Part 214

But it is not so with hypocrites and unbelievers beyond the grave; for what says our LORD? “And at midnight:” observe, at midnight, when all was hushed and quiet, and no one dreaming of any such thing, “a cry was made;” the voice of the arch-angel and the trump of GOD was heard sounding this general alarm; to things in heaven, to things in earth, and to things in the waters under the earth, “BEHOLD!” mark how this awful summons is ushered in with the word _behold_, to engage our attention? “Behold the bridegroom cometh!” even JESUS CHRIST, the desire of nations, the bridegroom of his spouse the church: Because he tarried for a while to exercise the faith of saints, and give sinners space to repent, scoffers were apt to cry out, “Where is the promise of his coming? But the LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as these men account slackness.” For behold, he that was to come, now cometh, and will not tarry any longer: he cometh to be glorified in his saints, and to take vengeance on them that know not GOD, and have not obeyed his gospel: he cometh not as a poor despised _Galilean_; not to be laid in a stinking manger; not to be despised and rejected of men; not to be blindfolded, spit upon, and buffeted; not to be nailed to an accursed tree; he cometh not as the Son of man, but as he really was, the eternal Son of the eternal GOD: He cometh riding on the wings of the wind, in the glory of the Father and his holy angels, and to be had in everlasting reverence of all that shall be round about him. “Go ye forth to meet him;” arise, ye dead, ye foolish, as well as wise virgin, arise and come to judgment. Multitudes, no doubt, that hear this awakening cry, would rejoice if the rocks might fall on, and the hills cover them from the presence of the Lamb: what would they give, if as they lived as beasts, they might now die like the beasts that perish? How would they rejoice, if those same excuses which they made on this side eternity for not attending on holy ordinances, would serve to keep them from appearing before the heavenly bridegroom! But as _Adam_, notwithstanding his fig-leaves, and the trees of the garden, could not hide himself from GOD, when arrested with an “_Adam_, where art thou?” So now the decree is gone forth, and the trump of GOD has given its last sound; all tongues, people, nations, and languages, both wise and foolish virgins, must come into his presence, and bow beneath his footstool; even _Pontius Pilate_, _Annas_ and _Caiaphas_; even the proud persecuting high-priests and Pharisees of this generation, must appear before him: for says our LORD, “then, (when the cry was made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh!) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the graves were opened, the sea gave up its dead, and all those virgins, both wise and foolish, arose and trimmed their lamps,” or endeavoured to put themselves in a proper posture to meet the bridegroom.