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RESURRECTION AND JUnCMENT
AS THIEY AFFECT BBUEVER8.
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, ■ ■;^--/':':' BY THE '
REV. WILLIAM BEVAN,
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TORONTO: ;
WOl^IAM BRI008, 78 « 80 Itfim STREET BAST.
- MOMTBIAL: C. W. OOATCI. HAUPAZ : & F. HUHVn&
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THE
OF CHRIST.
THE
RESURRECTiqN AND JUDGMENT
AS tHEY AFFECT BELIEVERS.
tt^ Si^ott lIottB ptt l^e C^ttrc^ anb Jpiinbtqj.
BY THE
REV. WitLIAM BEVAN.
IncumbeHt of West Flamboro\
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WILLIAM BrotoGS, 78 ft 80 KING STREET EAST.
MONTREAL: C. W. OOATES. K^ALIFAX: 8. F. HUE8TIS.
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1889.
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^1
PREFACE.
It ii extraottlinary how different men will look at the
wastie thing and see it in entirely different lights, so that it
seems black to one and. white to another. Modern progress
means one thing for one school of thought, and quite the
opposite for another.
The new life and energy— political, mechanical, scientific
aind reliji^ous^of ourage, appears so wonderful and beneficial
to one school of thought, that it is for them, the inauguration
of a new dispensation, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are, according to this view of things, to go from stage
to stage of blessedness. So they ij»ll us, "Each century
will become more luminous with ii|Bkpf divine truth. Each
generation wilLadvaiyie to higher donceptions, grander at-
tainmenta, andiuller realizations of every divine excellence
than its predecessor. The obstructions that lie in the way
will be removed. Prejudices will vanish. , Narrow-minded
bigotry will pass like a cloud from off the spiritual horizon
. . . man will not only be in the Church, but the Church
will be in man. Theory will give way to practice; words
to deeds; professions to actualities; a,nd assumptions to
practical demonstrations." On the other hand, another
sohpol seei in the modem world something as bad, if not
worse, than the pagan world of the apostles' day. Every
attempt to improve it is an attempt to improve the empire of
Satan. The march of modem progress is the world's last,
proud and headstrong venture to improve itself' without
Gkxl, and is, therefore, the precursor of its eternal ruin. So
they tell us, "Is thfSre not something unspeakably melam-
choly in the stories one has read of condemned criminals
dressing themselves out in the full height of fashion to go forth
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^ PREFACE.
to the scaffold t And is there not something incomparably
more ghastly and appalling in the spectacle of a world trick-
ing itself but in all the finery of modern ideas, the intel-
lectualities, the refinements, the elevating pursuits and
obiects by which it seeks to make to itself a name, and build
a tower whose top shall reach to heaven, when all the while
the lightning of Ood's judgmente is ready to descend, and ,
leave it a mass of ruin and desolation 1"
These two schools are the extremes of modern religious
speculation. Each goes to the Scripture, especially to the
book of Revelations, to prove itself in the right, and each
seems perfectly certain it possesses the key of truth. In
the meantime, the Church Catholic goes calmly on her way,*
blessing all that is pure and good in modern progress, know-
ing that all purity and goodness flow from Christ. But yet
she, with divine instinct, sees that alt is not good, that the
future, like the past and present, will witness the Vftrfajre
betwee^ good and evil, which will not end in'crtffiptetc'
victory until the arrival of "^hat one far-off divine event, ^
toward which the whole creation moves, when 'God will
be all in all.'*' We all do well to cultivate the calm watch-
fulness, which is the ideal temper of the Bride of Christ
We all do well to guard against optimism on the one hand,
and pessimism on the other; each is fraught with its own
peculiar dangers— each will lead us into ite own peculiar
errors The following few notes have been put together for
the use of my own congregation, many of whom have be-
come confused by listening to the conflicting opinions df^
those who put their own construction upon the texte of
Scriptures quoted, and have built up a system alien to that
of the Church of Christ. I have, a» regards the texte
quoted, given a literal translation of the Greek text.
West Flamboro', Advenit 1888.
• . I
• . 1
"The Government of the
Jesus Christ."
Lord
HOW eternally true the Holy Scripture is! Too
large in its truth for man's theological systems
-—it is not only true, but it |^ eternally becoming true.
Our blessed Lord describes His coming judgment,
ind, after listening, they ask : " Where, Lord ? " He
replies: "Wheresoever the body is there shall the
vultures be gathered together." (Luke xvii. 37.) He
here uses what must have been a familiar fact to the
apostles as a means of teaching them an eternal law '
of the Kingdom of God. In the East, 4he dead body
remains for a very short time upon the earth before
the keen-sighted vultures are down upon it ; they are
the great Eastern scavengers — they consume the car-
casses which otherwise would be a pestilence. Tfefe^,
Lord God has His moral scavengers, who remove out
of His kingdom rotting bodies which otherwise would
cause a moral pestilence ; and such judgments are
judgments of Christ; such days are days of Christ ;
in such convulsions Christ comes. Christ our Lord is
He.to whom " All power is given in heaven and earth."
(Matt, xxviii. 18.) " He must reign till He hath put all
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THE COMING OF CHRIST.
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enemies under His feet" (i Cor. xv. 25.) Such asser-
tions as that Satan is the " god of the world," must be
understood in such a manner as not to conflict with
our Lord's assertion that He possesses all power in
heaven and earth. Christ exercises His authority and
power, and in each crisis in the world's history we see
the consummation of the moral course of the govern-
ment of Christ. "The world at such moments is
shaken (see Heb. xii. 26-29), that the unstable may be
removed." In such "days" the vultures, the great
scavengers of the King of kings, swoop down on
tlie morally putrid carcasses of this wofld-^Christ^
comes — comes in judgment. God remains above the
water-floods of human passions a King forever, and
never was a more paralyzing error propounded than
that the Lord had abdicated the throne of government
to the devil.
In Rev. xix. 11-16, we have a magnificent descrip-
tion, by means of great symbols, of this government of
Christ : " In righteousness doth He judge and make
war"— all good nien fight in this. war on the Lord's
side. In the fall of old empires, morally rotten to the
corer-Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome ; in the
destruction of the Church of North Africa ; in the
Reformation ; above all, in tfte fall of Jerusalem,
Christ came in judgment.
As has been truly said, His final advent to judg-
ment will be "«^/ the resumption, but th^ triumph
of His rule." But these judgments are not for
individuals, but for communities. Our Lord has laid
dpwn the principle that temporal misfortunes are not
j,^^i,tiaimieMmimS,iii
I ''.'/!* ■."!■'
\
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 7
judgments for the individual. (Luke xiii. i*>5.) So we
believe that i^ is revealed that there will be a final
judgment by the King of kings, when all men shall
bc^juclfed according to their^orks. There we are
met by a contradiction, viz : that there will be an
exception, that a// will not be judged— much less
judged according to their works.
Spiritual Resurrection.
The contradiction reTerred to in last chapter is part
of a theory put together with great skill, and, no doubt,
consciientiously held by its Advocates. To clear our
ground, we must consider the question of a spiritual
resurrection.
There can be no doubt we have two resurrections
mentioned in the New Testament, the first a spiritual.
" How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer
therein ? Know ye not that ^o many of us as were
baptized were baptized into His death? Therefore
we were buried with Ijiim in baptism unto deam .
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our.
Lord." (Rom. vi. 3-5 and 1 1.) This passage describes
the iiiea/ state of a Christian. He lives a resurrection
life and exists in a resurrection state. " Let him there-
fore, having risen with 'Christ, make this ideal resMr-
rection an actual fact by living day by day the real
resurrection life." This epistle asserts the *^(?fl/ state
of privilege in which a Christian man stands, but is.
largely taken up with exhortations to make his real,
every-day life square with his idfetf/ state.
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8
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
St. Paul^ in Romans vii. 7-25, speaks in the first
person indeed, but from the- standpoint of unregenerate
humanity. '* I was, alive without the law once, but
when the commandment came sin revived knd I died."
(v. 9.) This verse is the key to the chapter. When
man falls to the condition of the brute, which has no
knowledge of moral law, he is comparatively happy
and at ease (I was alive without law) ; but when con-
science awoke, and the moral law spoke, then ensued
a state of miseiy and unrest (I died). In this power-
less condition he cries in agony,' " O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" "I thank God through Jesus Christ our
Lord." Then follows the conclusion, " So then with
the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the
flesh the law of sin." That is, I, by myself, apart from
Christ, may admire the law of God in the higher part
of my being, but in the lower part the law of sin. In
the next chapter (viii.) he Commences by -saying that
for those who have passed from this condition— those
" in Christ jesus "—there is no condemnation («»Ta*p«A«»).
for they walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
the passage from the state of slavery to sin, to the
state described as "in Christ," is called a resurrection.
