'The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the
And shall reign with Him a thousand years.
15. Thou art the Judge
'The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; … and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man' (John 5:22, 27). It was part of God's purpose that the world should be judged by a man; and the Christ, as the 'second man,' or 'last Adam,' has come to be the world's Judge; not now, indeed, for He is not yet judging, and He has not set up His throne of judgment (John 9:39). But still He is Judge, and as such He will come again in His glory.
'Jehovah is our Judge' was part of Israel's creed. Again and again He is sung of in the Psalms as Judge; Judge of the earth, and the ends thereof; Judge of the nations,—as in such passages as the following:
Let the nations be glad,
Yea, sing for joy:
For Thou shalt judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations upon earth (Ps. 67:4).
And again, in reference to Messiah, Asaph sings:
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;
He judgeth among the gods (Ps. 82:1).
And once more, speaking of the coming judgment and reign, David speaks:
He shall judge the people righteously!
Let the heavens rejoice,
And let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar,
And the fulness thereof.
Let the field be joyful,
And all that is therein;
Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
Before the Lord!
For He cometh!
For He cometh!
To judge the earth:
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the people with His truth (Ps. 96:10–13).
It is to judgment that all things are now pointing forward; and the coming of the Judge, who is the Christ of God, is the world's great hope. Like that of the ancient judges in Israel, His office is not one, but manifold. They were raised up to clear the land of enemies, to sit in judgment, and to reign as kings. So shall it be with our Judge. And for Him, as such, we look. The Church looks for Him; the world looks for Him; creation looks for Him. In Him, God's great original purpose concerning earth will be carried out. He comes to set up His throne, to take the reins of government, and to rule in righteousness. Men shrink from such a crisis in earth's history as the arrival of the Judge implies. They dread the judgment, and they have begun to disbelieve and deny it.
That 'God will Judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath appointed' (Acts 17:31), is a doctrine counted obsolete by many. The current of the age is against it. The march of intellect has superseded the necessity for it. The larger and wider views of God's character now evolving, show that He is not likely thus to arraign His creatures before His bar. Man, with His progress in science, and his skill in art, is getting too powerful to be thus summarily dealt with!
With many in our day, judgment by the direct interference of God is considered out of the question. Man's own indiscretions may injure him. His follies may avenge themselves upon him. He may thus be self-judged and self-punished, as his conscience troubles him, or as he reaps the fruit of his misdeeds. But beyond these effects of his conduct,—the recoil of his own violence,—judgment cannot be. It is unphilosophical, unnatural, and in the teeth of the world's history. There will be earthquakes, with submerged cities; but these are the evolution of the laws of nature. There will be the sweeping hurricane, levelling the works of man. There will be the tempest, raising the billows, and swallowing up navies. There will be the lightning, splitting rocks and towers. There will be the pestilence, prosecuting its remorseless march over sea and land, from east to west. There will be the famine, emptying cities and villages of their millions. There will be all these; but these are not judgment, nor forerunners of the Judge! They are the unfolding of certain rigid laws, which have been impressed on nature from the beginning, and cannot be interfered with. Beyond these agencies of terror there is no judgment, and no penalty for man's guilt!
Thus speaks philosophy, more and more boldly every year. Prosecuting the devious speculations of unbelief, it gets further and further from God. It hates the thought of God coming nearer man, either to punish or reward. 'Where is the promise of His coming?' is its boasting shout.
Yet the Judge will come. The Christ will come. He waits, because He is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all