Judgment in Christian preaching emphasizes God's sovereign role as the ultimate judge who discerns hearts beyond outward appearances (Romans 2:16). It warns against hasty or critical human judgments that often misrepresent others and reflect our own flaws (Matthew 7:1-2). Illustrations commonly use images of mistaken assumptions, hidden qualities, and the need for self-examination to teach humility and preparation for God's righteous judgment.
Outsiders misjudge a man's stinginess without knowing his care for his invalid family.
There was a man who seemed stingy to everybody who knew him. He would be very scrupulous about how he spent even a nickel or a dime, so that he was greatly ridiculed. Finally it became known that he had an invalid wife and an invalid child for whom he cared, and they needed the very last penny that he could save to keep them alive. The criticism of outsiders now turned to admiration for him. Because we are unable to know everything about a man, we cannot possibly judge him rightly. A Poor Example
A father, who attended church with his little boy, found fault with everything in the service. As he walked home, he criticized the minister, the sermon, the choir, and everything in general. The boy, who had noticed what his father put in the offering plate, said, "Well, Dad, what can you expect for a quarter?"
Like a turtle trusting its shell, some trust God’s protection rather than defying death.
A certain person was driving 70 miles an hour down one of those long, straight stretches of West Texas highway one hot afternoon. No other cars were in sight, but up ahead he saw the form of a large bird bending over and tearing flesh from a run over rabbit. As he got closer, a huge hawk straightened up defiantly and looked directly into the headlights.
Instead of taking flight as these birds normally do, the giant hawk spread his wings, almost blocking the road, and challenged the speeding car. Its body made a "whump" sound as the car hit it, and the proud bird was instantly dead. Neither the run over rabbit nor its pride were any good to it then.
On another occasion in East Texas, the same man was again driving 70 down a highway when he saw the small rounded form of a turtle making a slow journey across his path. He remembered the giant hawk, and thought of what a 4,000 pound car would do to an eight-ounce turtle.
The turtle looked up and saw the car coming. He didn't run; he didn't dodge out of the way, nor did he challenge the car. He stopped and pulled all four legs and his head into his shell. The car missed the motionless turtle that rested confidently in his shell.
The proud hawk and the deluded turtle are like two kinds of people ignoring the speeding advance of death and judgment: one is proud and defies the claims of Christ on his or her life; the other pulls into his or her own self-righteous shell.
Rejecting God's warnings leads to ruin; we must trust His words about judgment.
Getting children to eat what is good for them can be quite a problem. Convincing them that you mean business takes more strength of character than some parents possess. Yet the mother who lets her child indulge his preference for sweets, instead of such body-building foods as milk, meat, and vegetables, does not really love him as much as the mother who does her best to see that he gets a balanced diet. The parents who give in to a child on matters that affect his future health and character are not loving. They are merely encouraging him to go on getting his way in all future contests of will. They are laying the foundation for trouble for the rest of his life. So it is with God. Unless people believe that He means what He says, they will run to all kinds of excesses, and ruin their lives for time and eternity. Although the Bible consistently proclaims that unbelief and sin, if unrepented of in this life, will result in eternal loss, too many people refuse to take God at His Word. They choose to believe He is too soft-hearted ever to condemn anyone to eternal punishment.
God's judgment sees beyond our self-perception to our true spiritual condition.
Returning home from school one day, my little boy came to me with the evidence of what he had had for lunch smeared all over his mouth. I told him to go wash his face and come back to show me the results. He returned in a hurry, saying, "I am all clean now, Daddy." "Are you?" I asked. "Sure. I washed just like you told me to." From his point of view he was clean, but from where I stood he still looked dirty. It is not what we think of ourselves that counts, but what God our Creator thinks of us.
How we judge others reflects back on us; be kind to receive kindness.
"Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1). There was once a wise old man sitting at the gate of an ancient city. A young traveler stopped before entering the city and asked the old man, "What kind of people live in this town?" The wise man answered with a question, "What kind of people were in the town you just came from?"
"Oh, they were liars and cheats and thugs and drunks, terrible people," the young traveler replied. The old man shook his head, "The people in this town are the same way."
Later another stranger paused to ask the same question, and again the wise man questioned his questioner, "What kind of people did you just leave?"
The second traveler answered, "Oh, I left a fine town. The people were good and kind and honest and hardworking." The wise man smiled and said, "The people in this town are the same way."
People who are kind and forgiving toward others usually experience tolerance from others themselves; those who are harsh, censorious and critical toward others find that others exhibit much the same disposition toward them.
