121 – Christ’s Coming to Judgment

CHRIST’S COMING TO JUDGMENT

§ 121. Christ’s coming to judge the quick and the dead will be the visible culmination of His exaltation, inasmuch as it will then be made manifest unto men and angels, good and evil, that all power is given to Him in heaven and in earth,1 that He is, according to His human nature also, above all principality and power,2 when the Son of Man,3 who was unjustly sentenced before the tribunal of a human court,4 will pronounce the final sentence of all generations,5 consign all His enemies to their eternal doom,6 and lead His Church triumphant to the full enjoyment of eternal bliss.7

1.  Christ’s coming to judge the quick and the dead will be the visible culmination of His exaltation, inasmuch as it will then be made manifest unto men and angels, good and evil, that all power is given to Him in heaven and in earth,

  Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.

  Matthew 25:31–32 When 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: 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.

2. that He is, according to His human nature also, above all principality and power,

  Ephesians 1:20–22 Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church.

3. when the Son of Man,

  Matthew 25:31 When 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.

  Luke 21:27, 36 And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (36) Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

4. who was unjustly sentenced before the tribunal of a human court,

  Luke 23:22–25 And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath He done? I have found no cause of death in Him: I will therefore chastise Him, and let Him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

5. .will pronounce the final sentence of all generations,

  Matthew 25:32–34 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: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

6. .consign all His enemies to their eternal doom,

  Matthew 25:41, 46 Then 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. (46) And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

7. and lead His Church triumphant to the full enjoyment of eternal bliss.

  Matthew 25:34, 46 Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (46) And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

  I Thessalonians 4:14, 17 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.