Baptism is the sign and seal of such resurrection.
"And ye are complete in Him who is the head of
all principality and power, in whom also ye are cir-
cumcised with the circumcision made without hands
in putting off* the body (of the sins) of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism,
Wherein also ye are risen with Him through faith of
itS ^>' l*iCi^'^i^^ ^^Sm^
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
the Operation of God, who hath raised Him from the
dead, and ye being dead in the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath He quickened together with Him." (Col. ii.
1 0-16.) In the next chapter he proceeds to warn them
to, make this ideal sizXc of privilege a practical reality
<©ife. , "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things that are above." (Col. iii. i.) (See whole chap-
ten) In this chapter he gives a series of directions as
to how the practical life of the Christian is to be
brought into conformity with his ideal state. He
does this in view of the judgment, |vhen all will be re-
warded according to their woi^ks. v ■
In this epistle we find a development of the idea of
the spiritual resurrection. J n the earlier epistle
(Romans) we have " in the likeness of the resurrec-
tion;" here it is a participation in it, "Ye are risen
with Him."
In Eph. V. St. Paul is contrasting spiritual light with
spiritual darkness, the children of light with the chil^
dren of disobedience ; and in the 14th verse he intro-
duces a quotation which, wherever it may come from,
he endorses by its introduction, and by deducting a
warning from it, "Rouse thyself, thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall dawn upon
thee ; see that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, be-
cause the days are evil." We cannot fail to connect
with this a passage from the epistle to the Romans,
xiii. H-14, "Now it is high time to rouse out of sleep,
for now is oiu* salvation nearer than when we believed ;
the night is far spent, the day is at hand ; let us, there-
fore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on
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X
lO
THE COMING OF CHRIST
the armor of light; let us walk decorously as in the
day, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife
and envyings." For by " faith " we are indeed placed
in an iV/(?^condition of justification and sanctification.
But in our " Belief" we have a living motive power
whereby we are enabled to bring our daily life jnto
conformity with our ideal state. And this should be
done. Why? In view of the final division, when
every man will be judged according to his works, to
attempt this without the " motive power " would end
in failure ; and such an attempt would be an endeavor
to justify ourselves by works. The spiritual resurrec-
tion above referred to, is called in Revelations the
" first fi^urrection," which, of course, it is. "And I
saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judg-
ment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of
themlthat were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and
the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the
beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark
upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived
ana reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the
rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years
w^re finished. Blessed and holy is he that hath part
in the fiist resurrection ; on such the second death hath
' i^o power, and they shall be priests of God and of
(Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."
(Rev. XX. 4-7.) The outlines of this chapter are clear
/ and simple. An angel descends from heayen, having
the key of the abyss, and a chain on his hand, he lays
hold of Satan, chains him, casts him into the abyss,
locks and seals the mouth; then comes the passage
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
11
quoted above, after which^ we are told Satan shall be
loosed, and shall deceive the nations {which have not
been destroyed in the process of binding the evil one).
The nations shall then make a final attack upon the
saints, in which attempt they shall be destroyed.
Then follows a description of the judgment, after
which the new Jerusalem descends.
Are we to be ultimately saved or not according as
we correctly understand all this or fail to do so ? God
forbid. It is only of late years that education and
printing (both products of modern progress) have
made it possible for the overwhelming mass of human
beings to judge the matter for themselves. If the
way to eternal life lies in the solving of what (to the
mass of illiterate humanity) is a divine enigma, we
have read the Scriptures to little piurpose. "This is
life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."
However, the thousand years must not be under-
stood literally, any more tj|an the periods of times in
either of the Apocalyptic books— Daniel or the Revela-
tions. It means^ lengthy, but indefinite, period.
Then the binding and defeat of the Evil One could be
by no other power than Christ's. With these facts, let
us turn to the Gospels.
• "Now is the judgment of this world (Koff/«w); now
shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be
lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." (John xii. 31-34.)
The ^dgment of this world, and the casting out of
Satan, are the effects, the first of Christ's death, the
second of His resurrection. " i 1, .
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THE COMING OF CHRIST.
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But different tenses are used; the judgmeht 6f this
world is the tmmediaU consequence of His death, the
casting-out of Satan the ,^yw<^<j/ after-eflfect of His
resurrection. He would draw all men to Hiiri by His
sacHfice, setting up a kingdom of righteousness which
would gradually dethrone^lfio, ruler of the w^ld. The
Jewish theologians called' Satan "The prince of this
^ world," or "the ruler of the Gentiles." Th^ supposed
and taught that the Messiah, when He /amc, would
destroy the Gentile world (or the nations), cast out
their ruler, and set up a visible Jewish kingdom. Our
Saviour warned them they were no exception to the
rule, when they gloried in Abraham as their father,
"Ye are pfjwyr father the devil." (John viii. 44.)
Thus ended their complacent trusting to a favoritism
on God's part He also brought down the rest of
their house of cards when He informed them, "God so/
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should hot perish*
but have etemaHife." (John iii. 16.) He came not to
^condemn the world; yet, of course. His death would
have that eflfect. The judgment is represented as
a/ready passed upon the prince of the world; it only
remains for the judgment to take effect, which (John
X". 31) represents by the tense^oT the verb used as a
gradual process— the after-effect of tjie resurrection—
the downfall of the kingdom of evil by the growth of
the kingdom of righteousness. Christ's work is the
redemption of the world by the downfall of the god of
this world.
Now let us turn back to the twentieth cliapter of
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
13
Revelations, and examine it in the ligh|: we have from
the Gospels. We see the ideals of the Gospels and of
Revelations agree. This magnificent book of tumul-
tuous imagery contains a lovely ide^. Satan bound
and the saints reigning. It only remains for man,
by the grace of God, to realize this ideal; the only
obstacle in the road of the realization of the ideal i&
refusal to receive Him who was lifted up. But yet
the divine picture has been, to a great extent, realized,
and this fact should encourage us to look forward to
its still more perfect realization. Surely, in the mil-
lions who have risen with Christ and taken .part in the
first resurrection, we have a partial fulfilment of the
vision. The world of the apostles* day was some-
what different from the wor/d of to-day. In all
probability St. John wrote Revelations in the summer
of 68 A.D., in the midst of gre^t physical convulsions,
just after the suicide of the Emperor Nero, and before
Galba was murdered. Nerbj of all human beings, was
the most infamous and depraved, yet he was the most
popular of the Emperors ; thus showing us the char-
acter of a people whq^^ould admire such an unspeak-
able creature. He was deified in his lifetime, and the
worship of himself or his statue (image) demanded
from the civilized world, he wsis received everywhere
with the honors of a god ;l on the very coins every
Christian would see he claimed the unique title of
"The saviour of the world." Although dead, he was
expected to return to earth %ain. It has been said,
as regards the number of the beast, "The Jewish
Christian would have tried the nam^ as he thought of
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THE COMING OF CHRIST.
the name in Hebrew letters. The moment he did so
the secret would be revealed. No Jew thought of
Nero except as ' Neron Kesar/ which, m Hebrew
c^^aracters. gives 666, The name i^^/^ wr,"^^ 1"
Jewish inscriptions." ' Nero then was " antichris in
the same way as the "Fall of Jerusalem" was "The
coming of Christ." but this does not exhaust the truth
qf the Word of God, which is always becoming true,
and will at last have a final fulfilment. ^ ^
Nero represents the world of the apostles day.
