The Great Doctrines of the Bible, Rev. William Evans [mind reading books .txt] 📗

afterwards (later than) “they that are Christ’s” then (positively meaning afterwards, a new era which takes place after an interval) “cometh the end.”

Dan. 12:2—“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some (lit. those who awake at this time) to everlasting life, and some (lit. those who do not awake at this time) to shame and everlasting contempt.” Some of the most eminent Hebrew scholars translate this passage as follows: “And (at that time) many (of thy people) shall awake (or be separated) out from among the sleepers in the earth dust. These (who awake) shall be unto life eternal, but those (who do not awake at that time) shall be unto contempt and shame everlasting.” It seems clear from this passage that all do not awake at one (this) time, but only as many as are written in the book (12:1).

Eevelation 20:4-6 shows that at least a thousand years—whatever period of time may be thereby designated—elapses between the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked.

John 5:28, 29; Dan. 12:2; Rev. 20:12 all show that the resurrection of the wicked is always connected with the judgment, and that takes place at the close and not at the beginning of the Day of the Lord.

Whatever difficulties may present themselves in connection with the resurrection, whatever obstacles of a miraculous or supernatural nature may present themselves in connection therewith are to be met by remembering the truth enunciated by Christ in connection with this very subject: Matt. 22:29—“Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Cf. v. 23.—“The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection,” etc., and the following verses for the setting of v. 39.)

C. THE JUDGMENT.

I. THE FACT OF THE JUDGMENT.

1. AS TAUGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 2. AS TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 3. THE TESTIMONY OF CONSCIENCE. 4. THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION.

II. THE JUDGE—CHRIST.

III. THE NATURE OF THE JUDGMENT.

1. JUDGMENT AT THE CROSS. 2. THE DAILY JUDGMENT. 3. FUTURE JUDGMENT. a) Of the Saints. b) Of the Living Nations. c) Of the Great White Throne. d) Of the Fallen Angels. e) Of Israel.

C. THE JUDGMENT.

I. THE FACT OF THE JUDGMENT.

1. DISTINCTLY TAUGHT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

Psa. 96:13—“For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” While this passage refers more particularly to the rewarding of the righteous, yet the idea of judgment is here. Both reward and punishment are involved in the idea of judgment.

2. THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Acts 17:31—“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Heb. 9:27. Just as it is “appointed unto men once to die” so it is appointed unto men to appear before the judgment. There is no more escape from the one than from the other. It is part of the burden of both the Old and New Testament message that a day of judgment is appointed for the world. God’s kingdom shall extend universally; but a judgment in which the wicked are judged and the righteous rewarded is necessary and in order that the kingdom of everlasting righteousness may be established upon the earth.

3. THE CONSCIENCE OF ALL MANKIND CORROBORATES THE TEACHING OF THE SCRIPTURES WITH REGARD TO THE CERTAINTY OF A COMING JUDGMENT.

This is true of both the individual and universal conscience. The discoveries of tablets as well as the history of all peoples establish this fact. This is enforced by Eccl. 11:9; 12:14—a book which is in a very real sense a book of worldly philosophy, narrating, as it does, the experiences and observations of a man who judged all things from the viewpoint of “under the sun,” i.e., without special reference to any revelation from above.

4. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST IS A SURE AND CERTAIN PROOF WHICH GOD HAS GIVEN TO MEN OF A COMING JUDGMENT.

Acts 17:31 (quoted above). Here is “assurance” in the sense of proof or ground of evidence. The context is suggestive: God had long borne with the sins of men, and in a sense, overlooked them. Therefore men have thought that God would continue to do so. But no, this shall not be; there is a day of judgment coming, the evidence of which lies in the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

II. THE JUDGE—CHRIST.

John 5:22, 23, 27; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Cor. 5:10; Acts 10:42; 17:31. The Man of the Cross is the Man of the Throne. Note the expression “Because he is the Son of Man.” That indicates His fitness to judge: He can sympathize. But He is equal with the Father. This too indicates His competency to judge, for it implies omniscience. The texts which speak of God as judging the world are to be understood as referring to God the Son. No appeal can be made from the Son to the Father.

III. THE NATURE OF THE JUDGMENT.

The erroneous idea that there is to be one great general judgment which is to take place at the end of the world, when all mankind shall stand before the great white throne, is to be guarded against. The judgments of the Bible differ as to time, place, subjects, and results.

1. THERE IS A JUDGMENT THAT IS ALREADY PAST—THE JUDGMENT AT THE CROSS.

John 5:24; 12:31; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 3:24. At this judgment bar Satan was judged and his power over the believer broken. Here also the sins of the believer were judged and put away.

2. THERE IS A PRESENT JUDGMENT WHICH IS TAKING PLACE DAILY IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER.

1 Cor. 11:31, 32; 5:5; 1 Tim. 1:20; cf., for illustration, 2 Sam. 7:14, 15; 12:13,14. This continual judgment must be going on in the life of the believer or there will be judgment from God because of the consequent failure to grow in grace. There must be constant and continual judging of sin as it comes up in the believer’s life (1 John 1:5-7).

