The Commentary by G. C. Tenney

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 20, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 16.

The Commentary.

By G. C. Tenney

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

THE JUDGMENT.

(May 6.—Matt. 25: 31-46.) JESUS having spoken fully of his second coming and the necessary preparation for that event, through watchfulness and faithfulness, proceeds to speak of the great and eternal consequences which will attend and follow it. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory." Now he sits upon the throne of grace. Heb. 4: 16. He invites the sinner to come, laden with his sins; he invites the weary to come and find rest, the weak to come and find help in time of need. But then his mediatorial work will have ceased, and the voice of inviting mercy will forever be hushed. The decree goes forth: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22: 11, 12. Then will there be no more probation, no more pardon, and no more changing of character. Whatever is done for us to fit us for the Judgment must be done before Christ comes. The decisions of that hour are final, and they are for eternity.

But these decisions are not reached in an hour. They are the results of the Investigative Judgment spoken of in a previous lesson. The Judgment is represented in two parts: First, the judgment by the books, in which the dead are judged according to the things written in the books (Rev. 20: 12); and, second, the Executive Judgment or the carrying out of the decisions of the heavenly court. Paul describes the second advent of Christ as follows: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not

prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Thus the separation of the righteous and the wicked takes place. But the distinction is made at once even as the Lord descends and the dead in Christ come forth at the call of the trumpet.

THE resurrection will be in two parts, First, that of the righteous who sleep in Christ, and another of the wicked, one thousand years later. In the twentieth chapter of Revelation, after speaking of the reign of the saints with Christ during a thousand years, it is said in verses 5 and 6: "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection." The separation is not properly the work of judging. This is previously done, and the coming of Christ is that event which brings to the people of God of every age their final reward and glorious triumph. And it will be vain to look for it elsewhere. The Bible invariably points to that event as the moment of victory and triumph; triumph over Satan and his power, over death and the grave, over mortality, sickness, pain, and sorrow; a triumph over doubts and fears, an everlasting release from temptation and the weakness of humanity.

By this and every other scripture bearing upon the same point the Judgment is located at the close of probation; and it is a general judgment. Men are not judged as they die, one by one, nor do they go immediately to their eternal destinies, as is generally supposed. If so, there would be no need at all of a judgment. Christ not only comes to save his people and take them home, but his coming also seals the doom of the ungodly. They have slighted the last opportunity and invitation, and thier sentence is, "Depart from me, ye cursed." The living righteous are changed to immortality and taken with the resurrected saints to the mansions prepared for them. The living wicked are destroyed by the brightness of his coming and lie unburied upon the face of the desolate earth. At the end of the thousand years they too will have a resurrection, as we have seen, and receive their punishment, the second death.

"THESE shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." The same word in the original is used to indicate the duration of both the punishment and reward. They are eternal. In verse 41 we read, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." From these texts, largely, the idea of everlasting consciousness in misery has been deduced. But the idea is not a necessary one, nor is it in harmony with the inspired comment upon these texts. Just what they do mean we may learn from Jude 7: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, . . . are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." And 2 Peter 2: 6: "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly." We have, then, only to look at the fate of those cities which suffered eternal fire to know what the fate of sinners will be. They were utterly and eternally consumed. No trace of them remains, and their place is forgotten. In Mal. 4: 1 we read, "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." It is not necessary to misunderstand these plain scriptures. The punishment and the fire are eternal in their nature and consequences.

THE standard of judgment presented in this connection is worthy of special thought. It is intended to teach us that acceptable religion is an intensely practical work. To the righteous it was said, "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." But, strangely, they were unconscious of having done these things; they did not know that they had ever seen the Lord. He assured them that having done so to even one of the least of his brethren it was done to him. These acts of mercy and kindness were not done ostentatiously, nor for a reward, but from a heart overflowing with love and compassion. It is the Spirit of Christ that prompts these deeds, and this is the identifying characteristic of every child of his; and "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

IT is comparatively easy for us to love those who love us, and can reward us, and to bestow kindnesses upon those who are in superior stations. The wicked ones were very much surprised to have it said that they had ever seen the Lord in suffering and had not ministered unto him. It would have been a welcome opportunity to minister to Jesus Christ himself. That would have brought them into favorable notice. But they overlooked the fact that Jesus is always represented in his suffering children. The poor, the sick, and the afflicted always find a friend in him. And it is the work of his disciples to carry on the work of compassion.

"YE have done it unto me." How tender is the love with which the infinite Saviour compasses even the least of his children! He condescends to call them "my brethren." More than that, he makes their pain and all their afflictions and misfortunes his own. So that whoever relieves the sufferings of his fellow-men relieves the suffering of Christ. Whoever brings joy and light to darkened hearts and homes brings a thrill of joy to the heart of the Master.