He. an antichrist, ruled it as vicegerent of the god
of the world. It would be quite impossible here to
speak of the abyss oh shame and vice in which Nero,
arid the world he governed, wallowed. The fact that
Christianity has dethroned Paganism, that the spirit
of Christianity p«^ades law, society, and morals,
proves that Christ reigns ; that Satan's, kingdom has
been shaken. Not only has he been judged, but he is
being cast out. Could St. Paul or St. John compare
the world of to-day with their own, th^y would see
the power of the resurrection. When it is remembered
that Paganism, with its worship of demons, is repre-
sented in the New Testament as peculiarly the king-
dom of Satan, we cannot but think there is something
of a millenium in the Christian world of to-day, with
all its imperfections. Just picture 6pe of the apc^tles
who, as he passed through the pagan world of his
day, saw on every side-in the streets, in the public
amusements, in the temples, on the coins, in thepolitics
-evidences of the p^an world power, with a Nero at
its head, translated intb our midstjo-day. There
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
15
em •• was " The
would indeed be much, very, very much, evil left ;
many of our movements jmay not be real /w^«j, but
yet he would certainly see a millenium in comparison
with the old world. Satan would be comparatively
inactive. They would see the saints reigning with
Christ over Christendom. The rest of the dead rise
not, rule not T*he goverijiment of the present world,
sadly imperfect as it is, belongs far more to St. John,
St Peter, St Paiil, St James, under Christ, than to
any of the old pagan world. We Christians look for-
ward to coming ihuch nearer the ideal, to the yet
more complete|,overthrow of the evil world of Satan ;
we hope to see evil more and niore chained in the
abyss, the mouth mpre perfectly sealed over it,
before the time when l^atan raises his head for his
final effort, which will \end in his final overthrow.
Can this- interpretatioiy be impugned ? Of coUrse
it can, as can evei^ o^her one advanced. But yet,
if the first resurrection be tot a spiritual one, then
many passages of ^clipture become meaningless, as,
for instance, " If ye be risen with Christ" (Col. iii. i.;
If we are to take a confessedly symbolical book like
[Revelations literatlly, we should be lost in a maze.
\Why is this twentieth chapter to be an exception?
|lf it bean exception, then we must believe that Christ,
dth His saints in spiritual and glorified bodies, will
reign here on earth, in the midst of the nations, all in
latural bodies.. And that in spite of this^we-inspir>
ig sight in their midst, the nations will be deceived
ito making an assault upon this awful kingdom in
leir midst, with God incarnate and glorified at its
i6
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
head. Surely "The letter killeth, the Spirit givcth,
life." We have shown : i. That there is a spiritual
resurrection. 2. That the saints have taken part in
it, and that they reign with Christ over redeemed
humanity by their inspired writings and their exam-
ples— which still speak. 3. That we are justified in
looking forward to a yet more complete overthrow of
Satan's kingdom, before the last great assault of evil
against the Church.
The Resurrection.
The Gnostic sects which troubled the peace of the
early Church, and against whose errors St. Paul and
St John both protest, believed, among other things,
that matter was inherently evil. They taught that
matter was created by the Demiurge, and not by God,
They, therefore, absolutely denied the resurrection of
either the just or the unjust, although claiming to
believe in Christ Jesi^.
Hymenaeus and Philetus belonged to one of these
sects, "Their word,*^ says St. Paul, " doth eat as doth
a gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,
who, concerning the truth, have erred, saying the
resurrection is passed already, and overthrow the faith
of some," (2 Tim, ii. 17,) But they could but have
denied a general resurrection (it is contended) ; what
they denied nftust have been the resurrection of the
saints a uiousand years before the general judgment.
Why couldn't they? It must be remembered the
whole of the Ne^ Testament was not written at this
time. That which wacs written wasiscattered about
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT,
17
in the Church. It was not brought together into one
volume for two hundred years at least after this. We
know there were false apostles wandering about teach-
ing false doctrine. We know St. Paul's authority
as an apostle was denied by many professing the
religion of Christ. And above all, we know the
Gnostics did actually deny the resurrection of the
body. Even to-day a school of thought exists which
do6s' teach that the FINAL resurrection HAS COME,
and that the New Jerusalem has come down out
of heaven to earth.
Hymenaeus and Philetus, in common with- the
Christian Gnostics, the fewish Essenes and Sadducees,
denied the resurrection of the body. The orthodox
Jews of oiir Lord's time believed tWre would only
be a partial resurrection— the just ONLY were to
be raised, and not the unjust Josephus, who lived
about the titrft of Christ, tells us, "they (the Phari-
sees) believe that souls have an immortal vigor in
them, and that under the earth there will be rewards
and punishments, according as they have lived virtu-
ously or viciously in this life ; the latter are to be
detained in an eternal prison, but the former shall
have power to revive and live again." (i4/i/. xviii. 1-3,)
Again, he says, "the Pharisees are those esteemed
the mo^kilful in the exact explanation of their
I laws. . . TOey say all sShs are imperishable^ but that
the souls of good men ONLY are removed into another
body, but that the souls of bad men are subject^tp
[etemal punishment." ( Wars viii. 14.)
The resurrection of just and unjust is maintained
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THE COMING OF CHRIST.
by our Lord and St. Paul. Our Lord, in the fifth
Chapter of St. John, speaks first of a sp^rjtual resur-
rcction (see 21-27), then' He passes on to consider,
the actual resurrection : " Verily, verily. I say unto
you, he that heareth My words, and believeth on Him
that sent Me. hath eternal life, and shall not come into
judgment, but is passed from death to life. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is,
that the dead shall Ifear the voice of the Soif of God :>
and they that hear shall live." (24, 25.) The 24tb!
verse explains the 25th, the passing from "death to
life" is a spiritual resurrection. The world is an
immense cemetery, full of men dead in trespasses and
sins. They hear the voice of the Son of God ; they
' ideally rise by belief, and <i/ once, from death to life
The rising actually from the death of sin to the life of
dghteousness is a ^«^««/ process ; a habit has to
f be shaken off, and a new habit formed. But only
they who have a part in this the first resurrection,
can have a joyful part in the final resurrection.
Our Lord/ then goes on, in the 28th verse, to teach
a second resurrection. All shalf take part in this
—just and unjust— in contrast to the first resurrec-
tion, when only the just arise from the death of sin
to the life of righteousness. " For the hour is coming,
in which all that are in the ^aves shall hear My
voice, and shall come forth; they that Aave done' good
unto the r^urrection of life ; and they that have
practised evil unto the resurrection of , judgment'
(v. 28.) Here is a resurrection oC the body— "/^<
hour is coming"— "W/ in the graves shall hear My
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
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y\cc " at one time, and no exception. Here is the
jndemnation of the Jewish idea on the subject,
'hen notice how careful the wording, " they that have
me good," but " they that have practised evil." The
imc distinction in the verbs may be observed in
jhn iii. 20, 21. I mean, of course, in the Greek;
le real and important distinction is not brought out
our English translation. This verse is introduced
"Marvel not," for our Lord knew He was cor-
bcting a popular mistake on the subject.
St. Paul also protests agamst this popular error, by
sclaring, " There shall be a resurrection of the dead,
jth of the just and of the unjust." (Acts xxiv. 15.)
^ne resurrection absolutely general. When St. Paul
lins the Pharisees in the Council to his side, he
lerely cried, "Of the hope and resurrection of the
:ad I am called in question."
It has been asked by believers in two actual bodily
fsurrections, *• Why does St. Paul speak of 4wo
isses? If he were not disputing with those who
pnied the resurrection of the unjust, he must mean
/o different resurrections." But we have shown from
le most full and important of Jewish historians, him-
|lf a Pharisee, who lived in St. Paul's lifetime—
sephus — that he was talking before those who did
believe in a resurrection of the unjust; so the
rse is quite clear in its meaning.
f :,:
The Parables.
The teaching of the parables in reference to these
>ortant subjects is commented upon as follows by
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20 THE COMING OF CHRIST^ ^'^
non-believers in a general resurrectidrtiP^' During our
Lord's ministry, the time for d^kclosing thtf fhystery
of His separate advent for thT& saints was not arrived,
and in His parables the two parts of His coming are
spoken of without distinction." We cannot help
thinking .the so-called mystery is the old Jewish con-
ception of a Messiah coming to reign with His qfiosen
peopp%rael, and to destroy all their enemies, which
has beer> transplanted into the midst of Christendom.
As regards the Jews, it was a mistake. The Christ,
when He did come, tells them they are also children
of evil ; and St. Paul warns them, all are not Israe|[ites
who are of Israel.
When the parables are examined by our brethren
who see no general ^"Q[p^^'0'* ^" Holy Scripture, '|
"judgn^nt " (kpivu) i sjBwMfep onyniQu^ wjtHl^puntsh-
ment («a;uu7(f), two q^pMrent v^ras. Judgment
may end in acquittal ; the primary meaning of the
word is "a division." Our word "discern," "to dis-
tinguish between," is from Kpivu. Now the great point
9f all the parables relating to this subject is the
iyjsion between the just and the Unjust, the good and
ivil. When we are told "believers," viz., "saints,"
will not be judged (adversely), it simply amounts to
saying those who will ultimately be saved will be
saved, which is a simple truism.