3. THERE IS A FUTURE JUDGMENT.

a) Of the Saints.

1 Cor. 3:8-16; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:5. This is to be a judgment with reference to the works, not the salvation, of the believer. It is called “the judgment seat of Christ.” That the saints are here referred to is clear from 2 Cor. 5:1, 5, 7, 9; also 1 Cor. 4:5 which says that those who are judged “shall have praise of God.” This is not true of the wicked. This is a judgment, not for destiny, but for adjustment, for reward or loss according to our works, for position in the kingdom; every man according as his work shall be.

b) Of the Living Nations.

Matt. 25:31-46. This judgment will take place at the coming of Christ with His saints. Note three things in this chaper: first, the marriage supper of the Lamb (w. 1-13); second, the judgment of the saints (vv. 14-30); third, the judgment of the living nations (vv. 31-46). This is not a general judgment of good and bad, for there are three classes here. “My brethren” can hardly refer to the saints, for then it would be “inasmuch as ye have done it unto yourselves, ye have done it unto me.” Nor is the Church in this judgment, for she is already translated and rewarded as we have seen. The Church no more belongs to the nations than does Israel. The nations are those who deal with Israel through the great tribulation. The “brethren” are probably the Jewish remnant who have turned to Christ during the great tribulation and whom the Antichrist has severely persecuted as also have many of the wicked nations, like Russia today. This is a judgment of nations that are living; there is no mention of the dead.

c) Of the Great White Throne.

Rev. 20:11-15. It is called the final judgment and takes place at the close of the millennium, after the judgment of the living nations (Matt. 25). It is a judgment of “the dead”; no mention is made of the living in connection therewith.

Note the difference between the judgments of the Living Nation and of the Great White Throne: the former at the beginning, the latter at the close of the millennium; one deals with the living, the other with the dead; one deals with conduct towards “the brethren,” the other with general sins recorded in the books.

d) Of Israel.

Ezek. 20:33-44; Psa. 50:16-22. Takes place probably at the end of the great tribulation.

e) Of the Fallen Angels.

Jude 6; 2 Pet. 2:4. Believers are associated with Christ in this judgment (1 Cor. 6:3).

D. THE FINAL DESTINY OF THE WICKED.

I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.

 

1. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FUTURE OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED. 2. DIFFICULTY OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. 3. DISPARITY IN NUMBER OF THE SAVED AND LOST. 4. PROPHECY VS. HISTORY.

 

II. THE WICKED DIE IN THEIR SINS.

III. THE WICKED ARE NOT ANNIHILATED.

IV. THE WICKED ARE RAISED FROM THE DEAD FOR JUDGMENT.

V. THE PUNISHMENT DESCRIBED.

 

1. DEATH. 2. ETERNAL. 3. PUNISHMENT. 4. FIRE. 5. DARKNESS.

 

D. THE FINAL DESTINY OF THE WICKED.

“Every view of the world has its eschatology. It cannot help raising the question of the whither, as well as of the what and the whence? ‘0, my Lord,’ said Daniel to the angel, ‘what shall be the end of these things?’ (12:8). What is the end, the final destiny of the individual? Does he perish at death, or does he enter into another state of being; and under what conditions of happiness or woe does he exist there? What is the end, the final aim of the great whole, that far-off divine event towards which the whole creation moves? It is vain to tell man not to ask these questions. He will ask them, and must ask them. He will pore over every scrap of fact, or trace of law, which seems to give an indication of an answer. He will try from the experience of the past, and the knowledge of the present, to deduce what the future shall be. He will peer as far as he can into the unseen; and, where knowledge fails, will weave from his hopes and trusts pictures and conjectures.

“The Christian view of the world also has its eschatology. The Christian view, however, is positive, where that of science is negative; ethical, where it is material; human, where it is cosmogonic; ending in personal immortality, where this ends in extinction and death. The eschatology of Christianity springs from its character as a teleological religion—it seeks to grasp the unity of the world through the conception of an end or aim.”—_James Orr._

This is probably the hardest of all the doctrines of Christianity to be received. If we ask the reason why, we receive various answers. Some would tell us that this doctrine is unwelcome to many because they feel themselves guilty, and their conscience tells them that unless they repent and turn to God this awful doom awaits them. Others believe that it is because the thought of future punishment strikes terror to people’s hearts, and therefore this doctrine is repulsive to them. To others again, the thought of future anguish seems utterly incompatable with the fatherly love of God. Yet it is acknowledged to be a remarkable fact that both Jesus and John, who more than any one else in the New Testament represent the element of love in their lives and teaching, speak most of the future anguish of the wicked.

That future punishment of the wicked holds a prominent place in the teachings of