Of course, when our Lord warned, "Judge not," He was not talking about exposing the sins of the ungodly-we must do that. Neither was He talking about withdrawing from the immoral, or restoring erring Christians, or resolving civil disputes, or "knowing a tree by its fruits." He was forbidding illegitimate judgments that stem from a self-righteous, haughty, puffed-up, hypocritical spirit (Matthew 7:15; Luke 6:37-38; Romans 2:1-3). He was forbidding judgments based on inadequate information (John 7:21-24). He was forbidding judgments in which the person assumes the position of God, trying and sentencing brethren in regard to eternal salvation (Joshua 4:11-12; Romans 14:3-4, Romans 14:10, Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 4:5).
What kind of people live in your town?
Critics often hesitate to own their judgments, showing judgment belongs to God.
A certain preacher had a method of dealing with those people who were critical of others. He kept a complaint book in his desk. When a church member would come to tell him of another's faults he would say, "Well, here is my complaint book. I'll write down what you say, and you can sign your name to it. Then I'll go and take it up with our brother."
Invariably the critic would stammer, backtrack, and insist that nothing be written or signed. In his 40-year ministry that preacher opened his complaint book hundreds of times-but never made a single entry.
How about it? Are you willing to write out and sign the ugly things you have said about others? If not, perhaps it would be best to leave judgment where it belongs-with God. A New Window on the World
Ruth E. Knowlton tells this on herself: "Years ago I lived in an apartment building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine, and I could look across the alley into the apartment on the same floor as mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her as she sat by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading.
"After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her windows were dirty. Everything was indistinct through her smudged windows. I would say to myself, 'I wonder why that woman doesn't wash her windows? They look dreadful!'
"One bright morning I decided to do my spring housecleaning and thoroughly cleaned my apartment, including washing the windows on the inside.
"Late in the afternoon when I was finished, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly visible. Her windows were clean!
"Then it dawned on me. I have been criticizing her dirty windows, but all the time I was observing them through my own dirty ones!"
We must prepare ourselves for God's judgment as He is already prepared.
Did you hear about the boy who failed all his college work? He wired his mother: "Failed everything; Prepare Papa." His mother wired back, "Papa prepared; Prepare yourself." This is the message a lot of us need in view of the coming judgment. God is prepared. We need to prepare ourselves! The Other Man
Perhaps he sometimes slipped a bit-
Well, so have you.
Perhaps some things he ought to quit-
Well, so should you.
Perhaps he may have faltered-
Why, all men do, and so have I.
You must admit, unless you lie,
That so have you.
Perhaps if we would stop and think,
Both I and you,
When painting someone black as ink,
As some folks do;
Perhaps if we would recollect,
Perfection we would not expect,
But just a man halfway correct,
Like me and you.
People may seem unlovely but have hidden good that shines when seen rightly.
There is a kind of crystal called Labrador Spar. At first sight, it is dull and without luster; but if it is turned round and round, it will suddenly come into a position where the light strikes it in a certain way, and it will sparkle with flashing beauty.
People are like that. They may seem to be unlovely, but that is because we do not know the whole person. Everyone has something good in him or her.
Neglecting to serve others effectively closes the church despite good intentions.
Ben Putnitoff was a member of the Lord's church. Morally, he was a good man. He did not lie, curse, drink, beat his wife, or smoke. He paid his income tax, came to Bible class and worship services, paid his bills and gave a "few bucks" to the Lord. He was never opposed to anything that was good.
One day old Ben Putnitoff died and stood before the Righteous Judge. The Judge said, "Ben, you are charged with trying to close the church. Are you guilty or not guilty?"
"Not guilty," pleaded Ben Putnitoff. "I didn't do a thing!"
"Guilty as charged," the Judge ruled. And then He continued, "Ben, you have confessed to the most effective way ever devised of closing the church. You 'did not do a thing.'You did not visit the sick. You did not encourage the weak. You did not feed the hungry. You did not reach out to the lost with the gospel."
"But, Judge," Ben pleaded, "I intended to do all of those things, but I was too busy making a living and enjoying myself. I have just been putting it off."
Quick assumptions about others often lead to embarrassing mistakes.
A man sitting at his window one evening casually called to his wife, "There goes that woman Charlie Smith is so terribly in love with." His wife in the kitchen dropped the plate she was drying, ran through the door, knocking over a lamp, looked out the window. "Where, where?" she cried. "There," he said, "that woman in the gabardine suit on the corner." "You idiot," she hissed, "That is his wife." "Yes, of course," he replied.
Hasty judgments can overlook true potential and cause unfair rejection.