In the parable of the "ten virgins "-we hav^a divi-
sion into five wise and five foolish, and, therefore, a
judgment. In the parable, of the "talents," the
ser\'ants or stewards are rewarded according to their
works ; one (of course, repre.senting a class at the
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:s was not arrived,
f His coming are
We cannot help
e old Jewish con-
n with His qfiosen
:ir enemies, which
it of Christendom,
ake. The Christ,
are also children
I are not Israelites
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1 Holy Scripture,'
untsh-
ment
/ meaning of the
discern," "to dis-
»w the great point
lis subject is the
just, the good and
rs," viz., "saints,"
imply amounts to
be saved will be
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, and, therefore, a
lie "talents," the
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class at the
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
ai
general judgment) is cast into outer darkness : " therf
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. xxv.
30)
Possibly the parable of the " sheep and the goats "
defers to the judgment of the world outside of
Christendom ; if so, a division will be made between
the good and bad of the world — the good going into
eternal life, the evil into eternal punishment U must-
be admitted our- Lord goes into the subject of
I judgment much more minutely than the apostles. It
is a well-known maxim that the less fiill account
must always be explained by the fullef and more
minute. And again, though in some particulars the
[account in the epistles may be more ful^ yet there
lean be no contradiction^
Our Lord (see Luke v. 31-49) gives a mosf^olemn
I warning to be prepared for His coming. -St Peter, in
the midst of it, asks, "Lord, speakest Thou this par-
able to us or even to all?" (v. 41.) The answer im-''
plies it is for servants or stewards of God. The
[servant, or ste^ard^ who imagined his lord dd^yed his
>ming, and began to behave himself badly, beating
[the other servants, eating and drinking, and being
[drunken, his lord shall come unexpectedly, and shall
It him off and appoint him his portion with the un-
ilievers. (v. 46.) Here is ihe^ judgment oi or\c portion
>f what are called servants or stewards ; they should
<:«/ ^, and have their portion with the unbelievers.
'he very act of cutting off shows what their pOsitiQn
lad.been.. ^-^ • .-■.,. ^v-.--
"The servant which knew his lord*s will, and pre-*
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THE COMING OF CHRIST.
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pared not, neither did according to his will, shall be
beat with many stripes." (v. 47.) " But he that knew
not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be
beaten withyi?«/ stripes." (v. 48.)
Then follows the enunciation of the great principle
which these verses teach and lead up to, viz :— that
privilege will only entail greater responsibility, that
God has no favoritism, and is no respecter of persons:
"Unto whom much is given, much is required." Jv.48.)
All this is opposed to the principle that God has
privileged a certain number of persons who shall
never account for the use of their privileges in the
last judgment, in common with all other human beings.
It is opposed to the idea that privilege is a blessing in
any other sense, than that, by the grace of God, it may
be made a blessing by its proper use. This is a very
minute account of judgment. We may explain any-
thing in the Gospels by the epistles, but we are not at
liberty to explain it away. Here, then, we have in this
twelfth chapter of St Luke the coming of Christ;
the condemnation of unprepared servants or stewards
^some are cut off, some beaten with many, some with
few stripes ; a division into classes, and the allotment
of different degrees of punishment must necessitate a
judgment. A passage from St. Peter is a good colfi-
ment upon fliese passages : " The time is colnie that the
judgment must begin ajt the house of God, and if first
at us, what shall the end be of those who. obey not the
Gospel of God?" Are our attempts to make the
Church militant and the ultimately saved exactly the j
same things, more likely to succeed than the apostles ?!
•■->.../
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
2$
Our Lord's parables about the tares and the wheat
growing together, and the good and bad fish in the
same net, must cerainly mean soniething. (See Matt
xiii. 18-24, 57-44, 47-52.)
Judgment
We have examined that p^rt of the twentieth
chapter of Revelation, descriptive of the state of the
saints who reign with Christ oVer Christendom, having
attained the first resurrection from the death of s^n to
5^;the life of righteousness. /
Xxt ||li.ttbw pass on to consider the description of
the judgment which follows: "And I saw a great
white throne, and Him that was seated ther^n, from
whose face fled the earth and the heaven, and place
was not found for them. And I saw the dead, the
great and the small, stand before the throne ; and the
books were opened : and another book was opened,
which is the book of life : and the dead were judged out
of the things which^ had been written in the books,
according to their works. And the sea gave forth
the dead that were irt it ; and death and Hades gave
forth^ the dead which were in them : and they were
juijged, each man according to his works " (Rev. xx.
ii-14). AH that are not contained in the book of
life are punished by the infliction of the second death.
Why dwell upon the fact that the book of life is used,
if it be only a judgment of the evil world ? Of course,
we have the truth here delivered, by means of symbols,
but yet the symbols mean something— why then the
book of life, if the evil only are being condemned?
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THE COMING OF CHRIST.
Ifirbe answered that here and in the parable of the
sheep and goats we have the judgment of the world,
then I answer; then the world is far from being
; universally condemned, for some in the parable were
welcomed into everlasting life, and somei }»^re not cast
ino the lake of fire, because their names^j|| found in
the book of life. li^f
However, as we have everything in IthS description
to prove a universal judgment, and not a word to re-
strict it to the evil world, we find here the final judg-
ment In our examination of other scriptures, we shall
put this point beyond a doubt. Much doubt and uncer-
tainty has been introduced into the subject by a play
upon the word judgment The Greek Kptw means to
separate, to part, Jo inquire into, to divide, to judge, to
condemn. It maV mfan to separate with the object
of acquittal, or' With the object of condemnation ; it
occurs a hundred an fourteen times in the New Testa-
ment KaroKptvo i^eans to give sentence against, to con-
demn ; it occurs twenty-four times; Kp£/t«i, judgment,
twenty-four time^ ; /v«T£f, judging, forty-nine times.
We should naturally expect to see it stated that
" there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
spirit," and so we do (Rom. viii. ly^KaraKptfia). We
should certainly think God "a respecter of persons if
any are to be exempt ffom that general process of
separation described in Revelations xx. 12 to end. But
Kptvo has often the same force as the word used in
Rom. viii. I, as any Greek lexicon will testify; its
meaning mu^t be judged by the context, andjlie
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT,
2i
teaching of the New Testament as a whole. « Ye that
heareth My wo^ds'and believeth on Him that sent Me,
hath eternal itfe, and shall not come into judgment."
Here our Lor^is describing, as I have pointed out,
the spiritual resurrection ; it means here, of course, an
adverse judgment. From thevery formof the sentence,
we infer that a sentence against those who have taken
part in the /rj/ resurrection, viz: thdse who have
passed from dead works to serve the living God, will
not be administered at the final judgment.
We find it used in another sense in i Cor. xi.
There, after reproving the Corinthians for coming to
the Holy Communion in a state of intoxication froni}^
the Love Feast or Agape, St. Paul goes on to speak
of this disgraceful conduct as follows: "Let a man
prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread and
drink of the cup; for he that eateth and drinketh in
an unworthy mapner, eateth and drinketh a judgment
to himself, if he does not distinguish the body ; for this
cause many are sick, and weak, and some sleep; but
if we would discern ourselves, we should not be judged ;
but being judged, we are chastened of the Lord, in
order that we may not be condemned {KaraKpiBofuv) with
the world." Here the- judgment is the chastisement,
sent upon the believing Corinthians, viz., sickness,
weakness, and death, to preserve them from the con-
demnation of the world of evil. TheSe Christians at
Corinth were (in common with all other Christians)
iideally risen with Christ; and, therefore, in the condi-
tion described by Christ, " He that believeth on Him
Ms not judged; but he that believeth not is already
^
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26
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
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judged." (John iii. 18.) But when their practical life
failed to agree with their ideal life, judgment came.
God does not suspend his natural laws. For those
who put their fiqgers into the fire, it will burn; for
those guilty of immorality, the consequences will fol-
low. This law is one of the most unalterable of all
laws, both in the physical and moral worlds. But it
is also said, " He that believeth not has been already
judged." (John iii. 18.) According to one way of in-
terpreting the first half of this verse,.this (above quoted)
lattcjr half would prove that the judgment of unbeliev-
ers fs over also, so that there will be no final judgment
at all. \
AH we can really unders,tand from these passages
we. can explain by quoting somq others. "He that
endureth to the erfd shall be saved." (Matt x. 22.)
"Give diligence to make your calling and election
sure." (2 Peter i. 10.) "Jesus answered them. Have
not I elected you ^twelve, and one of you is a devil ?"
