The Order of Events in the Judgment.
By John Nevins Andrews
THE coming of the Son of man in his glory, attended by all his holy angels, Matt. 25:31, and the riding forth of the King of kings upon the white horse, followed by the armies of heaven, when heaven itself is opened, Rev. 19:11-16, must be one and the same event. When Jude describes the second advent, or rather when he quotes Enoch's description of that event, he says, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all." Verses 14, 15. Our Lord's description of this grand event in Matt. 25:31-46, and of the things consequent upon it, relates wholly to the execution of the judgment, and the convincing of the ungodly of all their evil deeds and hard speeches. And it is certain that the revelation of the King of kings, followed by the armies of heaven, is for this very purpose; for it is said, Rev. 19:11, "In righteousness he doth judge and make war." It being true that these representations of Christ's advent are each statements of one and the same event, it is worthy of notice that the chain of events in Matt. 25:31-46, and the chain of events in Rev. 19:11-21, have each, as their second link, the gathering of the nations before Christ. In Matt. 25:32, we have simply the statement of the fact, "And before him shall be gathered all nations." But in Rev. 19:19, we have the occasion of this gathering stated: "I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." The gathering of the nations mentioned in these two texts must be identical, as each gathering is at the same time, and both are connected with the same event, viz., the advent of Christ. The nature of this gathering is presented in the following passages: Rev. 16:13, 14: "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Rev. 19:19: "And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." Zeph. 3:8, 9: "Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent." These texts clearly indicate that the gathering of the nations is effected not by the good angels of God, but by the evil angels of Satan. The mighty working of the devil, even after men have passed the day of grace, is plainly his final desperate struggle before he is bound. This great gathering of the nations is, in the providence of God, for the purpose of pouring on them the fierceness of his wrath in their terrible destruction. The battle of the great day of God Almighty is the very scene of treading the wine-press of the wrath of God. Rev. 19:11-15. The central point of this great slaughter is the valley of Jehoshaphat near Jerusalem. Joel 3:2, 9-12. The city, Rev. 14:19, 20, near which this wine-press is trodden must, therefore, be old Jerusalem. But the slain of the Lord in the great battle shall be from one end of the earth to the other. Jer. 25:30-33. The separation of the sheep and the goats, Matt. 25:32, must be at the same time as the separation of the wheat and tares, Matt. 13:30, 40, 41; and of the good and bad fishes Matt. 13:48, 49; and of the wheat and chaff. Matt. 3:12. This separation of the righteous and the wicked is effected in the manner stated in the following texts: Matt. 24:31: "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." See also Mark 13:27. 1 Thess. 4:16, 17: "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." But the angels who perform this work, do it under the express order of Christ. Thus we read: Ps. 50:3-5: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." And the Saviour who gives this order is simply executing the judgment already determined by the Father. John 5:22, 27; Dan. 7:9-14. Indeed, the saints are made immortal before the angels bear them away from our earth; for the sounding of the trumpet is the signal for the angels to descend from Christ to gather his saints. Matt. 24:31. But the saints are changed to immortality in an instant at the sounding of the last trump. 1 Cor. 15:51, 52. The decision of the judgment has, therefore, been rendered before even the separation of the two classes described in Matt. 25:32. For the gift of immortality is a part of the righteous judgment of God in rendering to every man according to his deeds. Rom. 2:5-8. And in particular, the resurrection which makes a part of mankind equal to the angels, Luke 20:35, 36; which makes them immortal, 1 Cor. 15:51-54; which shows them to be blessed, and holy, and incapable of the second death, Rev. 20:6; and which shows that they were that part of the dead which belonged to Christ, 1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 4:16); this resurrection which our Lord terms the resurrection of the just, Luke 14:14; is, in the expressive language of Paul, declared to be the "justification of life." Rom. 5:18. This free gift of God, which is open to all men, like the gift of grace and righteousness, in the previous verse, will be shared by those only who accept the grace and righteousness offered in the gospel; and will only be conferred on them after they have been pronounced just in the judgment. For the change to immortality, which precedes the act of the angels who are sent by Christ to separate the two classes, is demonstrative of the fact that those changed in this manner have already been pronounced just in the decision of the judgment. The resurrection to immortality is, therefore, the "justification of life." Our Lord does not pronounce the decision of that judgment which he thus begins to execute, until he has conferred upon his saints the gift of immortality. And when he does it, it is in words which imply that the Father has already rendered decision in favor of the saints. Matt. 25:34.