When Paul stood in the midst of Mar’s hill, he boldly declared the
ignorance and superstition of the Athenians, before the gospel, and
stated to them, that “in the times of this ignorance, God winked at,”
or that he did not hold them to a strict account. He concedes, here,
the principle expressed by the Savior, that where there is but little
given there is but little required; and on this ground, admits that
God would not deal with them strictly according to their works. But
he approaches a different state of things. A change was about to take
place in the dealings of God with that people. How is it to be now?
The apostle responds, “But now he commandeth all men everywhere to
repent.” In the times of the ignorance before the gospel, this command
to all men every where, to repent, did not exist. But, now that the
gospel is preached to every creature, he commands all men everywhere to
repent. But he does not stop here, but proceeds to give us the reason
why God commands men to repent. That reason is not, that there is no
day of judgment to come, which might serve as a reason why men need not
repent. Why, then, does God now command all men everywhere to repent?
The apostle answers, “Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will
judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.” It
is not strange, with this passage before us, that preaching Universalism
never causes anybody to repent. The preachers of that doctrine deny
the cause of repentance; and while the Lord calls upon men to repent,
because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in
righteousness, they spend their time in preaching that there will be
no judgment to come. In this they set aside the grand reason why men
should repent. While the preaching of the true gospel leads men to
sorrow that they have sinned, in view of a righteous judgment to come,
the preaching of that disgraceful doctrine—which we are sorry to have
necessity to mention upon our pages—leads wicked men to laugh and
trifle, both in view of their sins, and all that the Bible says of the
great judgment day.
The apostle, however, does not merely state that God has appointed a
day in which he will judge the world, but he alleges that he has given
assurance of the fact. His words are, “Whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Here he
arrives at the foundation of all—the resurrection of Christ from the
dead. His logic runs thus: Christ rose from the dead. What assurance
does that give? It is the assurance that God has given that he has
appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained. And what if that is the case? Why,
then, he commands all men everywhere to repent. As certain as Christ
rose from the dead, there will be righteous judgment; and because there
will be a righteous judgment, men are commanded to reform and become
righteous.
Jesus Christ was judged by the highest ecclesiastical court on earth,
and in the highest civil court—but in both cases condemned unjustly.
He could not have righteous judgment in this world; but, when the
unrighteous sentences were passed upon him, and he had yielded to the
penalty, and his body was consigned to the prison-house of death,
while his spirit was in the unseen world, he appealed the case,
and had it referred to the high, the holy and inflexible court of
heaven, where the case was tried righteously. When this was done, the
former decisions were condemned, as partial and unjust, and Jesus was
“justified by the Spirit,” or, as Peter expresses it, “he was quickened
by the Spirit.” The decision in the case was not only reversed, but the
penalty, which had been executed, and was beyond the power of those who
inflicted it to reverse it, was reversed by the great and righteous
tribunal to which Jesus had appealed. He was justified from the guilt
of their decision, when the Spirit of God condemned their sentence as
unjust, and justified from the penalty when he was “quickened by the
Spirit,” or raised from the dead.
When justified, he breaks forth in most triumphant language: “I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which
is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty; I am he that
liveth, and was dead; and, behold! I am alive forevermore, Amen; and
have the keys of hell and death.” He had been condemned unjustly, but
had gone to a righteous judgment, where the decision was changed, and
he was justified; the penalty of death was removed, and he was made
alive forevermore; hence, “he ever liveth to make intercession for us.”
He had obtained justice. In this case, we have an assurance of a day
being appointed in which God will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained. If God, after the death of Jesus,
judged in the case of the great leader of all christians, and changed
the unrighteous sentence previously passed upon him, and justified him,
why may we not expect him to judge all the world after death; and,
where the righteous have been condemned, as has frequently been, and
as will be, the case in this world, reverse the decision, and justify
them; and, on the other hand, where the guilty have been justified, the
decision changed, and they condemned.
There is not a more consoling sentiment on earth, to a righteous
man, than that there is a day appointed when impartial justice will
take place. The Lord Jesus will judge among the nations, and mete
out to them according to their works. The thought, that justice will
never take place, may be pleasing to rogues, and such a view might be
contended for with great zeal, on the part of those who know that a
righteous judgment must condemn them, and such as care not how deep
a stab they inflict upon the morals of the world; but to the man who
maintains a conscience void of offense toward God and man, and who
intends, to the best of his ability, to deport himself righteously,
nothing can be a higher satisfaction, than the doctrine, that all false
decisions will be reversed, and that a just and equitable sentence will
be passed upon all. Such a judgment we anticipate, and such judgment,
we are assured by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, will
take place.