When Gilbert Frankau was producing a play, he sent to a theatrical agency for a young man to play the leading part. After the screen test, Gilbert Frankau telephoned his agent. "This man," he said, "will never do. He cannot act, and he never will be able to act, and you had better advise him to look for some other profession before he starves. By the way, tell me his name again so that I can cross him off my list." The actor's name was Ronald Colman, who became one of the most famous actors the screen has ever known. The Disliked Dislike
A psychologist asked a group of college students to jot down, in 30 seconds, the initials of the people they disliked. Some of the students taking the test could think of only one person. Others listed as many as 14. But the interesting fact that came out of the research was this: Those who disliked the largest number of people were themselves the most widely disliked.
Good judgment comes from experience, often gained through making mistakes.
There is an old story of a man in West Virginia who had a reputation for being wise and for giving sound advice. A young person went to him one day and asked, "Uncle Jed, how come you have such good judgment?" "Well, I have good judgment because I have had a lot of experience," he replied. And the boy said, "Yes, but how did you get all that experience?" "Well," the man mused, "I got it by making a lot of bad judgments."
If people have traveled the road before us and can tell us what that road looks like, then we are wise to listen to what they have to say.
Criticizing others blinds us to our own faults and causes frustration.
A man said once to Mr. Dawson, "I like your sermons very much, but the aftermeetings I dislike. When the prayer meeting begins, I always go up into the gallery and look down, and I am disgusted." "Well," said Mr. Dawson, "the reason is, if you go on the top of your neighbor's house and look down his chimney to examine his fire, of course you get only smoke in your eyes."
Using the talent of criticism alone is unproductive and should be avoided.
Some people are like the man who said he was afraid he was going to be of no use in the world because he had only one talent. "Oh, that need not discourage you," said his pastor. "What is your talent?" "The talent of judging others, of criticism." "Well, I advise you," said his pastor, "to do with it what the man of one talent did with his, bury it. Criticism may be useful when mixed with other talents, but those whose only activity is to criticize the workers might as well be buried, talent and all."
Constant negative judging of others reveals a critical and unkind heart.
Let us not be like that man who is always quick to judge his fellowmen: If he is poor, he is a bad manager. If he is rich, he is dishonest. If he needs credit, he can't get it. If he is prosperous, everyone wants a favor from him. If he's in politics, it's for pie. If he is out of politics, you can't place him, and he's no good for his country. If he doesn't give to charity, he's stingy. If he does, it's for show. If he is actively religious, he is a hypocrite. If he takes no interest in religion, he's a hardened sinner. If he shows affection, he's a soft specimen. If he seems to care for no one, he's cold-blooded. If he dies young, there was a great future ahead of him. If he lives to an old age, he has missed his calling.
People often judge others harshly, attributing wrong motives to build themselves up.
Many people sit in judgment on everybody. They seem to delight in imputing unworthy motives to others, and in this respect perhaps they are judging others by themselves. When they see someone working for the Lord, they'll say, "Oh, yes, George is a real saint, but he gets paid for what he does, you know." The inference is that if he weren't paid he'd not be so zealous for the Lord. It may be that the financial compensation for his work had something to do with his decision to engage in it; but it may not have been his main motive by any means. It's all too human to exaggerate the secondary motives of others. We seem to derive some sort of satisfaction in pointing out the flaws in their characters. It seems that the only way some people can build themselves up in their own eyes is by tearing others down.
God is still perfecting His work; we should patiently withhold premature judgment.
The builders and decorators of a great cathedral made the mistake of admitting visitors while the work was in progress. They heard nothing but criticism. Finally they had to close the doors and admit no one but workmen. When it was all finished, the exquisiteness of the structure was universally acclaimed. The previous judgments had been premature. When we are tempted to judge people, let's recognize that just as in our own case success comes gradually as a rule, so it does to others. Let us not dishonor God by attributing ugliness to Him in any of His works in nature or humanity. He is not through yet. God is in the process of perfecting much that we see now as unfinished and imperfect. Don't judge Him prematurely for permitting the sickness, accident, deformity, and seeming injustice of this world. Wait. Exercise patience. He is still at work.
Knowing others' sins should lead to humility, not censoriousness or criticism.
Many critical Christians are like that Persian youth who was very meticulous about his religious duties. He would rise up in the middle of the night to watch, pray, and read the Koran. One night as he was engaged in these exercises his father, a man of practical virtue, awoke while his son was reading. "Behold," the religious youth said to his father, "thy other children are lost in irreligious slumber, while I alone wake to praise God." "Son of my soul," the wise father answered, "it is better to sleep than to awake to notice the faults of thy brothers!" If the knowledge of the sins of others arouses in us the spirit of censoriousness and criticism, confession has not accomplished its intended and hoped-for purpose.
Quick judgments often ignore charitable explanations; final judgment belongs to God.
