(Matt. v. 23 ; Luke xiii. 27.) In all the graphic descriptions given in the New Testament of the process of the final judgment, Christ is represented as acting as the judge. On this point it is to be observed: (1.) That He is set forth as acting on his own authority ; and not merely as the " Bevollmachter," or plenipo- tentiary of God. Everywhere in the New Testament, our re- sponsibility is said to be to Him. We are to stand before his judgment-seat. He will say, " Depart from me, ye cursed." It is He, who is to bring every secret thing into judgment. (2.) He is qualified thus to sit in judgment on men and angels ; because He is omniscient, and infinite in justice and mercy. (3.) It is especially appropriate that the man Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, should be the judge of all men. He has this author- ity committed to Him because He is the Son of man ; because, although in the form of God, and thinking it no robbery to be equal with God, He humbled Himself to be found in fashion as a man. This is part of his exaltation, due to Him because He con- sented to become obedient unto death. It is meet that He who stood condemned at the bar of Pilate, should sit enthroned on the seat of universal judgment. It is a joy and ground of special confidence to all believers, that He who loved them and gave Himself for them, shall be their judge on the last day.
3. This judgment is to take place at the second coming of Christ and at the general resurrection. Therefore it is not a pro- cess now in progress ; it does not take place at death ; it is not a protracted period prior to the general resurrection. A few of the passages bearing on this point are the following : In the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt. xiii. 37-43), already referred to, we are taught that the final separation between the righteous and the wicked is to take place at the end of the world, when the Son of Man shall send forth his angels to gather out of his kingdom all things that offend. This implies that the general resurrection, the second advent, and the last judgment, are contemporaneous events. The Bible knows nothing of three personal advents of Christ : one at the time of the incarnation ; a second, before the millennium ; and a third to judge the world. He who came in the flesh, is to come a second time without sin unto salvation. Matthew xvi. 27, " 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." Matthew xxiv. 29-35, teaches that when the sign of the Son of Man appears in the heavens, all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and the elect shall be gathered in.
848 PART IV. Ch. IV. — THE SECOND ADVENT.
Matthew xxv. 31-46 sets forth the whole process of the judgment. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, all nations shall be gathered before Him, and He shall separate them as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats ; and then shall He say to those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father ; and to those on the left, Depart from me, ye cursed. 1 Corinthians iv. 5, " Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." When Christ comes, the general judgment is to occur. In 2 Thessalonians i. 7-10, it is taught that when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven, it will be for the double purpose of taking vengeance on them that know not God, and of being glorified in all them that believe. In 2 Timothy iv. 1, it is said : The Lord Jesus Christ u shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom." In the fif- teenth chapter of First Corinthians, the Apostle expressly teaches that corruption cannot inherit incorruption, that our present vile bodies must be changed before they can enter the kingdom of God ; and this change from the natural to the spiritual, from mortal to immortal, is to take place at the last trump ; and in Philippians iii. 20, 21, he says it is to occur when Christ comes from heaven, who shall fashion our bodies like unto his own glorious body. In all these different ways it is taught that the general judgment is to take place at the second coming of Christ.
4. The persons to be judged are men and angels. In several passages already quoted it is said that Christ is to come to judge " the quick and the dead ; " in others it is said, " all nations are to stand before Him ; " in others, that " we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ ;" in others again it is said that " He will render to every man according to his works." This judgment, therefore, is absolutely universal ; it includes both small and great ; and all the generations of men. With regard to the evil angels, it is said that God " delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." (2 Pet. ii. 4.) Satan is said to be the God of this world. The conflict in which believers are engaged in this life, is with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in heaven, iv tois iTroypaviois. This conflict is to continue until the Second Advent, when Satan and his angels are to be cast into the pit.
The older theologians speculated on the manner in which the