37 The Judgment Day

The Judgment Day

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men." 2 Corinthians 5:10-11

Sinner! What a fearful day will that be! You must then be exposed before God, angels, and men. The awesome majesty of God will be displayed. He will set your iniquities before him — your secret sins in the light of his countenance. There will be no concealment; the omniscient eye of God will search out every crime — he knows all things — the book of God’s remembrance will contain every fault. "The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?" (Joel 2:11.) The memory will recollect all your sins, with all their aggravations. A guilty conscience, which now expostulates in vain, will condemn you with the most bitter reflections. The terrors of God will take hold of you, and hurry you away to the burning lake of fire and brimstone. They will be terrors within (Deuteronomy 32:25) — within your bosom, in the deep recesses of your heart. Your heart will be filled with terror, and only terror, for evermore. While you suffer these terrors, a wild distraction will seize you (Psalms 88:15), and consume as devouring fire, not your person — but all your false hopes, comforts, and foolish ideas (Psalms 78:19). This will be the case with all sinners, according to the light they possessed, and the privileges within their reach. This will be their portion — even forever and ever!

"Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Corinthians 5:11). We know them from God’s Word, in which he threatens them, in which he gives us instances of his dreadful displeasure.

Look at the destruction of the old world by the flood — see rich and poor, young and old, moral and immoral — alike swept away with the broom of destruction! Ah, sinner! where was then the mercy on which you now presume? how did God show mercy then?

Look at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah — what a fearful overthrow! And yet the destruction of those cities was more tolerable than will be the terrors of the Lord on the last great day.

See Korah and all his company swallowed up by an earthquake! See Pharaoh and his host cast into the Red Sea! See Nadab and Abihu consumed with fire in the tabernacle — and remember this is the God with whom you have to do! Oh! it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). Knowing the terrors of the Lord — we persuade men.

We would persuade you to believe the truth of these things, and to reflect seriously upon them. You are exposed to the wrath of God; your duties and your good works cannot possibly shelter you from it. Jesus, and Jesus only — is the refuge from the wrath to come. But you must be found in him, or you will not be benefitted by him. He receives sinners; he will receive you. Do you feel your need of him? Do you desire to be pardoned, justified, and saved from the terrors of the Lord? Oh! go to Jesus; go to him at once. He can hear the softest whisper; he will never cast out any who sincerely come to him. Call upon him, plead with him; nothing is of half so much importance as this.

Oh! determine, as David did in another case, neither to give sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids — until you have sought the Lord, and sought him with your whole heart. Every one who seeks — finds (Matthew 7:8). You have, therefore, every encouragement; but if you live and die in your sins — then where Jesus is, you cannot go; neither will you have any excuse. Oh! consider . . .
the value of your never-dying soul,
the danger to which you are exposed, and
the happiness which is set before you in the gospel.

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). Seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near; for you must soon stand before the judgment seat of Christ!

How great, how dreadful that God,
Who shakes creation with his nod!
He frowns — earth, sea, all nature’s frame,
Sink in one universal flame! Where now, oh where shall sinners seek.
For shelter in the general wreck?
Shall falling rocks be o’er them thrown?
See rocks, like snow, dissolving down. In vain for mercy now they cry;
In lakes of liquid fire they lie!
There on the flaming billows tossed,
Forever, oh! forever lost!