Those who speak evil of others are usually too quick to draw conclusions. If they see a man coming out of a bar, they immediately decide he must have been drinking. They lack the charitable nature that would let them consider that he may very well have gone in to distribute Christian tracts in a place where they were desperately needed, or he may have gone in to try to persuade a weaker brother to leave the place and go home. The Lord's Admonition
At the conclusion of the Civil War, when hatred and vindictiveness were rampant in the land, President Lincoln sought to stem the tide of judgment and reprisal. When Senator Sumner of Massachesetts pressed him to have Jefferson Davis summarily hanged, Lincoln twice repeated our Lord's admonition, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1). Though he had vanquished Davis as an enemy, Lincoln refused to condemn him as a man. He chose to leave that final judgment to his Creator. No Cross Examination Allowed
There was a juvenile court judge who had a very unusual experience during the course of one of his trials. An elderly man who owned a watermelon patch had caught a boy stealing his melons and had him arrested. When the time came for the trial, the man made his complaint to the court, after which the judge turned to the boy and said, "Son, what do you have to say for yourself?" The boy looked up at the judge with questioning eyes and answered, "Judge, did you ever steal a watermelon when you were a kid?" The judge was somewhat startled at the turn of events, dropped his head into his hand for a few moments of thought, and finally responded, "No cross-examination of the court allowed. The case is dismissed."
False teachers lead others to destruction, proving the reality of hell.
“If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew 15:14
On one occasion Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, the agnostic lecturer of the last century, was announced to give an address on hell. He declared he would prove conclusively that hell was a wild dream of some scheming theologians who invented it to terrify credulous people. As he was launching into his subject, a half-drunken man arose in the audience and exclaimed, “Make it strong, Bob. There’s a lot of us poor fellows depending on you. If you are wrong, we are all lost. So be sure you prove it clear and plain.”
No amount of reasoning can nullify God’s sure Word. He has spoken as plainly of a hell for the finally impenitent as of a heaven for those who are saved.
Snap judgments often misjudge others; love hopes and believes all things.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Matthew 7:1
The folly of snap judgments of others is well illustrated by a story the late Bishop Potter of New York used to tell on himself.
He was sailing for Europe in one of the great trans-Atlantic liners. When he went on board, he found another passenger was to share the cabin with him. After going to see his accommodations, he came up to the purser’s desk and inquired if he could leave his gold watch and other valuables in the ship’s safe. He explained that ordinarily he never availed himself of that privilege, but he had been to his cabin and had met the man who was to occupy the other berth and, judging from his appearance, he was afraid that he might not be a very trustworthy person.
The purser accepted the responsibility of caring for the valuables, and remarked, “It’s all right, bishop, I’ll be very glad to take care of them for you. The other man has been up here and left his for the same reason.”
One is reminded of the lines of Robbie Burns,
“Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see orsel’s as others see us.”
It is very easy to form snap judgments, only to find out afterward that they are utterly unfounded. “Love believeth all things, hopeth all things.”
Facing certain judgment without hope causes despair, but Christ offers pardon to sinners.
I remember hearing a story of Mr. George Stewart. One day the Governor of Pennsylvania came to him and said, "Mr. Stewart, I want you to go to such a prison and tell that man for whose execution I signed the warrant the other day, that there is not a ray of hope for him. When the day and hour comes he must be executed. His mother has been tormenting the life out of me; and all his friends have been running after me day and night, and they are giving the poor fellow a false hope." "That is a very disagreeable thing to do, Governor," answered Mr. Stewart. "Well, I want you to go and tell him, so that he can be settled in his mind." The story goes that when the doors of the cell were opened, that prisoner seized Mr. Stewart's hands, and in his joy cried, "You are a good man. I know you have come with a pardon from the Governor." But when Mr. Stewart told him the Governor had sent him to say there was not a ray of hope for him, that upon the day and hour he must be executed, the man completely broke down and fainted away. The thought that at such a day and such an hour he was going to be ushered into eternity, was too much for the poor fellow. Suppose I come to you to-night and tell you there is not a ray of hope--that you have broken the law of pardon. How many would say, "I know a great deal better. The blackest sinner on earth Christ can save. He says so." But, my friends, there is no hope without the deliverance to be free from the bondage of sin.
Ignoring sin leads to despair and death, illustrating the urgency of salvation.
I was coming along north Clark street one evening when a man shot past me like an arrow. But he had seen me, and turned and seized me by the arm. Saying eagerly, "Can I be saved to-night. The devil is coming to take me to hell at 1 o'clock tonight." "My friend, you are mistaken." I thought the man was sick. But he persisted that the devil had come and laid his hand upon him, and told him he might have till 1 o'clock, and said he: "Won't you go up to my room and sit with me." I got some men up to his room to see to him. At 1 o'clock the devils came into that room, and all the men in that room could not hold him. He was reaping what he had sown. When the Angel of Death came and laid his cold hand on him, oh how he cried for mercy.
