Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

12. The Judge of Quick and Dead

“The only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the father” became THE SON OF MAN that He might fulfil the whole will of the Triune God. His title of Son of Man is a glorious title. It carries with it universal dominion, as we should expect, seeing He is who He is, and yet the first occurrence of it in the New Testament is in those memorable words of His. “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests: but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). It was into such poverty that He who will rule all things for God came for God’s glory and the salvation of men. Before taking the dominion and power, He trod the way of service and suffering. He gently rebuked the pride and ambitions of His disciples with the words, “Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Yet He knew what the result of His sojourn on earth would be, for even in the darkest hour of His life, when arraigned for blasphemy before the high priest of His people, and when “they did spit in His face, and buffeted Him; and smote Him with the palms of their hands” He said, “Nevertheless I say to You, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:24).

As the Son of Man He was lifted up, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. It was a necessity; without which His kingdom would have been a barren kingdom, with never a man in it to rejoice in His glory. He was lifted up as the representative of men to bear the judgment that lay upon them that He might be the Redeemer before He takes the throne as Judge. But as surely as He was lifted up upon the cross, so surely will He fill the throne, for, “The Father … has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:27).

He has been “ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.” So Peter declared in the first gospel sermon ever preached to Gentile hearers, and I should connect the judgment of the living with His title Son of Man. He will judge the dead also at the end of Time at the great white throne, for “the Father has committed all judgment to the Son that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father” (John 5:22). but He will do that, in His Divine majesty. It is before God that the dead, small and great, shall stand (Revelation 20). HE IS GOD.

As Son of Man He will deal with the living when He comes. Then He will wield the SICKLE, the SWORD and the SCEPTRE. He is seen with the sickle in Revelation 14:14. “And I looked,” says John the Apostle, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like to the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His band a sharp sickle … and He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.”

He came into the world to sow the good seed of the kingdom, for “He that sows the good seed is the Son of Man” (Matthew 13:27). That sowing cost Him more than mortal tongue shall ever tell. He fulfilled the word “He that goes forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed.” Aye not only were “strong crying and tears” His portion, but blood also. “The seed is the Word of God,” the full revelation of what God is, and He had to the to sow that seed; and He who sowed the seed must reap the harvest; and the latter part of that ancient word will also be fulfilled — “Shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing His sheaves with Him” (Psalm 126:6).

But tares have been sown in the wheat field; this was the work of an enemy, and that enemy was the devil (Matthew 13:29), and the Son of Man must discriminate between the wheat and the tares; so we read that “He shall send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity.” As the wielder of the sickle He will execute a discriminating judgment. To use another forceful figure, that of the rugged Baptist, “His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather the wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).

That passage probably has Israel specially an view, but this discriminating judgment will be extended to the Gentile nations as Matthew 25:31 teaches. “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.” It is strange that so many theologians should have interpreted that passage as being the great final judgment of the dead, until which none could know whether they would stand on the right hand of the Lord or the left, saved or lost. It is clear enough that it is the judgment of living nations at the appearing and glory of the Son of Man, and that it will take place at the beginning of His reign of a thousand years over the earth, while the final judgment of the dead will take place when those thousand years are finished (Revelation 20).

The Son of Man will bring in the glory and the blessing, the angels of God shall ascend and descend upon Him (John 1:51) He will bring down heaven to earth for “He shalt come down like rain upon the mown grass” (Psalm 72:6). But note well the figure. It is upon the mown grass that He comes down. The sickle will have done its work first. The sharp sickle in the hand of the golden crowned Son of Man will be thrust into the earth when God’s work and the devil’s shall be fully ripe.

We are not surprised that as their Master went up to Jerusalem for the last time His disciples followed Him amazed and afraid. Their forebodings must have been greatly increased when He said to them, “Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles: and they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him and shall spit upon Him and shall kill Him” (Mark 10:33). Could it be the same Son of Man whom John saw in Patmos, shining in his divine Majesty? Yes, it was the same. There is none other who could go down to such depths and be exalted to such heights; and He is the Ancient of days. Even John’s eyes could not look upon such glory as was there revealed in Him, nor could he stand upon his feet before Him. He says, “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.” Nor would he have known Him as his beloved Lord if He had not laid His right hand upon him with a well-remembered tenderness, and in tones of compassion said, “Fear not, I am the first and the last I am He that lives and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell (hades) and of death” (Revelation 1:12-18).

