xamine simply the
word of God. According to the Scriptures, the judgment will result in
assigning to men _very different allotments_. It will recognise among
them two entirely different and opposite classes of character. One of
these classes, which the Bible denominates "the righteous," will be
graciously acquitted by the Judge, and publicly treated as his friends.
The other, comprising all the impenitent, will be as publicly condemned,
and driven from his presence. They "will have judgment without mercy."
Such is plainly the account which Christ and the sacred writers have
given of the final awards to the righteous and the wicked. We have the
account in detail. Says the Saviour himself, "When the Son of Man shall
come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit
upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all
nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his
right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them
on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world." "Then shall he say
also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And again;
"The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice, and shall come forth; _they that have done good_, unto the
resurrection of _life_; and _they that have done evil_, unto the
resurrection of _damnation_". Thus broad and fearful is the
discrimination which the great day will make between the righteous and
the wicked. So entirely different are the awards in reserve for the two
different classes of mankind. The difference will be great, as between
holiness and sin; between cheerful submission to the will and providence
of God, and unyielding rebellion against him; between cordial faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and wilful rejection of the only Saviour; between
the splendour and joy of the celestial Paradise, and the gloominess and
misery of hell. No wonder, then, that "as Paul reasoned of
righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled." There
will, indeed, be fearful reason for "weeping and wailing and gnashing of
teeth," with those who shall then "see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and themselves thrust out."