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JUDGMENT
TO COME
But
though the supreme issue of the destiny of men does not await that awful
inquest, "judgment to come" is a reality for all. For it is of the
people of
God that the Word declares "we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ," and "every one of us shall give account of himself
to God" (Romans 14:10,12). And that judgment will bring reward to
some and loss to others. Incalculable harm results from that sort of
teaching which dins into the ears of the unconverted that they have no
power to live a pure and decent life, and which deludes the Christian into
thinking that at death he will forfeit his personality by losing all knowledge
of the past, and that heaven is a fool’s
paradise where waters of Lethe will wipe out our memories of earth.
"We
must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ, that
each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what
he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). But
this judgment of "the bema of Christ" has only an incidental bearing
on the
theme of the present article, and it must not be confounded with the judgment
of the "great white throne." From judgment in that sense the believer
has absolute immunity: "he cometh not into judgment, but hath passed
out of death into life" (John 4:26), is the Lord’s
explicit declaration.
He gives the "right to become children of God" "to them that believe
on His Name" (John 1:12); and it is not by recourse to a criminal
court that we deal with the lapses and misdeeds of our children.
DEGREES
OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS
We
have seen then that man is a sinner in virtue both of what he is and what
he does. We do what we ought not, and leave undone what we ought to
do. For sin may be due to ignorance or carelessness, as well as to evil passions
which incite to acts that stifle conscience and outrage law. And we
have seen also that every sin gives rise to two great questions which need
to be distinguished, though they are in a sense inseparable. The one finds
expression in the formula, "guilty or not guilty," and in respect of
this no
element of limitation or degree is possible. But after verdict, sentence; and
when punishment is in question, degrees of guilt are infinite.
It
has been said that no two of the redeemed will have the same heaven; and
in that sense no two of the lost will have the same hell. This is not a concession
to popular heresies on this subject. For the figment of a hell of limited
duration either traduces the character of God, or practically denies the
work of Christ. If the extinction of being were the fate of the impenitent,
to keep them in suffering for an aeon or a century would savor of
the cruelty of a tyrant who, having decreed a criminal’s
death, deferred
the execution of the sentence in order to torture him. Far
worse indeed than
this, for, ex hypothesi, the resurrection of the unjust could have no other
purpose than to increase their capacity for suffering. Or, if we adopt the
alternative heresy — that hell is a
punitive and purgatorial discipline through which the sinner will pass to
heaven — we disparage the atonement
and undermine the truth of grace. If the prisoner gains his discharge
by serving out his sentence, where does grace come in? And if the
sinner’s sufferings can
expiate his sin, the most that can be said for the death
of Christ is that it opened a short and easy way to the same goal that could
be reached by a tedious and painful journey. But further, unless the sinner
is to be made righteous and holy before he enters hell —
and in that case,
why not let him enter heaven at once? he will continue unceasingly to sin;
and as every fresh sin will involve a fresh penalty, his punishment can never
end.
FALSE
ARGUMENT
Every
treatise in support of these heresies relies on the argument that the words
in our English Version, which connote endless duration, represent words
in the original text which have no significance. But this argument is exploded
by the fact that the critic would be compelled to use these very words
if he were set the task of retranslating our version into Greek. For that
language has no other terminology to express the thought. And yet it is
by trading on ad captandum arguments of this kind, and by the prejudices which
are naturally excited by partial or exaggerated statements of truth, that
these heresies win their way. Attention is thus diverted from the insuperable
difficulties which beset them, and from their bearing on the truth
of the atonement.
But
Christianity sweeps away all these errors. The God of Sinai has not repented
of His thunders, but He has fully revealed Himself in Christ. And the
wonder of the revelation is not punishment but pardon. The great mystery
of the Gospel is how God can be just and yet the justifier of sinful men.
And the Scriptures which reveal that mystery make it clear as light that
this is possible only through redemption: "not that we loved God, but that He
loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John
2:2).
Redemption
is only and altogether by the death of Christ. "For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). To
bring in limitations here is to limit God.
THE
CROSS OF CHRIST
In
the wisdom of God the full revelation of "eternal judgment" and the doom
of the lost, awaited the supreme manifestation of divine grace and love
in the Gospel of Christ; and when these awful themes are separated from
the Gospel, truth is presented in such a false perspective that it seems to
savor of error. For not even the divine law and the penalties of disobedience
will enable us to realize aright the gravity and heinousness of sin.
This we can learn only at the Cross of Christ. Our estimate of sin will be
proportionate to our appreciation of the cost of our redemption. Not "silver
and gold" — human standards of
value are useless here — but "the precious
blood of Christ." Seemingly more unbelievable than the wildest superstitions
of human cults is the Gospel of our salvation. That He who was
"Son of God" in all which that title signifies God manifest in the
flesh; for
"all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made" — came down to earth,
and having lived in rejection and contempt, died a death of shame, and that
in virtue of his death He is the propitiation for the world. (1 John 2:2,
R. V.)
Here,
and only here, can we know the true character and depths of human sin,
and here alone can we know, so far as the finite mind can ever know it, the
wonders of a divine love that passes, knowledge. And the benefit is to
"whosoever believeth." It was by unbelief that man first
turned away from God; how fitting, then, it is that our return to Him should
be by faith. If this Gospel is true —
and how few there are who really believe it to be true! —
who can dare to impugn the justice of "everlasting punishment"? For
Christ has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers; the way to God is free,
and whosoever will may come. There is no artifice in this and grace is not a
cloak to cover favoritism. Unsolved mysteries there are in Holy Writ, but
when we read of "God our Saviour," who willeth that all men should be saved;
and of "Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy
2:3-6), we are standing in the full clear light of day.
This
much is as clear as words can make it —
and nothing more than this concerns us —
that the consequences of accepting or rejecting Christ are final
and eternal. But who are they who shall be held guilty of rejecting? What
of those who, though living in Christendom, have never heard the Gospel
aright? And what of the heathen who have never heard at all? No one
can claim to solve these problems without seeming profanely to assume
the role of umpire between God and men. We know, and it is our joy
to know, that the decision of all such questions rests with a God of perfect
justice and infinite love. And let this be our answer to those who demand
a solution of them. Unhesitating faith is our right attitude in presence
of divine revelation, but where Scripture is silent let us keep silence.