At judgment, all sins will be vividly revealed and remembered by the awakened conscience.
"The story of our lives is all engraven upon the heart, and when God awakeneth the conscience, it tells of past sin. God will open the sinner's eyes in the next world, not by a holy illumination, but by a forced conviction: We are told in Rev. xx. 12—'The books were opened,' and one of these books is conscience, and though it be in the sinner's keeping, and therefore may become blurred and defaced, yet our story will be legible enough, and forgotten sins will stare us in the face: 'Be sure your sin will find you out' (Num. xxxii. 23.) We forget it now, and think we shall never hear of it more; but God can make all occur to memory as fresh as if newly committed, and in an instant represent the story of an ill-spent life, and show us all the thoughts, words, and actions that ever we have been guilty of. The paper goeth white into the printing-house; but within one instant it is marked within and without, and cometh forth stamped with words, and lines, and sentences, which were in no way legible there before, even so will it be with the soul when conscience is aroused at the last." Our lives to-day are like the picture upon the photographer's plate before he develops it; God hath but to put the soul into a bath prepared according to his divine art, and all the sins of his whole existence will stand out clear before the sinner's astonished gaze. Nothing can be forgotten: all the past must live again. Let the unconverted tremble as they think of this, and let the saved ones bless the Lord Jesus who has so blotted out their sins that no power or process can ever bring them again to remembrance.
A miser's heart was found in his treasure chest, symbolizing his eternal condemnation for greed.
St. Antonio, being called upon to preach the funeral-sermon of a very rich man who had been remarkable for his avarice and his usury, chose for his text, "Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also," and, instead of praising the dead, denounced him as condemned for his misdeeds to eternal punishment. "His heart," he said, "is buried in his treasure-chest: go seek it there, and you will find it." Whereupon the friends and relations, going to break open the chest, found there the heart of the miser amid a heap of ducats; and this miracle was further established, when, upon opening the breast of the dead man, they found his heart was gone, which extraordinary event occurred in the city of Florence, and is related by the veracious author Lelio Mancini Poliziano.
— Mrs. Jameson
Christ will judge all as sovereign Lord seated at God's right hand.
As those on earth that are set at the right hand of kings do execute justice in courts or assizes, for the maintenance of the state and peace of the kingdom: even so Christ Jesus, sitting at the right hand of his Father, that is, being made sovereign Lord of all things, both in heaven and earth, is to hold a court, or assize, in which he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead.
— Cawdray
A rich man refusing to lend to God is called a fool and loses his soul.
COVETOUSNESS, Penalty of Charity was solicited from a rich man as a loan to the Lord. He replied, "The security, no doubt, is good, and the interest liberal; but I cannot give such long credit." Within two weeks, he heard the summons, "Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee." The God whom he would not trust would no longer trust him.
The Devil punishes his servants eternally despite their earthly service to him.
Charles, King of Sweden, a great enemy of the Jesuits, when in time of war he took any of their colleges, would first hang up all the old Jesuits, and then put the rest into his mines, saying, that, since they had wrought so hard above ground, he would now make a trial how they could work under ground. Thus the Devil, when the wicked have done him what evil service they can upon earth, he confines them to his lower vaults in hell forevermore. A sad reward!—to sow trouble, and reap nothing but horror, and vexation of spirit; still bringing fuel to that fire which must burn themselves to all eternity. Spencer.
Evil triumphs may seem glorious but reveal deep human suffering and despair.
When the fierce Tamerlane went forth to his terrible battles, he used to require of his soldiery a certain number of human heads to be brought to him. These he had curiously piled up into columns and pyramids, so that he might gloat his eyes on the ghastly faces of his conquered enemies. And so, with jests and shouts, the rode soldiers wrought on the terrible pile. On the ruins of Bagdad, a pyramid was erected, containing thirty thousand human skulls. They were arranged in symmetrical order, and presented every variety of human anguish and despair. Oh! what a fearful sight it must have been! Who could have had a heart hard enough to look upon it? Yet this savage Tartar rejoiced in the sight. It was the most beautiful object in the world to him. The greater his pyramid, the grander he considered his conquest.
Impenitent habits gradually close off hope until final judgment crushes the unrepentant soul.
The victim of an ancient tyrant found himself with a narrow cell with seven windows, one above the other in the end, and the only furniture pallet of straw. In the night, there seemed to be a noise and a movement, and all was still. In the morning, a loaf of bread and a mug water stood by his side. He was relieved from the fear of starvation; but, when his eyes sought the windows, there were but six. The next night the same thing was repeated, and the next, and the next; when the fearful truth flashed upon him, that, by some infernal enginery of windlass and crank, the floor and wall of his cell were being pressed together to the extent of the loss of a window every night; and, in three days more, he would be crushed in that fearful tomb. So habits of impenitence are blotting out window after window of your earth-cell; and, with God's hand upon the crank, the hour approaches when your last hope will lie crushed and mangled in the ever narrowing entombment that holds you.
