A General Judgment Demanded
By John W. McCord
God’s Character Requires It—The Mystery of Sin Unraveled by the Judgment—Why the Lord Did Not at Once Destroy Satan There are three reliable reasons why the general Judgment ought to take place, and the same reasons doubtless prevail for every other doctrine in the Bible. These are: first, that God is just; second, that God is life; and third, that God is love. Granting the premise that God is, and that He is the Creator of all things, it logically follows that such a Creator cannot be otherwise than just. From the standpoint of justice, therefore, to the universe, a Judgment in which every creature will receive impartial consideration is surely inevitable. In a great trial, much depends upon the character of the judge; and this is pre-eminently true when applied to the Judge who presides in the court above. The Lord, however, is worthy of our entire confidence, for He possesses both infinite wisdom and infinite love. For this reason, every created being, be he acquitted or condemned, will consider that the Judgment is just, and all will bend the knee in humble submission to its unalterable decree. Phil. 2:10, 11. This is not always the case in the courts on earth. Here we find many in jail who ought by right to be free, while multitudes are free who doubtless deserve to be in jail. Under the present regime, it is almost impossible to be fair; for the costly processes of the law, while they may favor the rich, are always a hardship to the poor. Unequal and Unjust Administration
Recently, while lecturing to Yale students on the subject of the law, Ex-president Taft had this to say: “I have had the feeling that some day the socialists might direct their attacks on the unequal and unjust administration of the law. The failure to administer criminal law with certainty, the failure to apply the law, aids those criminals who so often escape punishment for crimes for which they deserve imprisonment. The existing condition of things in this regard is a disgrace to the civilization of this country, and should be remedied.” “Something should be done to reduce the cost of litigation. The court room is no place to gamble with the law. We must keep law and justice together in order to justify the law.” These conditions pointed out by Mr. Taft will doubtless become worse and worse, until they are at last overthrown by the triumphant advent of the Prince of peace. It would indeed be futile to compare time with eternity, or the life of God with the life span of His creatures on earth. Yet the Lord desires that His children shall live with Him throughout eternity. But to live with God, we must live the same quality of life that God Himself lives. For how “can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3. The Lord therefore has a perfect right to decide who shall live with Him, and who shall not. This decision is not arbitrary on the part of the Lord, for “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. These terms are the only terms God gives on which men can obtain immortality; and the Judgment will determine how many have accepted them, and so it will divide the sheep from the goats. Matt. 25:31, 32. Is Reward and Punishment at Death?
It is true many believe that the righteous go to heaven at death, and that the wicked are then banished to the place of torment. But why should the righteous be rewarded, and the wicked punished, without either having had a fair trial? Even an earthly judge, with all his limitations, would not send a man to jail, or to the gallows, without a trial. But if it is true that rewards and punishments immediately follow death, then Cain has been burning in hell nearly six thousand years, though the trial which would determine his guilt, has not yet taken place. Surely this doctrine does violence alike to our sense of justice, and to our conception of the character of God. Not only so, but it likewise eliminates the general resurrection; for evidently if souls go to their allotted place at death, then the Judgment and the resurrection would alike be unnecessary. The only reasonable thing to do is to let rewards and punishments follow the trial, and this is precisely what the Lord has planned. The righteous will be rewarded at the second advent of Christ, and the wicked are reserved “unto the day of Judgment to be punished.” 2 Peter 2:9. When Satan rebelled in heaven, it would have been an easy thing for the Lord to destroy him instantly, and many people wonder why it was not done. The reason, however, is not difficult to find. Had the Lord destroyed Satan at once, it might have been a bad thing for the universe. As the angels are only finite beings, they could not possibly have grasped fully the grave results that must inevitably follow Satan’s rebellion against God. Therefore the death of Satan might easily have led the angels to question God’s love for all His creatures. In spite of this, the angels might have remained loyal to God; but their service henceforth would have been dictated as much by fear as by love, and Satan might have been remembered by them as a hero and a martyr. To prevent this greater evil, the Lord in His wisdom granted a brief period for sin to develop. When the last act in this dark drama has been finished, the curtain will fall, and sin and sinners will together disappear, and God will have a clean universe once more. In this decision, the Lord has demonstrated both His wisdom and His love; and when Satan and his angels are finally destroyed, then every being in the universe will fully concur in the righteous judgment of God. The same thing is true with reference to God’s dealings with His children on earth. Had rewards and punishments become operative at death, it is possible that much questioning might have been the result. Friends would be looking for friends, and not finding them in heaven, they would naturally wonder why they were not there. The Judgment Makes All Plain
But the Judgment will make everything plain. Then the history of the wicked will be fully understood by the redeemed, and harmony and peace will prevail forever. Then the righteous will “sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.” Rev. 15:3. The command, “Judge not, that ye be not judged,” still holds good. Whenever, therefore, one is tempted to ascend the judgment seat, it would be well to remember the words of Jesus relative to the woman taken in adultery. He said to her accusers, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” To the woman the Saviour said: “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” It is true that Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” But there is a world of difference between judging and knowing. We know the drunkard by his walk; but knowing his sin, we are better able to help him, and not merely to avoid him. Some day God’s people will be qualified to judge; for then they will know all the facts in each case, and the sentence rendered will be dictated by both justice and love. In the meanwhile, let us leave the Judgment to the time duly appointed, and as Christians, follow the example of our Master. He said, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” John 12:47. Generally speaking, danger and death reveal what is in man clear down to the bedrock. Years ago, in England, the writer stood by the deathbed of a wicked man. When this man first entered the hospital, he did not seem to realize that his case was so serious, and would often boast of his past deeds. But, alas, his days were numbered. When he was dying, he called a number of young men to his bedside, and said, “Boys, don’t live as I have lived, or you will die as I am dying.” Then he became unconscious, and passed away. The writer also stood by the bedside of a friend who was dying in San Diego, California. It was a poorly furnished room, but the Holy Spirit was present in power. My friend was unconscious when I last saw him, but his face was lighted with a smile of ineffable peace. Before he became unconscious, he said to his wife, “The Bible has been my comfort on earth, so bury my Bible with me.” While class and caste distinctions prevail on earth, with the Lord there are but two classes, the converted and the unconverted; and the only distinction that avails in heaven is the new birth. Of course there are degrees both of virtue and of vice, but this does not change the number of classes. Therefore the two men above mentioned could well stand as types,87one for the converted, and the other for the unconverted. What then did that poor fellow lack who died so miserably in England? The answer is, Jesus. What was it that supported my friend in his journey through the valley of death? Again the answer is, Jesus. Likewise in the Judgment, one class will be accepted, and the other rejected. One class will hear the dread sentence, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire”; while the righteous will hear the glad words, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. 25: 34-46.