WHEN our Lord says to those at his right hand, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," he takes his saints into the presence of his Father, compare John 13:36; 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; Rev. 19:1-9, to the paradise of God, once here upon earth, Gen. 2:8, 9; 3:22-24, now in the third heaven, 2 Cor. 12:2-4, within the heavenly Jerusalem itself. Compare Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14. Here they sit down with him at his table and eat the marriage supper. Rev. 19:1-9. These things being accomplished, the work of judgment is committed to the saints, a work so vast that we may well conceive the long period which lies between the two resurrections, to be requisite for its accomplishment. Rev. 20:4-6. The sitting of the saints in judgment upon the wicked, must begin after they have heard the words of Christ approving them in his Father's name, and before the sentence, "Depart ye cursed," is pronounced by the Saviour upon those who shall be thus judged. This judgment by the saints is thus presented in the Scriptures :—
Dan. 7:21, 22: "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom."
1 Cor. 4:5: "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God."
1 Cor. 6:1-3: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more, things that pertain to this life?"
Rev. 20:4-6: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 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; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."
According to the first of these texts, the saints of the Most High are to have the judgment work committed to them. But before this is placed in their hands, they are themselves to be judged by God the Father. And this very act of determining who are worthy to be saved, really determines that all the others are unworthy of eternal life. The judgment work of the saints cannot therefore, relate to the salvation or damnation of those who are judged by them, but solely to the determination of the measure of their guilt. The second of these texts, in forbidding the work of judgment "before the time," plainly implies that when that time does come, then this work is to be done by those who are at present forbidden to do it. And the time is fixed when this prohibition expires. For it is thus limited: "Until the Lord come." That they will not err in the judgment which they will then perform, is guaranteed in the further statement that the Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart. And this will no doubt be accomplished by placing in their hands the books of record which contain an accurate statement of the deeds of those to be judged by them. Barnes, in his notes on this text, makes this remark: "'And then shall every man have praise of God.' The word here rendered praise denotes in this place reward, or that which is due to him; the just sentence which ought to be pronounced on his