— S. H. Platt
Belshazzar's weighing recalls God's judgment by the handwriting on the wall.
It is worthy of notice, that it was the custom of the mogul to be weighed once every year, in the presence of his grandees; and, by his weight, the physicians determined the state of his health. The ceremony was performed within his house or tent. The scales in which the king was thus placed were plated with gold. He was weighed, according to report, first against silver coin, which was immediately afterwards distributed among the poor; then he was weighed against gold; after that, against jewels: but I observed that silken bags were laid on the contrary scale. When I saw him in the balance, I thought of Belshazzar and the handwriting upon the wall. Sir Thomas Roe.
The great book opened at judgment reveals all hearts and deeds perfectly.
It may be there is more of truth than one suspects in the assertion of De Quincey's, that absolute forgetting is a thing not possible to the human mind. Some evidence of this may be derived from the fact of long-missed incidents and states of feeling being suddenly reproduced without any perceptible train of association. It has been suggested by a great thinker, that merely perfect memory of every thing may constitute the great book which shall be opened in the last day, on which man has been distinctly told the secrets of all hearts shall be made known.
— Timbs
False predictions of final destruction contrast with God's faithful, ongoing judgment.
Ephemeron, that insect of a day, related to its youthful kindred in its expiring voice how that it had seen the coeval sun arise in early youth, climbing up the east, but, now that that sun was surely sinking in the western sky, an awful catastrophe or a final night might be safely predicted. The ephemeron expired; but the next day the sun arose in the east brilliantly as ever; before sundown, however, there were other expiring ephemerons predicting, as before, his final extinction.
God's patience in judgment allows time for repentance and mercy before punishment.
It is observable, that the Roman magistrates, when they gave sentence upon any one to be scourged, had a bundle of rods, tied hard with many knots, laid before them. The reason was this, — that whilst the beadle was untying the knots, which he was to do by order, and not in any other hasty or sudden way, the magistrate might see the deportment and carriage of the delinquent, — whether he was sorry for his fault, and showed any hope of amendment, — that then he might recall his sentence, or mitigate his punishment: otherwise, he was corrected so much the more severely. Thus God in the punishment of sinners, — how patient is he! how loath to strike! how slow to anger!
— Spencer
A Last Judgment painting depicts Christ judging with angels and St. Michael weighing souls.
In a celebrated Last Judgment, attributed by some authors to John Van Eyck, by others to Justus of Ghent, the archangel St. Michael is grandly introduced. High up in the centro sits the Saviour, with the severe expression of the judge. Above him hover four angels with the instruments of the Passion, and below him three others sounding trumpets (I suppose the seven pre-eminent angels); the Virgin and St. John the Baptist on each side; and then the apostles, ranged in the usual manner. "In the lower half of the picture stands St. Michael, clad in golden armor, so bright as to reflect in the most complete manner all the surrounding objects. His figure is slender and elegant, but colossal as compared to the rest. He seems to be bending earnestly forward. A splendid purple mantle falls from his shoulders to the ground; and his large wings are composed of glittering peacock's feathers. He holds the balance. The scale with the good rests on earth; but that with the souls which are found wanting mounts into air. A demon stands ready to receive them; and towards this scale St. Michael points with the end of a black staff which he holds in his right hand." This picture, which is a chef-d'œuvre of the early German school, is now in the Church of St. Mary at Dantzig. Mrs. Jameson.
Prejudice distorts judgment, making everything appear the same to the biased mind.
The mad Athenian thought every ship that came into the harbor to be his own. Pythagoras' scholars were so trained up to think all things were constituted of numbers, that they thought they saw numbers in every thing. Prejudice makes every thing seem of the same color. Spencer.
A machine sorting coins by weight illustrates the certainty and impartiality of God's judgment.
There is a machine in the Bank of England which receives sovereigns, as a mill receives grain, for the purpose of determining wholesale whether they are of full weight. As they pass through, the machinery, by unerring laws, throws all that are light to one side, and all that are of full weight to another. That process is a silent but solemn parable for me. Founded as it is upon the laws of Nature, it affords the most vivid similitude of the certainty which characterizes the judgment of the great day. There are no mistakes or partialities to which the light may trust: the only hope lies in being of standard weight before they go in.
— Arnot
God records all sins and will judge everyone impartially on the great day of reckoning.