(John vi.V,o.) St. Paul writes to the Corinthians,
^' With me it is a very small matter that I should be
judged of you or of man's day; yea, judge not mine
own self, for I know nothing against myself; yet am
I notf hereby justified, but He that judgeth me is the
Lord; therefore, judge nothing before the time, until
the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hid-
den things of darkness, and will panifest the councils
of the hearts." (i Cor. iv. 3-6.) Here St. Paul con-
trasts man's day (which is the correct reading) with
the Lord's- day of judgment He, without doubt, con-
nects the idea of judgment with the day of the Lord's
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
27
coming. He tells the Corinthians to leave judgment
to Christ, who will perform tlie task most completely.
As it was St. Paul who was being judged, the passage
clearly shows us St. Paul expected to be judged at
Christ's coming; no doubt he hoped for, and in faith
expected, an acquittal. ^ is, therefore, not to he won-
dered at that in his second Epistle to the Corinthians
he sljould solemnly warn them in the following words:
"Wherefore we strive earnestly, that we be accepted
of Him, for we must all be made manifest before the
judgment seat of Christ, that every man may receive
the things done in the body, according; to what he
hath done, whether it be good or bad; knowing, there-
fore, the fear of the Lord, we persuade men." <2 Cor.
,v. 10-12.)
Here St. Paul tells believers we should strive earn-
estly But why? That we might be accepted of :
Him. But when, and wher9? When He sits upon
His judgment seat. Bema Was "the official seat of the
Roman judge, raised above the floor of the Basilica ; in
classical Greek, indeed, it had meant the orator's plat-
form; but it was, of course, impossible that St. Paul
could have used the word in an obsolete sense. The
apostle always connects the judgment of brother upon
brother with the final judgment of Christ. "Why
dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at
naught thy brother? for we sh411 all stand before the
judgment seat of God . . . so every one of us
shall give an account of himself to God." (Rom. xiv.
10-12.) It may satisfy some people to explain this as
a mere manifestation before God, but the whole con-
is
^i» j.^^TF '■i"^'!^" '^%T^^k-^
29
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
•^ s
}
i
tCJct points to what may justly be called a judgment
We naturally connect these passages with the " throne
of God" in Rev. xjc., before which are gathered the
^^ead, small and great (Stjbhn always uses the word
"throne," and ipany times in Revelations). S| Paul
uses bema,"the raised seat of the judge in the Ronian
Empire, of which he was a titizen. He did not scruple
, to use the power his position gave him, for on one
occasion, when he stood a prisoner before the "bema"
of the Roman Judge, he Isaid, " I appeal to Caesar." In
view of these passages. We are reminded of others of
like nature. « Be not decei^, God is not mocked •
for whatsoever a man/ soweth, that shall he also rfeap •
for he that soweth fo the flesh, shall of the flesh reap
corruption; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the
spirit reap eternal life." They certainly are deceived
who imagine "doing" a deadly thing; and yet there
IS i doing that is deadly. St. Paul, after that terrific
list of the sins of the flesh, says : '^they which ^o such
thmgs shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal. v 21 )
In Sf. Paul'^ theology, /am means a living motive
power, which will strengthen the will to refuse the"
evU^and cling to the right ; had he meant by "faith" a
mere fiction by means of which we were to escape that
which,elsewhere he himself and all other Scriptures Con-
cur in telling us ^//rnust undergo, he would certainly
have said so plainly, without mistaki of contradiction •
.and, having said so, he would not have filled up his
letters with whole passages which it would require the
keenest ingenuity to explain away. , And, again
another important point-an important principle-is
"t^-ajfU
<,"5-'TJH*K
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
29
* this, that God most certainly freely makes us His
children, that we may be good children. We not
only acknowledge this, but glory in the fact ; He does
not adopt us as His children after arriving at any cer-
tain degree of goodness. In this the wisdom of God is
manifest, and we do well (if we have families) in
following His example, in dealing with our own chiU
^ Ifiren. But when we say this we mu$t also add, admit-
ted into a holier sanctuary, the more terrififi^will be the
condemnation if we become reprobates, or " cuHs,** as
the Greek word translated reprobates means literally.
V The Second "Advent. <
Our Lord said; during His life on earth, "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here
which shall not taste of death till they see the Sob of
man coming in His kingdom," (Matt. xvi. 28,) and
again, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this genera-
shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. (Matt
xxiv* 34.) These two passages are introduced by the
solemn asseveration " Verily, verily,"^ thus catifng
especial attention to them. Eyery attempt to explain
them away is stamped with failure. He had just said
(v. 18) that He would build His Church upon this
." Rock," viz., "The Rock of Ages," Himself But the
' Jewish dispensation yet existed, the temple still rung
with the praises of the old dispensation, the altars still
smoked with victims, year by year the high priest still '
entered into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled the
mercy-seat with the bloocj of the sacrificial victim, all
was being done as God had commanded ; yet the new
?fii
, ^^^^f*.iir^«f^'^3^^fP«*i "=
30
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
* V
dispensation ^as to be inaugurated on the day of
, Pentecost. \ /
But God hadNaot yet commanded the divinely in-
stituted ritual to^ase. This was still to come It
w^ to cease by tfe coming, in judgment, of that same
God who had instituted it. This was done, and be-
fore that generation had passed away, before all those
who had listened to our Saviour had tasted death.
The Tranisfigur^fion cannot be referred to. To speak
thus of what was to feappen in six days would have
been unnatural.and misleading ; and, besides. He did
not come in His kingdom at the Transfiguration In
the twenty-fourth .chapter of St. Matthew we find our
Lord,>e Truth itself, telling His audience of Jews
that their city would'be surrounded with armies, and
to know by this sign .that desolation was near, that those
in the surrounding country were to flee to the moun-
tams, and those in the city were-to come out of it
that weak women and nursing mothers would have a
poor chance of escape, for something He calls the
kingdom of God was near; then He tells them, with
the solejnn introduction^ that this would come to pass
before the then existing generation would pass away,
^. as in another place, before some standing before
Him died; then He goes on t6 warn them against
evil doing and sin, that they might escape the evil
that was coming, and stand before Him.
He speaks to them as Jews, and as Jews who would
remain true to the outward observances of their reli-
gion, even the observance of the Jewish Sabba*
(Saturday) after the Jewj^i laws, until God destroyed
V
i-fiys-^^ Bjy-'-" Ti^J"
■^.ifti- V*^r- J, ^z"
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
3»
by a divine interposition — formally abrogated the
divinely appointed order of the old dispensation —
" Pray ye that your flight be not .... on the
Sabbath day." They were not allowed to take a long
journey on the Sabbath day. (See Matt, xxiv.) The
primary meaning of this is quite clear. The last
I words of the preceding chapter (xxiii.) had been the
wail of the Divine Patriot over the ^'Beloved City."
In April, 70 A.D., Titus, the Roman general, with
8o,cxX) troops, laid siege to Jerusalem. The city was
full of passover pilgrims. This siege stands out as
one of the greatest and most awful events in the
world's history. The city became the scene of mad
confusion aqd famine, women slaying and devouring
their own 4:hildren. The Jews fought with frantic
courage. When the city was taken, the temple be-
came the » centre ot the fight, the great altar was
covered with the slain ; the courts of the temple were
covered with streams of hifman blood ; six thousand
1^ women and children perished in the burning ruins.
The Roman troops adored their ensigns on the spot
where the Holy of Holies had stood ; one million one
hundred thousand human beings perished in the siege,
the number of captives taken and sold as slaves was
enormous.
This was the awful fiat of the Almighty, the end of
the visible economy of the old dispensation. No
longer was the struggling Christian Church In danger
' of becoming a mere sect of Judaism. The Lord, by
coming and destroying the whole outward framework
of the Mosaic ritual, came to bless and confirm His
4
jfeij-'j? i^ y i!»i^
*^rr »(j~j,^"^ 'te-^ j^tj #-^orTn' -^^■•r^^^y. , s, -^/^i^ , '** 'f ,"
32
THE X:0>fING OF CHRIST.
Struggling Church by overthrowing and destroying
her dead and useless rival. ; |i
This was what our Lord's ji^s <above quoted) re-
ferred to. No doubt he had atep H is final coming and
judgment in view when he uttered the awful words of
the twenty-fourth of Matthew. We must bear in mind
that all the New Testament books were written before
the fall of jerusalen^with the exception of the Gospel
and Epistles of St. jSri;>vho lived to see this coming of
Christ. (See John xxi! ig-25.)
