The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 458

but.it should be remembered that inspired writers, in accommodation to our ordinary iabits-ay, ~Jl{l Jaws of thoti~ht-:reveal to us the. unknown through the medium o,t tlie kn~~ Wfiat mind, in soqth, can rei:'eive any. new idea without· comparing it '\Vith, the old? We i001!8 oBhe unseen by the seen; we learn what the testimony of others unfolds to us throug'h·l:fle 1nedium of what we have already beheld. Thus "the·ruiy of judgment" is set forth under the fiJ!;o:re of ancient COJl!ts of judicature; which in general features agree with ·an the modern courts fo the civilized world. There ia the judge on his seat or throne; there is the prisoner arraigned·; there is the invti~ carried on through "hooks" or.documents; and there is justice administered.· "Now, there is quite sufficient resemblance between these courts of human justice and. the judicial transactiona of God at the last day, to w:mant the former being employ!ld as illustrations of the latter, without supposing a" throne" or a "book" whatever.· For example: 1. There is the bringing of the Judge and the accused into conscious contact. 2. There is the final settling of the question of gui1tiness or non-guiltines~, according to recof1!ized law; 3•.. There. (s the administration '!I an award t'! which the accu.$ed ia bound to fflbm,it. Let us no'Y proceed to notice a (ew facts iri relation to this· ret.'1- butive period. . · ..· . -. I. THIS J.I.ETRIBUTIVE Pll:RIOD '\VILL DAWN WITH OVERPOWERING SPLENDOUR UPON THl!i WORLD, Ob~ne : 1. The. character of this ma71ifei!tation. Ha comes on a th.ro,ne, A "throne" is an erµblem of glory. It is generally valuable in itself. That of'Solomon consisted wholly of gold and ivory; but its glory mainly consists of its being· the seat of supremacy. Hence ambition points to nothing higher. The people have ever looked up with a species of adoration to the throne. But what a throne is this I "His throne was like the fiery, flame, arnl his wheels as burning fire.'' It is a " white throne." ltuman thrones have often, perhaps generally, been stained by sensuality, injustice, and tyranny. The throne bas sometimes become so loathsome that the people, roused into indignation, have seized and burnt it in the streets. But this is a "white throne." There is not a single stain upon it. He who bas ever occupied it "is light, and in him is no darkness at all." It is a great " white throne." Great in its ·occu- pant: "He filleth all in all.'.'. Great in its influence. Toward it the eyes of all intel!i. gences are dir.eeted; to it all beings are PJTJenable; from it all Jaws that determine the character and regulate the destiny of .all creatures proceed. 2. The effect i>f this manifestation, Before its refulgence this material universe could not stand; it melted -it vanished away. '' No more place was found for them'' (ver. 11). It will pass away, perhaps, as the orbs of night rass away in the high noontide of the sun: they are still in bein~, still in their orbits, and still n;iove on as ever; but they are lost .to us by reason of a" glory that excelleth.'' What a contrast between Christ no\V as th" Judge, and Christ of old as the despised Nazarene I . . .· II. THIS RETRIBl,JTIVE PERIOD WllJ., WITNESS THE REBURREOTIQ~ OF THE DEAD, AND THE CONSEQUENT DEBTRUCTIOJ;f OF HADES AND THE GRAVE. •• -4,nd the sea gave tip the dead whmh were.in it.; and death and .hell [Hades] delivered up the dead which were in them" (ver. 13). 'flie words suggest two thoughts on this subject,., 1. That m the resurrection there wiil be ii connection between man's rai.!ed and man's .mtn'tal body. A resurrection of the material relics is a traditiona.l dogma ofthe stupid, not a epnviction of the studious. It is evidently implied that the resurrection~body is a something that has come out of the. body, deposited either in the grave or the sea. What is the con.:. nection? Is it meant that -men will come up with exactly the same bodies as they '.Ii.ad during their probationary state? This, probably, is the vulgar idea, and this is the idea against which infidels level their objections. The question is now, as of old,'' Wit,h what body do they come?" And assuming that they come in the same body, they com- mence their antagouistio reasonings and their sneers. But this is not .th.e Scripttue doctrine. . "'l'bat which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body thal; shall be.'' If it be eaid.,.,.Js there no identity, no sameness? I ask-What do you mean by." !!&fne- neu ".'/ Ifyou say sameness, in the sense of particles, b-ulk, or capacity, I answ~ Nol The sameness between the old body and the resurrection-body is not the sameness' between the see<l you deposit in the soil .and the wheat which in ailttim~ is produced by it. The orie grows out of the other, bas the form of the other; ~he re,.iµ,-, rection-body is not the same. as the old probationary body, in the same sense as ·.tli~ :body of any given individual is the same in its man-state as it was in its cMld-state. 508 TII:ll: RE'Vil:LATIO:N' 01" Si'. J"Otl:N 'l'Im llIVINl!!. (on. xx. 1-15.