JUDGMENT-DAY, Reckoning at the What! do you think that God doth not remember our sins which we do not regard? for while we sin the score runs on, and the Judge setteth down all in the table of remembrance, and his scroll reacheth up to heaven. Item, for lending to usury; item, for racking of rents; item, for starching thy ruffs; item, for curling thy hair; item, for painting thy face; item, for selling of benefices; item, for starving of souls; item, for playing at cards; item, for sleeping in the church; item, for profaning the Sabbath Day, — with a number more, hath God to call to account; for every one must answer for himself. The fornicator, for taking of filthy pleasure; the careless prelate, for murthering so many thousand souls; the landlord, for getting money from his poor tenants by racking of his rents. See the rest: all they shall come like very sheep when the trumpet shall sound, and the heaven and earth shall come to judgment against them; when the heavens shall vanish like a scroll; and the earth shall consume like fire, and all the creatures standing against them; the rocks shall cleave asunder, and the mountains shake, and the foundation of the earth shall tremble, and they shall say to the mountains, "Cover us, fall upon us, and hide us from the presence of His anger and wrath whom we have not cared to offend." But they shall not be covered and hid; but then shall they go the black way, to the snakes and serpents, to be tormented of devils forever. Henry Smith.
A customs search illustrates God's thorough judgment of hidden sins at death's boundary.
JUDGMENT-DAY, Revelations of the A traveller crossed the frontier, and had to pass the custom-house. The officers said to him, "Have you any contraband goods?" He replied, "I do not think I have." — "That may be all true," said the officers; "but we cannot permit you to pass without examination. Permit us to search." — "If you please," said the traveller. The examination over, the traveller addressed the officers, saying, "Gentlemen, will you allow me to tell you what thoughts this examination has awakened in my mind? We are all travellers to an eternal kingdom, into which we cannot take any contraband goods. By these forbidden things, I mean deceitfulness, anger, pride, lying, covetousness, and similar offences; which are hateful in the sight of God. For all these, every man who passes the boundary of the grave is searched far more strictly than you have searched me. God is the Great Searcher of hearts: from him nothing is hid; and in that kingdom, as in this, every forbidden article subjects a man to punishment."
Sinners face eternal regret and abandonment in hell, wishing for lost opportunities and repentance.
Imagine you see a sinner going to hell; and his acquaintances look at him; the angels shout at him; and the saints laugh at him; and the devils rail at him; and many look him in the face;
and they that said they would live and die with him forsake him, and leave him to pay all the scores. Then Judas would restore his bribes; Esau would cast up his pottage;
Achan would cast down his gold; and Gehazi would refuse his gifts; Nebuchadnezzar would be humbler; Balaam would be faithful; and the prodigal would be tame. Meth:ks I see
Achan running about, "Where shall I hide my gold that I have stolen, that it might not be seen, nor stand to appear for witness against me?" And Judas running to the high priests, saying, "Hold! take again your money: I will none of it. I have betrayed the innocent blood." And Esau crying for the blessing when it is too late, having sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Herod shall then wish he were John the Baptist; Pharaoh, that he were
Moses, and Saul wish that he had been David;
Nebuchadnezzar, that he had been Daniel;
Haman to have been Mordecai; Esau would wish to be Jacob; and Balaam would wish he might have died the death of the righteous.
— Henry Smith
God separates the faithful from the ungodly like wheat from chaff at the final judgment.
As the husbandman sends his servants to purge his floor, and with the fan to separate the good seed from the chaff; even so God shall send his angels to his floor, that is this world. And they shall carry the good seed, that is the faithful, into everlasting barns; but the chaff and dross, that is the ungodly, shall be thrown into a furnace of fire. Caudray.
At death, one’s life is reviewed, revealing God’s protection and purpose throughout.
Dr. Doddridge dreamed that he died, and, clad in a seraphic form, was borne by an angelic attendant to a glorious palace, in one of the rooms of which he left him, saying, "Rest here. The lord of the mansion will soon be with you: meanwhile, study the apartment." The next moment, he was alone; and, upon casting his eyes round the room, he saw that the walls were adorned with a series of pictures. To his great astonishment, he found that it was his past life delineated there. From the moment when he had come into the world a helpless infant, and God had breathed into him the breath of life, unto the recent hour, when he had seemed to die, his whole existence was there marked down: every event which had happened to him shone out conspicuously on its walls. Some he remembered as perfectly as though they had occurred but yesterday: others had passed from his memory into oblivion, until thus recalled. Things obscure in life, which had caused him doubt, perplexity, even uneasiness, were rendered clear now. The perils of his life were there, — the accidents which had overtaken him in his mortal state, all of which he had escaped from untouched or but slightly hurt. One in particular caught his attention, — a fall from his horse, — for he recollected the circumstance well: it had been a perilous fall, and his escape was marvellous. But scattered in every picture, all along the whole career, he saw merciful, guiding, shielding angels, who had been with him unsuspected throughout his life, never quitting him, always watching over him to guard him from danger. He continued to gaze on these wonderful pictures; and, the more he gazed, the greater grew his awe, his reverence, his admiration of the unbounded goodness of God. Not a turn did his life take, but it rested on some merciful act of interposition for him. Love, gratitude, joy, filled his heart to overflowing.
