose the real history of each person who ever lived, from the first moment of his birth to the moment of his trial; and of each family, and city, and kingdom, from their rise till their final extinction in the dust; and thus the universe shall know how His government over human affairs, in all ages and climes, has been conducted; and in what manner His authority and power over all things for His Church has been exercised; that it may be known on evidence, whether He is indeed worthy to have received such honour and power in the great and universal kingdom of Jehovah!
3. But there seems also a fitness in Jesus being the Judge, from His peculiar relationship to the Church. "He created all things, that unto principalities and powers might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God." And He is now, in virtue of what He has done as a Priest, the Head over all things for the Church as a King. "Because he humbled himself, God hath highly exalted him." The grand end of His whole mediatorial reign is, "that unto God might be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus." But the work of Jesus Christ as Mediator will not have terminated, nor will He have received His full joy and reward, until He raises His people from their graves, and gathers His elect from the four winds of heaven; and opens the Book of Life, and from this biographical record adduces evidence of the reality of their loyalty, and of their love to the King; and reveals the glory of all His dealings towards them in every age:—until, in one word, the living Church, of which He is the Head, which "He loved" and "purchased with His own blood," and "sanctified and cleansed with the washing of the water of His word," shall be presented to Himself, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish. His judgment of the Church will be the consummation of His mediatorial glory, and the fulness of His reward.
As to the time when Jesus Christ shall judge the world, we are ignorant. "Of that day knoweth no man, not even the angels." We know only that it will come suddenly—"as a thief in the night"—upon the whole world; and that "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
No words of man can venture upon any description of the appearance of the Judge, or the accompaniments of that great and terrible day of the Lord. But here are a few Scripture statements descriptive of this solemn scene:—
"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 works," (Matt. xvi. 27.)
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other," (Matt. xxiv. 30, 31.)
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord," (1 Thess. iv. 15-17.)
"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," (2 Thess. i. 7, 8.)
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up," (2 Pet. iii. 10.)
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works," (Rev. xx. 11-13.)