So we find in them an intense «>epectation of Christ's
coming; and no wonderpv^en Christ had said He
would come, within that generation. We also^nd, in
the references to His comihg in the epistles, the double
reference, just as in the twenty-fourth cha)»ter of Mat-
thew, first His coming in the fall of Jerusalem, and again
His final coming. The words used to express the facts
are, " The day of judgment," " The day of the Lord,"
" The day of Christ," and " That day."
The Thessalonians are in intense sorrow, as their.
fellow-Christians drop off one by one, and yet the
Lord comes not; would they who died lose their part
i« the glories of the kingdom Christ was coming to
establish and confirm ? We see how the two comings
were mixed up in their minds. St. Paul writes to re-
assure them, "I would not have you ignorant, breth-
ren, concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as the rest which haye no hope. For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them
that fall asleep through Jesiis will God* bring with Him.
For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord,
'E^Ss^^
f^^;'^ -^yp '' t '\ 6, t
' ' * 1^^^^^Sf^'•'^t^• fvr-^'V
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
33
and destroying
that we that remain, that are left fintil the presence of
the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen
asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel
and the trump of God, and the ^ead in Christ shall
rise first, then we that are alive, that are left, shall to-
gether with them be caught up in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever with the
Lord." ( I Thess. iv. 13- 1^.) This sorrow of the Thes-
salonians was altogether alien to the true spirit of
Christianity under such circumstances. The New
Testament, the catacombs, artd all the ancient burial
services, testify to anything but intense sorrow in the
presence of death. In the New Testament death is
always brightened by the resurrection ; jn^the cata-
combs (the burial places of the early Roman Chris-
tians),' there is no sign of sorrow ; on the contrary, the
rude art of those dark places testify to-day to the ex-
perience of joy and victory on the part of the early
Christians in the presence of death. We hear the
same key of joy and victory struck in the burial ser-
vice of the Church of England, which is a good repre-
sentative of the spirit of the ancient services from
which it was compiled. How could this excessive
sorrow be corrected ? By the presentation of the truth
of Christ's coming and the resurrection. But we are
told, " They knew the dead would rise— as Martha did
—why then tell them so again?" Are we never to
apply a well-knowri truth, when needed, becaiise it is
known ? St. Paul oM, not in the matter of the resur-
rection only, but in other matters of doctrine. He,
~^
w t«^2ffgAsieii!a'V^^
>* I
-^1
/-C
if^^I- Tf i™-^^
(■ J^T» ^^fT^J^-V-^-
"*>v'*r^"^p^^
34
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
-f:
liSe our Urd, reiterates the grand truths of the faith
»K .; •'''"'.' ''^t"" P''^"'""B 'he advent as it concerned'
the II just." The order is: ■• First the dead in Christ
rise —not as contrasted with the " unjust," who are to
"tf' r/":. *' ^'^^ *'" ""' 1^" ^"'h » meaning
--but "first, VIZ., before, the hving are glorified and
rise to meet their Saviour, then shall they both " the
risen and the hving," ascend to meet their SavioLr to-
gether. St Chrysostom says of jhis: " When the kin?
Cometh into a cit:J^ they that are honorable pro-
ceed forth to meet :him, but the guilty await their
judge within. St. Paul only refers to the adveftt and
resurrection in relation to the "just"; any reference
to the unjust" would not have been to the point for
he *as writing to comfort those who mourned the
death of am/,a,._«And so shall we be ever with
the Lo«l. Not a word of Satan's being let loose, and
another assault upon them by the " nations " of evil •
not a word of another attack from the world power'
when a divine interposition will be necessary to save
them from the enemies' hand. (See Rev. xx. 7.,, ) If
this were^to happen afterwards, it would be a sad blot
Z",ll " rt"' '^^"P''°" °^fi»«' peace and bliss.
But although the "unjust" be not mentioned here,
they are in his second epistle, where he refers again to
ShSt "''"•" *""' '' '^ " riehteous'thing
with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict
you; and to you that are afflicted, rest with us, at the
revelation^of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaved, «^,h
the angels of His power, in flaming fire, rendenW
vengeance to them that know not God, and t5-th«n
-" -^jj- , ' , °
t'- ^ • .A ;-■ ■ ",
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
i$
that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
who shall suffer punishment, even eternal ruin from
the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His
might; when we shall come to be glorified in His
saints, and to be macvelled at fn all them that
believed (because our ^ testimony unto you was
believed) in that day; to which endiwe pray alway
for you, that our Lord may count you, worthy of. your*
calling." (2 Thess. i. 6-12.) . ti. .
In the 2oth chapter of Revelation, i-io, there is no
mention of the coming of our Lord; no mention of the
judgment or punishment of any of the " unjust." On
the contrary, we have '^he binding of Satan, that he may
not deceive the nations ; a curbing of the power of evil
in the world, that the saints may reign there. Satan's
renewed attack upon the spiritual Zion, "the holy
city," viz., the Church, is the sign of that, (which on
all hands) is acknowledged to be the final judgment
But here, in Thessalonians, we have those who
troubled the saints recompensed with punishment;
a judgment upon the evil world in accordance with,
the parable of the *! sheep and the goats." (Matt.
XXV. 31-46.) And then note the kind of punishment
administered, it is '' elernal destruction" or, as it may
be translated, ^/^r/ftf/ ^^aM.
Revelations xx. 14, calls it Xh^ second death, just
as Revelations xx. 5, calls spiritual resurrection th^ first
resurrection. In the parable of "the sheep and the
goats " it iscalled eternal punishment. (Matt xxiv. 46.)
But these two passages are by all acknowledged to
refer to the /«tf/ judgment. Then note again the
-i^St't* ^"Xfk ^
n
t III *
M
1 . ;
^■' 1 ' ■
HI
MB f, . '
Bll- ' '-. .
^^H
'^^1
,B-:^ ■■•:■;■■
36
* THE COMING bF CHRIST.
punished and rewarded are respectively represented
_ under two descriptions. The punished are—
1st. They that know not God.
5nd. They that obey not the Gospel.
The rewarded are —
1st. His saints.
2nd. Them that believe.
"They that 'know not God" in contrast to them
that believe ; "they that ^% not the Gospel," in
contrast to " His paints," viz., sanctified people. Then
St. Paul prays "that God may esteem you worthy
of this calling." The word translated "reckon"
embraces the sense of "decide," "adjudicate," so here,
in- the coming, we have a judgment of the beUevers.'
.But what does St. Paul mean by his prayer? It
refers to the two several classes of the punished
and rewarded. " WorOiy of this calling," " Called to
be saints," viz., sanctified persons. (Rom. i. 7.) He
prays that the "believers." at Thessalonica may, by
the grace of God, be actually as well as ideally
"saints," so that they may not be embraced in that
class of the lost who are described as disobedient
to the Gospel, in contradistinction to the other class
who are described as not knowing God. ^ '
Again is the theory dashed to the ground that
God IS a respecter of persons ; that He will practise
favoritism, by exempting those who are most privi-
leged from a judgment that all must undergo.
The term "last days '^ must be understood, when
used, as Uiose days preceding a coming, or judgment,
'«??»fF?;wpfj;pw«*'y^''
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
^7
of Christ The days of the apostles were the last days
of the Jewish economy, which Christ would come
to destroy. Those days were also the beginning of
the end of that Pagan Empire of Rome, and, there-
fore, its last days. The days of any rotting institution
or nation preceding its destruction are its " last days,"
and pre-eminently the days preceding the final end
of evil ^e the " last days."
The "last days" in any of these ^nces are always
"evil days." St. Peter's description of the last days
preceding the time when " the elements' shall be dis-
solved with fervent heat and the earth also^ and shall
the works thereof be found?" (2 Peter, iii. 10), reads
very much like the account of the final judgment in
the Revelation of St. John, where the " earth " is repre-
sented as fleeing away from the face of God, after the
evil days when the saints shall be assailed by the
deceived nations.
2 Thes. ii. 8. "Then shall the lawless one be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume in the bright-
ness of His comihg^"
St. John tells us there are many antichrists ; there
have been many fulfilments of this prophesy, and,
possibly, there may be many more before the final
fulfilment .
One of the marks and signs of Christ's coming in
judgment is the revelation of "the Lawless One."