Whole communities can suffer from collective insanity like individuals do.
Bishop Butler, conversing about insanity with Dean Tucker, asked, "Why may not whole communities and public bodies be seized with fits of insanity as well as individuals?" The bishop's question suggests a charitable solution of many inscrutable national acts.
Neutrality in spiritual battles brings God’s curse for failing to help His people.
Tell me not of neutrality: it is out of the question. Ah! here is a case of neutrality upon record in this book, "Curse ye, Meroz!" Why? — what had they done to expose themselves to this bitter malediction? Had they taken up arms against Jehovah? — No! Had they gone over to the enemy, and fought against the chosen people? — No! What, then, had they done? — Nothing! Their neutrality was their crime. "Because they came not up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty."
— Dr. R. Newton
Parents daily inscribe their influence on children's souls, shown at judgment.
What if God should place in your hand a diamond, and tell you to inscribe on it a sentence, which should be read at the last day, and shown there as an index of your own thoughts and feelings! What care, what caution, would you exercise in the selection! Now, this is what God has done. He has placed before you the immortal minds of your children, more imperishable than the diamond, on which you are about to inscribe every day and every hour, by your instructions, by your spirit, or by your example, something which will remain, and be exhibited for or against you at the judgment-day. Dr. Payson.
Living in pleasure while facing death is like a moth dancing toward its destruction.
Alas for thee, that thy pulse should beat a march to hell! Alas that yonder clock, like the muffled drum, should be the music of the funeral-march of thy soul! Alas, alas, that thou shouldst fold thine arms in pleasure, when the knife is at thy heart! Alas, alas, for thee, that thou shouldst sing and make merriment when the rope is about thy neck, and the drop is tottering under thee! Alas for thee, that thou shouldst go thy way, and live merrily and happily, and yet be lost! Thou remindest me of the silly moth that dances round about the flame, singeing itself for a while, and then at last plunging to its death. Spurgeon.
A legend warns that false profession leads to condemnation at God's judgment.
Raymond was a learned doctor and teacher of theology in Paris, much venerated for his austere piety. Of his death, we have the following startling legend: "Now Raymond, being greatly venerated for his apparent sanctity, was carried to the grave, attended by a great concourse of the people; and as they were chanting the service for the dead, just as they came to the words, 'Responde mihi quantas habes iniquitates,' the dead man half raised himself from his bier, and cried with a lamentable voice, 'By the justice of God, I am accused!' Thereupon, the priests laid down the bier, and put off the interment till the following day. Next day, they again formed in procession; and as they chanted the same words, 'Responde mihi,' the dead man again rose up, and cried out with a more dreadful voice, 'By the justice of God, I am judged!' and then sank down on his bier as before. Great was the consternation of the people: and they put off the conclusion of the obsequies till the third day; when, just as they had begun to chant the same verse, trembling for the result, the dead man again rose up, crying with a terrible voice and look, 'By the justice of God, I am condemned!' Upon this, priests and attendants, half dead with fear and horror, flung the body out into a field as unworthy of Christian burial."
True judgment and reward happen after death by discerning spirits, not by earthly courts.
Plutarch tells of a complaint which came from the Islands of the Blessed, because improper persons were sent there by the judges in the earthly courts. It was found that titled and noble persons went before the judges with their friends, who solemnly swore that they deserved to be sent to the Islands of the Blessed, when they deserved the contrary. It was then decreed by eternal doom, that no judgment should be passed till after death, and then only by spirits who could discern the qualities of those whom they judged.
If angels tolled a bell for every lost soul, it would ring incessantly in prosperous times.
If a bell were hung high in heaven, which the angels swung whenever a man was lost, how incessantly would it toll in days of prosperity for men gone down, for honor lost, for integrity lost, and for manhood lost, beyond recall? Beecher.
St. Michael's scales symbolize the final judgment separating thankful elect souls from rejected ones.
In the devotional pictures which exhibit St. Michael as lord of souls, he is winged and unarmed, and holds the balance. In each scale sits a little naked figure, representing a human soul. One of these is usually represented with hands joined as in thankfulness, — he is the beato, the elected: the other is in an attitude of horror,—he is the rejected, the reprobate; and often, but not necessarily, the idea is completed by the introduction of a demon, who is grasping at the descending scale, either with his talons, or with the long two-pronged hook, such as is given to Pluto in the antique sculpture. Mrs. Jameson.
