Rev. i. 7. Behold, he comet h ivith clouds ; and every eye shall see him, a?id they also ivhich pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because oj" him. Even so, Amen.
THE great subject of the book of Revelation seems to be, to predict the trials and deliverances of God's Church to the end of time. To a super- ficial observer, it would appear strange that God should permit his enemies to triumph for so long a period, and in so awful a degree. But there is a timecoming when all these inequalities in the Divine government will be rectified, and a righteous retri- bution be given to those who suffered, and to those also who inflicted the sufferings upon them. To this period our attention is directed in the very com- mencement of this prophecy ; that persecutors may
VOL, XI. X know
know what tribulation awaits them, and the perse- cuted may be comforted in the prospect of their eternal rest.
■' Let us then contemplate, I. The future judgment of our Lord — •
Behold, he is surely coming to judge the world — • [Our blessed Lord is *•' ordained of die Father to be the
Judge both of quick and dead" The time for his
future advent, tliough not known either to men or angels, is fixed in the counsels of the Father: and at the appointed in- stant it shall arrive. The world will be sleeping in security and carelessness, as much as ever they were in the days of Koah: but it will not on that account be delayed: " it will come as a thief in the night, and as travail upon a woman
with child" Witli inconceivable glory will the Lord
Jesus t\:-:z\ appear, surrounded witli myriads of the heavenly
host, an.l "coming in the clouds of heaven" His
judgment-seat will be erected, tlie books wherein all the ac- tions, words, and thoughts of men are recorded, will be opened, and all tlie universe be summoned to give an account of themselves to him ]
Then " shall every eye see him" —
[All who have ever lived, from the very commencement
to the end of time, sh.all be raised from the dead, each in hi^
OM-n proper body. The sea as well as the land will give up
the dead that are in it, and not an individual, however great
or however obscure, be wanting xVU will surround, his
throne, and behold liim in full view ; not as unconcerned spec- tators, but as criminals, whose cause he is about to try, and whose state he will fix in happiness or misery for ever and
ever ]
- Thus certain, and thus awful, will be " our gather- ing unto Jesus at the last day." But let us more distinctly consider,
IL Its aspect on the different classes of mankind —
The text more especially refers to the ungodly : but, as a:l will be equally interested in that event, we shall extend our views to the world at large ; and consider the aspect of our Lord's advent,
1 . On the ungodly —
[" Those who pierced our I^ord" in tlie days of his flesh, thought not that they should ever behold his face again : but
every
1198.] CHRIST COMING TO JUDGMENT. o07
CYcry one of them shall be summoned to his presence in tliafc day. Pilate with the chief priests, and Herod with his men of war, and all the populace who demanded his crucifixion, and the soldiers who mocked him in gorgeous apparel and drove the crown of thorns into his temples, and those who ploughed long furrows on his back by scourging, and those who nailed him to the cross, and the soldier that pierced his sacred body after he was dead, and all who approved of those proceedings, shall in that day see him yet once more, with all the marks of their cruelty yet upon him : yes, they shall all recognise in his glorious person the Man whom once they treated with such indignity. But how widely changed the condition both of themselves and him ! Themselves, no longer in a capacity to oppress ; and him, no longer capable of suf- fering from oppression : themselves as malefactors and mur- derers ; and him, as the Judge about to take cognizance of their offences : themselves, as children of the devil ; and him, as " the Lord of glory !" Oh, with what horror will they be struck ! with what dread will they be overwhelmed !