The Coming and Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ: The Appearing, Part 6

 •  7 min. read  •  grade level: 8
The Appearing
The day of the poor world’s judgment will be the day of our manifest exaltation with Christ in glory; instead of our being judged, we shall come with Him to reign and judge. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:1212If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (2 Timothy 2:12)); and “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” (1 Cor. 6:22Do 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? (1 Corinthians 6:2)).
We have already noted that angels, as well as saints, will accompany the Lord at His appearing. This is clearly shown in Matthew 25:3131When 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: (Matthew 25:31), a scripture to which we must now refer, as showing the dealings of the Son of Man with the nations at His advent.
“When the Son of Man shall come (or shall have 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”.
This is often taken to be a description of the last judgment; but if you carefully read the whole passage you will find that it is a totally different scene altogether. Many have been misled by the heading of the chapter, or the note at the top of the page in many Bibles, in which it is so termed; but these have only been put in by man, and often very erroneously, especially so here. It is the separation of nations, introductory to the millennial reign of Christ, and a thousand years before the judgment of the dead at the great white throne.
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory (or “shall have come” is the full force of the passage), He sits on His throne of glory, and all nations (mark the words, all nations) not the dead, but the living, the quick, shall be gathered before Him, who is Judge both of quick and dead. (2 Tim. 4:11I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2 Timothy 4:1)). Having judged the military power of the West under the beast, and with him the false prophet at His revelation, having subdued all nations and cast Satan into the bottomless pit, He next sits upon His throne, and exercises discriminating judgment among the nations, preparatory to the establishment of His kingdom in peace and righteousness throughout the earth. They are dealt with according to the way that they have treated His brethren (not the church, who will have already gone from this scene, but the King’s brethren, Jews), who will have preached the gospel of the kingdom as a witness to all nations during the time of antichrist’s power. The righteous; separated on His right hand, are invited into the kingdom; that is, earthly blessing in the millennium. The goats hear the awful sentence, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:4141Then 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: (Matthew 25:41)).
Many features in this description most widely differ from that of the judgment of the dead. For instance, the Scripture, in speaking of “nations,” refers to those who are alive, not to those who are dead. In the scene before us we find distinctly three classes — “the brethren, the sheep, and the goats” — the first not judged at all; the second invited into blessing; the third sentenced.; whereas in Revelation 20:1212And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12) we find only one class, “the dead,” and all are sentenced to eternal judgment.
In Matthew, the Son of Man has come with angels, and sits on His throne of glory; in Revelation, there is no coming, no mention of angels, but of a great white throne. Here it is a judgment by the King on the earth; there the earth and the heaven flee away before the judgment. Here no books are mentioned; there books are opened, and the book of life. Here the goats are commanded to depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; there the devil is in the lake of fire before the wicked dead are cast there (Rev. 20:1010And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)). One is distinctly the Son of Man as King dealing with the living nations prior to the establishment of His power and glory in the earth (which is the Solomon character of His reign); the other the judgment of the wicked dead after the close of the earth’s jubilee.
If we come to the Word of God with the preconceived and widely-accepted thought that there is only one resurrection and one general judgment, we must confound things which widely differ, rob Christ of that which is for His glory, and our own souls of rich blessing. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are not God’s ways; but as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His thoughts higher than our thoughts, and His ways than our ways (Isa. 55:8-98For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8‑9)).
Before closing the subject of the Lord’s appearing, I would call your attention to one more scripture out of the many that treat of it in the Old Testament. In Joel 3, we have a graphic description of events connected with the manifestation of Christ in power and judgment on the nations, the deliverance of Israel, and the blessing of the kingdom.
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.” (Notice, this is exactly the reverse of Isaiah 2:44And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:4), which will be fulfilled after this). “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat” (which is close to Jerusalem on the northeast): “for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision,” (marg., concision, or threshing) “for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” (Compare Matt. 24:2929Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (Matthew 24:29).) “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake;” (compare Heb. 12:26-2926Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:26‑29)) “but the Lord will be the hope” (marg., place of repair, or harbor) “of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel” (Joel 3:9-169Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. 12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 16The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. (Joel 3:9‑16)). The close of this remarkable chapter gives particulars of the blessing of the kingdom, of which we shall speak in our paper on the millennium.
Beloved reader, with this fearful judgment looming nearer and nearer for this ungodly world, I cannot refrain from once more appealing to you, and beseeching you, if still unsaved, to flee from the coming wrath. “The day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come” ( Joel 1:1515Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. (Joel 1:15)), but the day of grace has not yet passed; soon, very soon, the door of mercy for you will be closed. O, enter, enter now! God has given His Son, His only Son, His well-beloved; that Blessed One has died and risen again; God is glorified in Him; and now “by Him, all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)). Do you believe?
Lo! ‘tis the heavenly army,
The Lord of hosts attending;
‘Tis He, the Lamb, the great I am,
With all His saints descending.
To you, ye kings and nations,
Ye foes of Christ, assembling;
The hosts of light, prepared for fight,
Come with the cup of trembling.
Joy to His ancient people!
Your bonds He comes to sever-
And now, ‘tis done! The Lord hath won,
And ye are free forever-
Joy to the ransomed nations!
The foe, the ravening lion,
Is bound in chains while Jesus reigns
King of the earth in Zion.
(Continued and to be continued.)