God's moral law is eternal in its very nature ; whenever
the devil let loose, goes about to deceive men into be-
lieving that God's moral law may be lost sight of with
A - • »
^1* A^«»TT 1
\,jo vyiic la uc
iiig rcve
aiea,
\ -
•
J
-
■¥■-
!
if
t?"^;-''
m
i^
fc ' ''■•''
™05WWJ*'*
'^•^'
38
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
. and h.s revelation always precedes the Lord's com.W
.n judgment. We have now seen that our iLTlf
dZ u''- :"'" "= """' J'«'Se *he quick andS
out ^f "[h'"K'\*''' =""^" ""<' ereat shall be judgtd
man shiir l^' r".' "^ '-°'' oHife. and evl^
man shall be judged according to his worl^ I„
-^^l:i1^t-'^' no exceptiirt^h!;
..othp,e,^rm:^s*:,i^Lr
ments;eachhasthestan.poffinalityuS.„it K"
fore, the false deduction which springs from a mt
appreh^sion of the doctrine of « j^fic'^tiX fa^^
m that believers will be exempt from juLment
receives no warrant from the Word of God. ^^^^'
The Church and the Ministry.
It IS oil all sides acknowledeedk-'lvliVf" <• u
possible) is the condition, and bawlm^hf *^J ",
entrance into the Christian Churl So ,^. °^
elude thof ,n k ^- . "" ^'""^^n- 00 that we con-
clude that all baptized people who believe in Chri«
are members of the Church of Christ '
_ In this sense of the word Church, we see it used in
*e following passages: Matt. xvi. ,8; Ac7s viH ?
Cor. XV. 9, and in the passage '• The i^.h f^!. i ^ '.
Church daily such as wereting savt^^' ^^f^^ ^^
"It# used of the Chun* M ™J^ ' !'' ^^'^
counj^... (A , ,^a , ^ ^^^ -^ <; ^«- city or
I'ping in tfte upper room, lent for
^■jr** * f-ff toip-v'i^m
•-'wr^f't'^ ;rt^^* **i^^ "^ !''wy""^'^
RESURRECTION AND' JUDGMENT.
9
39
f" (when
mode of
t we con-
in Christ
t used in
ed to the
ts ii. 47.)
• city or
2.)
"Aquiia
house."
ean the
lent for
the purpose by Acquila and Priscilla. We come to
this conclusionr, because this form of salutation, in dif-
ferent epistles, is always sent to the same persons, but
not to all Christian families. It is used also in the
plural, meaning various congregations. (Acts ix. 3 1 ;
XV. 41 ; Rom. xvi. 4 ; i Cor. vii. 17.)
The Greek word ecdesia, which is translated
Church, is used in the Greek version of' the Old
Testament, called the Septuagint, for congregation
Our Lor4<*and the apostles were well versed in this
Greek version of the Old Testament, as they often
rti^de their quotations from it arid not from the He-
brew version. So we may now see where the word
came from as used in the New Testament.
There are two texts often brought forward to prove
thA the Spirit of God is in such a way the president
in a Christian assembly or congregation,^lhat a minis-
try in the Church is needless, if not actually unlawful.
They are as follows: "Wherever two or three are
are met together in My name, there am I in the
midst of them." (Matt, xviii. 20.) This is the origin
of the celebrated ecclesiastical saying, '' Ubi tre^ ibi
Ecciesia!' This, verse is explained by the preceding
verse, " If two of you shall agree on earth as touching
anything that ye shall ask, it shall be done for them
of My father which is in heaven." Our Lord then
tells them that He would be present at the assembling
of the faithful, as the Mediator between God and man,
and as the Great High Priest, to present their devo-
tions to the Father ; nothing aboutthe presidency in
the congregation is mentioned. '
r
1^
,'^;aw^p^'-
ip
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
■ 4»
The other passage is, "iGod is not of confusiod, but
of peace;" (i.Coi|.|jjciv.33.) The word author does not
exist in the Grep|c. - This sentence contains a. self-
evident truth, and the reason why it occurs here must
be found by reading the chapter from which it is
taken. In this fourteenth chapter of first Corinthians
.the apostle is reproving his Converts at Corinth for
tonfusion in the congregation.
A ministry of " gifts " existed in the 'early Church.
Some of these " gifts " were miraculous, and in .their
exercise, especially in the exercise of the |*^ft of^
tongues," the Corinthians brought confusion into th^
assembly. Had the Holy Spirit been given to^prfe-
serve such order as was seemly in the assembly, how
is it the apostle intervenes in this way, instead of
plainly telling the Corinthians the truth? .
There can be no do^ibt St. Paul describes a state of
babel and confusion.! "How is it, then, brethren?
when ye come toget^ier^ every /one of you hath a
psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, ha,th a revels^r
tion, hath an interpretation." (v; 26.) How is it? i>.,
whence this confusion? He then goes on, giving
directions for the exercise of these gifts. And hav-
ing given .these directions, he says*in eflfect: "The
Goli you worship is a lover of order, »decorum,
and peace, thei-efore, if in the congregation you wish
to offer Him an acceptabk service, it must not be one
;■ of cdhfusipn."., ■■'_■; / X --. :■:"•:>- -'wz'--^ :i:\' '::::. :J^:-s
The latter part of veree '33rd belongs to the 34th
^^"e» »^^ the 32nd. It should read, "As in all, the
churches of the saints, let your women keep ^ilenc^ in
./"'
•St
•i^Si^y *
■ ' «';:sS^'"-'^'"*'. "^fr", f^'yv^W.*' "'Ji.'!^^ •>!< }.iEj^«'s 1 -T^*-\>'y'.
:-/
KESORRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
41
the church." (33, 34.) The general order was in all
the churches that women were silept in the congrega-
tion. Corinth was an exception to this rule, therefore",
the apostle tells them to do. as other churches in this
matter ibr the future. • t
St. Paul was a wise man, and wise also by revela-
tion; he was reproving the Corinthian Church fpr wild
disorder and ecstatic confusion, he well knew women
being naturally more excitable than men, would only
add to the Confusion wer^ they to be allowed their say
too, His concluding orderMs, " Let all things be dqne
decently and in order." (v. 40.) Let your worship be
conducted with orderly jjec^ncy, these wild outbursts
pf incoherent fanaticism must ,cease. (See the whble
twenty-fourth chapter of first Corinthians.) It seems
to me impossible to deduce an argument ag^iifist the
q;iinistry (rather'otherwise) from this chapter.
With the exception of the Epistle of St James
and the Epistles tb the Thessalonlans, the two
Epistles to, the Corinthians were the first part of the ,
New Testament written. We see what a state of
immo^iity, confusion, insubordination and division
this Corinthian Church was. in, by carefully reading
these two epistles. Examine the following jpassages
from these epistles: i Cor. i. n, 12; i Cor. iii. .1-5;
l# i'Cor/ v. 1-3 2 ; Cor. xi. 13. In 2 Cor. jcL 26, we
,see there must have been numbers of false brethren
in the- Church a^ the time-v So^in the. Church of the
apostles' day we find false brethren, false apostles,
deceitful workers, immoi«il persons, divisions, and
qucirrels. ^ Th^se are what some persons imagine a
;M-:
,-k^-
' 'S \-
■ ^
'*:i'k'.'^*"''''i'l-'f --y- '
I .^ -^nwr jT^fff^u^ -r^gi^r
%T~r0\S^ A^\<^*
<
>
4i
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
recognition on the part bf" modern Christians of a
presidency of the Holy Spirit in the assembly, and
the abrogation of the ministry would altogether
banish. We doubt the success now, any more than
when the Chutch was govcrneci by the apostles. * ^
But let us pass on to the epistles written later on.
The Epistles to the Corinthians had been written
in the year 56 ^.D. The Epistles to Timothy and
the Epistfes to Titus and the Hebrews were written
during the years 64 and 65 A.D. In the Epistles to
Timothy and Titu.s, we find an o/ganized system of
government' in the hands of Church officers, called
bishops (overseers) or presbyters (elders), under the
apostles. The Epistle to theJFJ'ebrews recognizes
this fact in two passages : " Remember them that are^^
the guides over you, who haye spoken, to you the
word of God" (Heb. xiiK 7.) " Obey them that have
the guidance over you, arid yield to them, for it js
they that watch on behalf of your souls, as having
to give account." (Heb. xiii. I ;^.) .
Of course, we are told that the organized ministry
was to cease with the apostles, and that only apostles
and their delegates appointed and ordained ministers.
