The Glorious Appearance of Christ to Judgment
The gloi’ious appearance qf Christy to judgment considered as certain. The terror and aslonish menty conjusion and despair, qf wicked Jews and Christians, to behold their Judge, and hear bis condemning sentence to everlasting destruction*
When our blessed Saviour shall appear to judge the world, I read that it shall be in his own glory, the glory of his Father,, and of the holy angels. If, by “the glory of his Father,” be meant that of the Divinity, as the original and author of all things in nature, as the almighty Creator of the world; and, by glory of his holy angels,” be understood, that of the legal administration, the law being given by the disposition of the angels; and, by his own glory,” that of the gospel, as be is the Messiah; that in the glory of all these he shall come to judgment; we have a summary account of the three different rever lations which God hath made of hunself to mankind; by the light of nature, that of the law, and the more manifest one, of the gospel; according to which every man is to be judged at the last day.
Though we cannot directly tell what, or how great, our Lord’s glory will then be, we may be certain it will be suitable to the dignity of his royal person; suitable to the grandeur of his Father’s majesty, with the splendour of a triumphant prince, who ia ^’ heir of all things,” and hath all power in heaven and in earth committed to him; the great Lord of both worlds, head of angels and men; and suitable to his glorious office, as Mediator,. and the appointed Judge of quick and dead.
If, at bis transfiguration’, his face shone, and his raiment was white and glittering, how much more splendid will his last appearance be I When the bodies of his saints shall be seven times brighter than the lustre of the sun! and, if his members shall then be so glorious, how transcendently more so will their head, their Lord appear! If the delivery and promulgation of the law, on mount Sinai, was accompanied with such circumstances of terrible majesty, how much more may we suppose the great assize will be attended with, when he comes to judge for the violation of the law and the contempt of the gospel! And, if even Moses did then exceedingly quake and fear, what will be the consternation and trembling of the wicked world at the coming of Christ! “when he shall be revealed from heaven, in flaming fire,” with a glorious retinue of his mighty angels, as so many bright stars about the more glorious Sun of Righteousness! The lights of heaven shall be eclipsed; the visible sun shall veil its blushing head, as infinitely outshone; the present glory of the creation be all benighted by reason of his transcendent brightness. Yea, the heavens shall be wrapped up as a scroll, the elements melt away with a mighty noise, the earth and all its works be burned up, and the whole universe, as one great bonfire, to adorn the triumph of our Lord’s appearance: and this ushered in by the voice of an archangel, proclaiming his approach; and the voice of God, supplying the use of a trumpet, to raise the dead, and possess mankind with an awful Reverence of their JvxAge I
Thus, in triumph, as a conqueror and a judge* shall He come again, who once appeared in the form of a servant, to be judged and condemned by man. Then he was called King in scorn; ncnxt he will appear as much above all earthly and human greatness as once he stooped, for our sakes, beneath it. Then the contempt of nations, and no way esteemed desirable, when he came from the womb of his virgin mother; norm the terror of the world, when he comes again from the right hand of his Father! No more to be subject to a state of meanness, but “to render vengeance to all who know not God and obey not the gospel; and to be glorified in the saints, and admired in and by all them that believe.”^
He was put to shame in the days of his flesh, made himself of no reputation, and accounted unworthy to live; but, when he comes again, he will put on a garment of vengeance, to repay fury to the enemies of his cross, and make his wicked despisers rise again to shame and everlasting contempt. They that once bowed the knee to him in mockery, and shook their heads at him in derision, shall then ^’see every knee bow before him, of things in heaven, things in earth, and under the earth:’’ angels, men, and devils, in subjection to him, as Lord and King. Pilate, who condemned him as his prisoner, shall appear before him as his rightful Judge, and know that he was a very different king and monarch from the Roman emperor. The false witnesses, who accused him of blasphemy, shall be impeached by one another, and their own guilty consciences, before his bar, with the other Jews, who once dragged him before their tribunal; and be confounded W ^X^YidL before his judgment-seat. His crucifiers shall behold him on a throne oF glory whom they nailed to an infamous cross. They shall be astonished to behold him sitting at the right hand of God, whose hands they bound, whose body they scourged, whose side they pierced. They, who crowned him with thorns, shall (with all the world) behold him with a crown of glory. They, that spit on him, and smote him on the face with the fist of wickedness, shall have their own faces covered with coiifxision. They that approved his condemnation to death, as a criminal, shall be sentenced from his mouth, as their Judge, to everlasting destruction. They that scourged him, as a malefactor, shall be beaten with many stripes. They, that made him stagger under the weight of the cross, shall sink under the guilt and punishment of despising it. They that nailed him to the accursed tree, between thieves and robbers, shall be sentenced to endless punishment, in much worse company. They, who gave him gall and vinegar to drink, shall not be able to get a drop of water to cool their own tongues. Where, then, shall the wicked and ungodly of the Christian world appear, who crucify the Son of God afresh; since he hath declared himself to be so, by his resurrection and the mission of the Holy Ghost, and fulfilling his threatened vengeance on the nation of the Jews.
