[JUDGMENT, THE GROUND OF REPENTANCE.]
WHEN Paul stood in the midst of Mar’s hill, he boldly declared the ignorance and superstition of the Athenians, before the gospel, and stated to them, that “in the times of this ignorance, God winked at,” or that he did not hold them to a strict account. He concedes, here, the principle expressed by the Savior, that where there is but little given there is but little required; and on this ground, admits that God would not deal with them strictly according to their works. But he approaches a different state of things. A change was about to take place in the dealings of God with that people. How is it to be now? The apostle responds, “But now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” In the times of the ignorance before the gospel, this command to all men every where, to repent, did not exist. But, now that the gospel is preached to every creature, he commands all men everywhere to repent. But he does not stop here, but proceeds to give us the reason why God commands men to repent. That reason is not, that there is no day of judgment to come, which might serve as a reason why men need not repent. Why, then, does God now command all men everywhere to repent? The apostle answers, “Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.” It is not strange, with this passage before us, that preaching Universalism never causes anybody to repent. The preachers of that doctrine deny the cause of repentance; and while the Lord calls upon men to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, they spend their time in preaching that there will be no judgment to come. In this they set aside the grand reason why men should repent. While the preaching of the true gospel leads men to sorrow that they have sinned, in view of a righteous judgment to come, the preaching of that disgraceful doctrine—which we are sorry to have necessity to mention upon our pages—leads wicked men to laugh and trifle, both in view of their sins, and all that the Bible says of the great judgment day.
The apostle, however, does not merely state that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world, but he alleges that he has given assurance of the fact. His words are, “Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Here he arrives at the foundation of all—the resurrection of Christ from the dead. His logic runs thus: Christ rose from the dead. What assurance does that give? It is the assurance that God has given that he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. And what if that is the case? Why, then, he commands all men everywhere to repent. As certain as Christ rose from the dead, there will be righteous judgment; and because there will be a righteous judgment, men are commanded to reform and become righteous.
Jesus Christ was judged by the highest ecclesiastical court on earth, and in the highest civil court—but in both cases condemned unjustly. He could not have righteous judgment in this world; but, when the unrighteous sentences were passed upon him, and he had yielded to the penalty, and his body was consigned to the prison-house of death, while his spirit was in the unseen world, he appealed the case, and had it referred to the high, the holy and inflexible court of heaven, where the case was tried righteously. When this was done, the former decisions were condemned, as partial and unjust, and Jesus was “justified by the Spirit,” or, as Peter expresses it, “he was quickened by the Spirit.” The decision in the case was not only reversed, but the penalty, which had been executed, and was beyond the power of those who inflicted it to reverse it, was reversed by the great and righteous tribunal to which Jesus had appealed. He was justified from the guilt of their decision, when the Spirit of God condemned their sentence as unjust, and justified from the penalty when he was “quickened by the Spirit,” or raised from the dead.
When justified, he breaks forth in most triumphant language: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty; I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold! I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death.” He had been condemned unjustly, but had gone to a righteous judgment, where the decision was changed, and he was justified; the penalty of death was removed, and he was made alive forevermore; hence, “he ever liveth to make intercession for us.” He had obtained justice. In this case, we have an assurance of a day being appointed in which God will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. If God, after the death of Jesus, judged in the case of the great leader of all christians, and changed the unrighteous sentence previously passed upon him, and justified him, why may we not expect him to judge all the world after death; and, where the righteous have been condemned, as has frequently been, and as will be, the case in this world, reverse the decision, and justify them; and, on the other hand, where the guilty have been justified, the decision changed, and they condemned.
There is not a more consoling sentiment on earth, to a righteous man, than that there is a day appointed when impartial justice will take place. The Lord Jesus will judge among the nations, and mete out to them according to their works. The thought, that justice will never take place, may be pleasing to rogues, and such a view might be contended for with great zeal, on the part of those who know that a righteous judgment must condemn them, and such as care not how deep a stab they inflict upon the morals of the world; but to the man who maintains a conscience void of offense toward God and man, and who intends, to the best of his ability, to deport himself righteously, nothing can be a higher satisfaction, than the doctrine, that all false decisions will be reversed, and that a just and equitable sentence will be passed upon all. Such a judgment we anticipate, and such judgment, we are assured by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, will take place.