Which is the Second Article?
_I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who sitteth at the
right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to
judge the quick and the dead._
1. When our Lord ascended into heaven and His disciples were looking
after Him as He was taken up before their eyes, higher and higher, two
men stood by them in white apparel, two angels, who said: _"This same
Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."_ Acts 1,11. We confess
therefore that our Lord _will come again,_ that He will come again in
like manner as His apostles saw Him taken up into heaven. He will come
_visibly._ All men on earth will see our Lord coming in a cloud with
power and great glory. Luke 21,27. He will not come again in deep
humility and poverty, as He came when He was born in Bethlehem, but
with great power and glory. _"The Son of Man shall come in the glory of
His Father with His angels."_ Matt. 16,27. All men will see Him as the
almighty King surrounded by His heavenly hosts. Every one will then have
to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and every one will have to bow to
Him. _Our Lord will come again visibly and in great glory._
2. When the Lord comes in His glory, the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the earth and all the works therein shall be burned up.
2 Pet. 3,10. _The Last Day, the end of this world, will then have come._
On this Last Day our Lord will come to _"judge the quick and the dead."_
Christ has been ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. Acts
10,42. He will judge the _quick,_ that is, those who are still living
when He comes. He will judge the dead. On that day all the dead will
rise again and will be brought before the Lord to be judged by Him.
3. Christ Himself has given us a beautiful description of His Judgment.
(Read the whole passage, Matt. 25,31-46.) He tells us: _"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."_ Matt. 25,31.32. Christ is the Judge of all
nations, of all men. _"We must all appear before the judgment-seat of
Christ, that every one may receive the things done in His body,
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."_ 2 Cor.
5,10. No one, be He ever so mighty, rich, or learned, can escape His
Judgment.
4. How will Christ judge? He says: _"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."_ Matt.
25,32.33. The _sheep are those who truly believe in Christ, their
Savior,_ and in Him have forgiveness of their sins. _The goats are those
who in this life rejected Christ and His grace._ To His sheep He will
say: _"Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world."_ V. 34. On the goats He will
pronounce this judgment: _"Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."_ V. 41. And then the Lord
will prove to all men that His judgment is a righteous one by the good
works of the believers and the evil deeds of His enemies.--This
judgment is final and will never be altered. His enemies _"shall go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal."_
Matt. 25,46.
5. _When will this great Day of Judgment, the day of our Lord, come?_
This we do not know. Our Lord says: _"Of that day and that hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the
Father."_ Mark 13,32. We should not try to find out the exact day of the
coming of our Lord. But God has in His Word revealed two important
things about this day. He tells us that His day will come _suddenly,
when nobody expects it. "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night."_ 2 Pet. 3,10. _"Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor
the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh."_ Matt. 25,13.--We also know
that this day will come _soon. "The end of all things is at hand."_
1 Pet. 4,7. We may and should expect the Lord _daily_ and be prepared to
receive Him. There are many signs which announce the coming of Christ.
Matt. 24,14-31; Luke 21,25-36.
6. _"This is most certainly true."_ With these words we conclude also
our Second Article. From God's Word we know that all we have learned in
the Second Article is most certainly true. Therefore we believe and
confess it.