If the Jews shall have a sorer condemnation than ignorant heathens, who never heard of Christ, never saw his miracles, or were informed of his doctrine, how shall we escape? for he will come again as a conqueror and a judge, and not as a sufferer and a Surety, as he came at first; and, though he was
*^. numbered with tnungressors, ‘eodinade his, grave with the wicked)” at his first appearance, he shall hereafter be attended with the shouts of angels, who excel in atrength, and the joyful acclamations of his aainta, glittering as the light, and paying homage to Him as the Judge of quick and dead.. He, whom. we have despised, shall then he encompassed with a das»- ■ling glory that will confound us. He, whom we have affironted, shall be clothed with a majesty that shall astonish us. He, whom we have oflPended, shall be armed with power and with wrath to punish us; and all that continue to lift up the heel against him shall then be made his footstool; all that refuse to kiss the sceptre of his grace, shall be broken in pieces by his iron rod.
The Holy Scripture doth frequently and expressly assure us, that he will thus come again, and for these ends. He is exalted, and gone to heaven, as the Head of his church and the King of Glory; and, when he foretold his ascension, he gave a promise of bis return. The heavens are to contain him till the restitution of all things. By his providence, and by the Holy Spirit, he now carries on the designs of his death; and, when these are accomplished, he will appear to the terror of the wicked. He is en tered, as our forerunner, within the veil, to prepare mansions, and to take possession for us, and will not always leave us in this dark and defiling world. He knoweth our sorrows, and h caret h our prayers, and bottles our tears; takes notice of our groans, and in all our afflictions he is afflicted. Beinr reconciled by his death, at his first coming, we shall be saved -by his life, since he lives ta make goodYwoi ^H. coming again.
How comfortable is the news of it! how joyfol will be the meeting, to such as expect and prepare to see him! when the sea and the graves shall yield up their dead, and all the prisoners of hope lift up their heads, arise, go up, and meet the Lord in the air, and ascend with him to the heavenly glory. But who can express how dismal a sight this will be to the secure and the impenitent, to all who die in their sins! to behold their Judge (who formerly offered to be their Saviour) upon a glorious throne and all the children of Adam summoned before his tribunal! to have nothing to answer against his charge, and no way to escape his condemning sen* tence! They despised him as a Lamb, offered in sacrifice to take away the sins of the world; but shall no longer to do so, when he comes, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, to devour and destroy the enemies of his cross. Now, they will not own him for their Lord, but shall then find he is so, by the vengeance he will execute.
As a Jesus, as a Saviour, they rejected him, making light of his salvation, despising his mercy, refusing his grace; but the neglected gospel will then be a more killing letter than the law. He who, by his ambassadors, doth now entreat sinners to be reconciled, will then be as deaf to their entreaties, as they have been to his. Because they would not turn at his reproof, hearken to the call of his word, and obey his voice, they must hear the sentence of condenAiation, and feel the execution of it, whether they will or not; yea, the blood of his cross will upbraid, accuse, and plead against, them. And, whatsoever foolish evasions they now make, to continue in security, they shall then be speetchless and self-condemned*. Nothing will be able to hide them from the amazing presence of their Judge, or from the wrath of the Lamb. He then will inflict an intolerable and righteous vengeance, an everlasting destruction, upon all the ignorant and ungodly world: the greatest, the stoutest, the boldest, of them shall then be humbled, and stand before I Christ’s tribunal upon an equal level with the I meanest; seized with horror, filled with guilt, anguish, and despair; and find, to their eternal confusion, that the “Judge is no respecter of persons, but every man shall receive according to his works;” the mighty shall not be spared for his greatness, nor the mean man for his poverty.
O fool, O wretch, that I am! shall many then say, who now brave it out in pride and vanity, unconcerned about a future judgment! not to be persuaded by the terrors (^ the Lord, which I was so often warned and foretold of! What refuge of hope can I now fly to? What can I say for myself? What can I do to escape? To die, to’ exist no longer! I would have no compassion on my own soul; I would not so much as consider its danger: I shall now find none from Christ, I can expect none! his mercy is gone, and gdne for ever I I am lost, undone, tormented, and must eternally be so! O the amazement, horror, and despair, of self- condemned sinners in that day of vengeance!
O my soul 1 what is there of greater consequence, or of greater certainty, from the word of God, than that I must appear to judgment, when Christ shall come again? Lord, teach me to believe It. &ctslVy to consider it often, to lay it seriously to heart, to act under the influence and power of it, as long as I live; that, at the great resurrection from the dead, I may lift up my head with a joyful hope, and find the Judge to be my friend, my advocate, my Jesus, and not my enemy and destroyer!