We should certainly have been surprised to find any
one but the rulers and qrganizel-s of any socifety ordain-
ing the ministry of such society. And so with the
Church; who but the apostles or their delegates would
have governed and ordained ? But we find the Church
still continued the Christian ministry after the apostles'
death. We hiaive in the very earliest documents, refer-
ring to th ^ Church, after the apostles' death; ample
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7 ifESURRECTIOK AND JUDGMENT. .43
. proof that the ministry was ^ntinucd without the
least ideia that a mistake was being madt If the
Church was in need of the ministry during tn^ lifetime
of the apostles, to correct such disorder and confusion
as the apostle describes at Corinm, surely the neces-
sity stiU-cxi^ts to-day : (not that I mean that the only
.duty of the ministry is to correct disorder; I am on
these subjects taking the lowest- position). " Had God
r-*meant the Christian ministry to die with the apostles,
'He most/ certainly would have revealed the fact, and
we shoiild haVe had it clearly stated in the New Tes-
tament God in His providence would never have
allowed \hree epistles, the ist and 2nd Timothy, and
* Titiis, almost altogether taken up with a description
of/ church organization, the proper qualifications for
niinisters, and tl^eir appointment, to take up so much
place in the New Testament, were the ministry to
cease with the apostles ; especially is this' so, when we
* remember St. John tells us there were many things
Jesus did and taught hot recorded at all. (John xxi.
25.) The truth is, that this new idea is the outcome
of the ifiodern progress of the w^r/flf. Since modern
' progress has introduced printing, and the education of
nearly air the people, every one is able to study the
Bible for himself. No one dreamt of denying the
necessity "of the ministry when Bibles had to be written
by hand, when no one tould buy pne, but the very
► rich, and even had nine hundred and ninety-nine men
out of a^ thousand possessed one, thiey could not have
read it The principle of the perpetuity of the mmis-
is laid down in 2 Tim, ii. 1.2. The word " faithful "
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THE COMING QF CHRIST.
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in this passap^e does not mean ordinary believers, but»
as the whole epistle proves, thos^ who have ^he quali-
fications for the office of the ministry.
The word " elders'' (or "presbyters") was used of
the officers of the Jewish Synagogue, and ^tu rally
passed into the Christian Church. It is used in refer-
ence to " office," and not age. For instance, St. Paul
says to Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth,"
although Timothy was doubtless an "elder.*' (See i
Tim. iv. 14.)
The State of the Church in the Apostles'
Days and Our Own. »
Divisions among Christians are deploral^e*" facts.
We have divided from disagreement, which is not
creditable. But yet, divisions among Christians existed
at Corinth in St. Paul's day/ "Now I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye
all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions
(schisms) among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For it hath been declared unto me of you, my
brethren, by them which are of tlie house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among yoii. What I mean
is this, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul;
and I of Apohos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ
Is Christ parcelled out into fragments? Was Paul
crucified for you? Or weref ye baptized in the name
of Paul ?" (i Cor. i. 10-14.)
.This shows us that the church which excelled all
others 'in its possession of "gifts" was in a most
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
4S
deplorable coridilJipn J that divisions the most painful
and acuie existed. What does St Paul propose as
a remedy ? To come out of Corinthian Christianity ?
Most cer^aily not. Qn the other hand, he counsels
them to draw together* by speaking the same thing,
and thus drive away th^ spirit of disunion. This, as
long as they sacrificed no living ^principle of the faith
of Christ, it was their duty to do. He tells these
' contending schools of thought at Corinth, not one
of them had a mbnoply of Christ.
A careful study of the Acts of the Apostles and
the epistles will convince any one, willing to be con-
vinced,, that the Christian Church of the apostles'
days was by no means a society of perfect people;
very far, indeed,/rom it. Nothing more convinces one
of the truth of Holy Scripture, than that it gives
us the blots and blemishes, as well as the holiness and
purity, both of individuals and the Church.
Are the "believers" of early times commanded
" to come out of the Church by the apostles because
the Church of that time contained false brethren, false
apostles, deceitful workers, drunken irequenters of the
Holy Communions ; schismatics, jinio set up schools
of thought of their own, and called their schools
by particular names, Paul, Peter, ApoUos, or even
Christ? (For it must be remembered, to call our own
school of thought by the name of CJirist, in a
fractious spirit, is even worse than to give it the name
of some mere human teacher.) No ; these mistaken,
weak, and erring brethren are to be reclaimed ; for
tiie^hurch*^n earth is more like a huge s piritua l
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THE COMING OF CHRIST.
hospital than a society of immaculate people. Thesfe
divisions and clashing schools are to cease their
contentions, and all to draw together.
This is the task before the modern religious and
ecclesiastic reformer, who wishes to follow in St
PauVs steps— not the attempt to make confusion
worse confounded, by adding a narrower, bitterer
school to those alreading existing. '
Conclusion.
The great doctrines of "Election and Predestina-
tion," and "'jus.tification by Faith," are both scriptural,
are both true. But the doctrine of " Predestination and
Election," be it never held so firmly, is not truly exalted
• by casting away^the doctrine of "Free Will." The
doctrine of " Justification by Faith " is not truly exalted
by casting away the doctrine of "A Final Judgment
according to Works/'
To illustrate the above assertions, we will close the
consideration of these great topics by quoting a pas-
sage from the works of a celebrated divine — Canon
Mozely : " It were to be wished that that active pene-
tration, and close acute attention, which mankind have
applied to so many subjects of knowledge, and so suc-
cessfully. Sad been applied, in a somewhat greater pro-
portion^ than it has been* to the due apprehension of
that very important article of knowledge, their own
ignorance. . . . Nor does this apply to the un-
• instructed and uncultivated part of marikind only, but
perhaps even more strongly to the learned and contro-
versial dass. For certainly to hear the way in which
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RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT.
some Of t^ class argue, and draw inferences from the
romprehensible truths of revelation 'S're^lU
as they say. to their -""^"'''"^^^"t '^ ^aS
upon which, howe^^e e^^e and r-fetched. ^ ^^^
Sa " t'LhTtJf-t: •:&. I W. rrom the long
!nTfin^ tr™ns of inferences drawn by some theolog.ans
f^m mjr ous doctrines, endltes distinctions spun .
lutof^ach other in succession, and issuing .n subtle-
rsS bam. all comprehension, and ar^msho.
rrrh alS:Su.g .om reHglou trLs one
cannoTavoid two reflections: 0"^. *" -'" P^/^ '"
not know their own ignorance • the other, that .t .s
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^dcomprehensive. not afrL of api«.rent mcons-s-
■ trncyb^t admitting all tru(h which presents .tseU to
ISice. It .s only when minds begin to Ph^-f-
that that they are narrow Then begms ine
Tdlof argument, the ti,genuity of construction, the
Sryiouf.of ideas and principles into successive
' cSuences. which, as they b««5me more «.d
. more*mote.leave the original truA at a d.sUnce.
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THE COMING OF CHRIST.
judged." (John iii. i8.) But when theiV practical life
failed to agree with their ideal life, judgment came.
God does not suspend his natural laws. For those
who put their fiqgers into the fire, it will burn; for
those guilty of immorality, the consequences will fol-
low. This law is one of the most unalterable of all
laws, both in the physical and moral worlds. But it
is also said, " He that believeth not has been already
judged." (John iii. i8.) According to one way of in-
terpreting the first half of this verse,.this (above quoted)
lattcjr half would prove that the judgment of unbeliev-
ers is over also, so that there will be no final judgment
at all: ;.. A, ■ ■• :/ , -^
AH we can really unders,tand from these passages
we. can explain by quoting some others. "He that
endureth to the erfd shall be saved." (Matt x. 22.)
"Give diligence to make your calling and election
sure." (2 Peter i. 10.) "Jesus answered them. Have
not I elected you ^twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
(John vi. '70.) St. Paul writes to the Corinthians
. RESURRECTION AND JUDGMl
coming. He tells the Corinthians to U
to Christ, who will perform tlie task mc
As it was St. Paul who was being judg<
clearly shows us St. Paul expected to
Christ's coming; no doubt he hoped f<
expected, an acquittal. It is, therefore,
dered at that in his second Epistle to 1
he sbould solemnly warn them in the fc
" Wherefore we strive earnestly, that \
of Him, for we must all be made man
judgment seat of Christ, that every mi
the things done in the body, accordi
hath done, whether it be good or bad ;
fore, the fear of the Lord, we persuadi
, v. 10-12.)
Here St. Paul tells believers we sho
estly. But why? That we might
Him. But when, and wher^? Whei
His judgment seat. Bema Was the of
Roman iudee. raised above the floor of