eet the Lord in the
air."[158] He gives a similar description to the Corinthians: "We shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."[159]
"He commanded us to testify," says Peter, "that it is he which was
ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead."[160] And Paul writes
to Timothy that "the Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the
dead at his appearing."[161]

The most awful descriptions of the Judgment, as it will affect the
wicked, are given by the Lord Jesus Himself. In Matthew xxv. we have a
series of images, in which the terrors of the "great day of the Lord"
are set forth. The virgins that go out to meet the Bridegroom, the
servants with their talents, the Judge dividing all brought before Him
as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats, are warnings of the
certainty and severity of judgment, and of the doom reserved for the
ungodly.

"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son."[162] As God, He has all things naked and open before Him. As man,
He became subject to human conditions, and was in all points tempted as
we are, yet without sin. Our Judge knows our frame, our temptations, our
weakness, our difficulties; and in the Judgment, as in His life on
earth, He will not break the bruised reed, or apply to men's conduct a
harsher measure than they have merited. Judgment will begin at the house
of God, and sentence on the ungodly will be severe in proportion to
knowledge, privilege, and opportunity. Men will be judged by their
works, and in this doctrine of Scripture there is no opposition to that
of justification by faith. Men cannot be justified by their own works,
but if Christ be in them and the Spirit of God dwell in their hearts,
then, being dead to sin, they follow holiness. The distinction between
the children of God and the children of the devil is this, that the
former class bring forth the fruits of righteousness, and the latter the
fruits of sin. "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart
bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things."[163] In the Judgment the works of every man
shall be brought to light, whether they be good or evil. "There is
nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be
known."[164] The just sha