The keys of death and hades in His hand declared that He, the Son of Man, is the undisputed Master of the unseen world, even though His authority is challenged by living men. But He is coming to judge the living for “out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword with which He would smite the nations” (Revelation 19:15).

THE SWORD must precede the sceptre because of what men are. How strange is that popular delusion that the world is to be gradually converted by the gospel, or that the kingdom of God will be evolved by men’s own efforts out of the world as it is. Hear what the Scripture says. “Behold He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so. Amen” (Revelation 1:7). A converted world would welcome Him with acclamation; a godless world will wail with terror at the sight of Him. The sword first and then the sceptre. That sword indicates resistless justice: the vengeance of God upon unrepentant, wicked men. It will compel every stubborn knee to bend and every rebellious lip to confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. “Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty. And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and righteousness: and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things” (Psalm 45).

It seems almost an incredible thing that men should assemble together to make war on Him, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, yet they will, and such is the delusion with which the devil will delude them that they will hope to achieve their purpose and keep Him for ever out of this world. So we read, “I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war on Him that sat upon the horse, and against His army (Revelation 19). They will stretch forth their hand against God, and strengthen themselves against the Almighty; and in their blind hatred they will run upon Him, “even upon the thick bosses of His buckler” (Job 14). But the battle will be swift and decisive, for the sword of the Son of Man shall prevail, and the blasphemous leaders of that vast host of men shall be seized by divine power and cast alive into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, “And the remainder shall be slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth, and all the fowls of the air were filled with flesh.”

THE SCEPTRE of the Son of Man will be an iron sceptre and for it He has been in great conflict. It has been the devil’s purpose from the beginning to oppose His wielding it. He must have understood and taken to heart God’s words to him in the Garden concerning the woman’s Seed. “It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise His heel,” and he has spared no force or wile that he hoped would prevent this. He was not ignorant of the times, for the time of the Advent of the woman’s Seed had been plainly told in Old Testament Scripture and when that time came, he “stood up before the woman (Israel) which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12). Failing in that first onslaught, he changed his tactics, and masked his guns and advanced with a flag of truce and terms of peace. We read, “The devil takes Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and says to Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” But the Lord knew him for the adversary that he was, and answered, “Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4)

He refused the short and easy way to the throne and sceptre that Satan offered Him at such a price, and took instead the way of obedience to the will of God, and God’s will was the death of the cross. He showed Himself worthy to rule by complete subjection. “Though He were Son, yet learned He obedience by the things that He suffered.” He loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and the sceptre of His kingdom will be for ever a sceptre of righteousness. But He would take that sceptre neither from the devil nor men, but from the hand of God only. We learn this from Daniel’s night visions. Said he, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, came with the clouds of the heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an ever lasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).

A corresponding scene to that is found in Revelation 5. “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and the four beasts (living creatures) and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the hand of Him that sat upon the throne.” In John’s vision He receives the sickle and the sword from the hand of God, and in Daniel’s vision He receives the sceptre. The LORD had said to Him, “Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shall break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2). He would have nothing and take nothing except from the hand of God; in this He is in striking contrast to the first man, Adam, who grasped at something that God in His wisdom had withheld from him, and fell into disaster and death.

God intends that the proclamation of His coming kingdom of righteousness should go out in testimony to the Gentiles. It was announced by Paul to the Athenians on Mars hill, when He said, “God now commandeth all men every where to repent; because He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has ordained; whereof He has given assurance to all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). He is the King that shall reign in righteousness, and the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever (Isaiah 32).

Marvel not that the sickle and sword and sceptre should be put into the hands of the Son of Man. He only of all men who have appeared on earth could wield them in undiminished righteousness and power. Every other man to whom power and authority had been given had failed; Adam, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar all broke down when tested and have had to make way for the Son of Man. He has prevailed and will never fail, for in His absolute dependence upon God He has been upheld, and the word has been fulfilled and will yet be fulfilled, “Let Thy hand be upon the Man of Thy right hand, and upon THE SON OF MAN whom Thou madest strong for Thyself” (Psalm 80:17). Again I quote His own words. “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth, they that have been good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28-29). “Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power.” “But the rest of the dead lived not again ill the thousand years were finished.” Then will come the final judgment, which John describes in awe-inspiring words. “And I saw a great white throne, AND HIM THAT SAT ON it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And 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. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20).

He will lay aside the sickle when its work is done; He will lay aside the sword when its work is done, and when as Son of Man He has glorified God in His universal kingdom He will hand back to God the sceptre, for we read, “Then comes the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy, that shall be destroyed is death. And when all things shall be subdued to Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject to Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).